Kim Dotcom Reveals New "Mega" Strategy

[Andy Chalk]

Kim Dotcom Reveals New "Mega" Strategy

Kim Dotcom's new filehosting service is designed to keep it immune to both lawsuits and raids.

In spite of his many legal difficulties, Kim Dotcom has boasted about his plans for a bigger, better Megaupload for some time now. But how will he keep the new Megaupload from falling victim to the same nasty fate that met the old Megaupload?

First and foremost is keeping the new service, called simply "Mega," on the legal up-and-up. To do that, all files uploaded to the service will first be "one-click-encrypted" in the user's browser using the "Advanced Encryption Standard" algorithm. Once that's done, users will be provided with a unique key to decrypt the file, which places the ultimate responsibility for access to the file in their hands. Furthermore, Mega will not have copies of the encryption keys, making it impossible for the company to know what's contained in the archives, and therefore impossible to be responsible for their content.

Dotcom told Wired that according to his lawyers, encryption would have to be made illegal in order to thwart his service. "And according to the U.N. Charter for Human Rights, privacy is a basic human right," he said. "You have the right to protect your private information and communication against spying."

And to protect the service against law enforcement agencies that may raid now and ask questions later, Mega will launch with all data stored on duplicate servers located in two different countries and eventually, if all goes according to plan, branch out to thousands of different servers spread around the world. "So, even if one country decides to go completely berserk from a legal perspective and freeze all servers, for example - which we don't expect, because we've fully complied with all the laws of the countries we place servers in - or if a natural disaster happens, there's still another location where all the files are available," Megaupload co-founder and co-defendant Mega partner Mathias Ortman explained.

"We're creating a system where any host in the world - from the $2000 garage operation to the largest online host - can connect their own servers to this network," Dotcom added. "We can work with anybody, because the hosts themselves cannot see what's on the servers."

The launch date for Mega has not yet been revealed.

Source: Wired [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/megaupload-mega/]


Permalink

 

[thenumberthirteen]

That sounds like an interesting system. As long as you don't lose your encryption keys that is. Only trouble I see is that say I had some files on Mega, and I wanted to download them when I was away on a business trip, or at a friend's house I'd need to have the key (which I expect would be a long hexadecimal key so it was unique) for each one of my files with me to download it. Unlike, say, Dropbox where I just log in and can access all my files without having dozens of unique passwords.

To me this now makes it worse than the other services out there.

 

[esperandote]

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

 

[Doom972]

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

They probably won't, because they are using this method to make remove any responsibility for pirated content. I doubt they'll bother checking each non-encrypted file.

This will be interesting to see.

 

[theriddlen]

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

Oh, but the encryption is not for users, it's there to clear the host of any legal responsibility over the files.

 

[esperandote]

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

They probably won't, because they are using this method to make remove any responsibility for pirated content. I doubt they'll bother checking each non-encrypted file.

This will be interesting to see.

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

Oh, but the encryption is not for users, it's there to clear the host of any legal responsibility over the files.

I'm not sure but i believe the only need to check those files that are flagged by someone.

One more thought, will this make megavideo counterpart impossible or is it possible to provide a encryption key for a streaming video?

 

[Draxz]

Unlike, say, Dropbox where I just log in and can access all my files without having dozens of unique passwords.

To me this now makes it worse than the other services out there.

Yeah, I remember one or two called "MSN" and "Hotmail". E-mail is still a useful way of file-transfer, along with using apps like Skype. Though, there's also memory cards/sticks and external hard-drives that are just as good.

OT: But I think this has a very big issue... Especially since torrents are better. The Pirate Bay doesn't full on it's face and die because it's in a legal system, not only a search engine but (if I remember correctly), the founders aren't breaking laws where they're located. (Though, don't hold this against me. I can't remember what the actual situation was).

Still, I don't see why they don't re-open MegaUpload again but in a remote location, outside and privately/secretly fund a sub-group controlling it. I know that would be complicated but this idea's pretty shite.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Unlike, say, Dropbox where I just log in and can access all my files without having dozens of unique passwords.

To me this now makes it worse than the other services out there.

Yeah, I remember one or two called "MSN" and "Hotmail". E-mail is still a useful way of file-transfer, along with using apps like Skype. Though, there's also memory cards/sticks and external hard-drives that are just as good

Not really. E-mail has a 25Mb limit per file, and there are so many times that I've had to send files to people or myself and it was just over the limit. Skype is good, but not if you want to send it to yourself. Also you have to both be online so you can't send something for later.

 

[schmulki]

I like it. Anything to fuck with the system that's doing its' damndest to fuck with him, I'm happy with (despite him being a sleezebag to start with, he's been a great person to have out there fighting the good fight).

As for it being difficult, if the service is good and free to end users, there will spring up plenty of sites which literally do nothing but crawl the links, DL, pull the name, and list it on their site that links to the right file with the key imbedded into the link, so the end user just has to search this site and click a link to DL. As long as Kim and co don't link to or talk about those sites, they should be able to stay with the stance of "we don't know what's there!" and keep things running....until, of course, it comes out that there's docs showing Kim knew about this all the time, and is arrested again for it.

 

[Knux Miller]

Unlike, say, Dropbox where I just log in and can access all my files without having dozens of unique passwords.

To me this now makes it worse than the other services out there.

Yeah, I remember one or two called "MSN" and "Hotmail". E-mail is still a useful way of file-transfer, along with using apps like Skype. Though, there's also memory cards/sticks and external hard-drives that are just as good.

OT: But I think this has a very big issue... Especially since torrents are better. The Pirate Bay doesn't full on it's face and die because it's in a legal system, not only a search engine but (if I remember correctly), the founders aren't breaking laws where they're located. (Though, don't hold this against me. I can't remember what the actual situation was).

Still, I don't see why they don't re-open MegaUpload again but in a remote location, outside and privately/secretly fund a sub-group controlling it. I know that would be complicated but this idea's pretty shite.

That's what they thought originally too, Mega Upload was one of the fastest hosts to take down files but was put at the top of a 'Rogue Site' list created by the RIAA and MPAA. Then all of a sudden the FBI is talking with New Zealand police, calling him a terrorist of all things and then he gets raided at gun point, blind folded and literally kidnapped by NZ police. No warrants showed, several of the people claimed to be shoved against walls or floors when they were already on their knees, hands in the air, clearly unarmed...

As for TPB, one of the creators was caught last month for supposedly breaking into a financial database and is being held in Sweden and another isn't so much hiding as he's trying to prove he hasn't been the CFO for TPB for about 3 years and is still trying to appeal his 5 yr jail sentence which was handed to all 3 'founders' a year and a half ago.

As for why MegaUpload isn't reopening? Because he wanted a more open brand, he wants to branch it out to things like MegaSong, MegaMovies, Mega *insert product name here*, which is actually kinda smart of him. I honestly think the copyright lobbyists will call the encryption a legal gimmick and will try to stop the reopening, or complain that they won't act on DMCA takedowns because 'we don't know what's on our servers.' which will probably cause big issues. That said, I seriously don't expect NZ to be raiding them, or anyone raiding them after the humiliation that the government felt in court when it was found that 99% of what was done, was A. Done illegally and B. Showed just how badly they'll bend over and take it from America.

 

[Raesvelg]

The real question is whether or or not they're going to start incentivizing pirated content like they did with MegaUpload.

I mean, even if they can't track what's actually in the files being uploaded, if they see a particular file being downloaded millions of times and create programs to encourage that sort of usage (again, like they did with MegaUpload)... eh. They could still get themselves in trouble.

Then again, if they don't get wiped out in the current litigation, they already made a metric butt-ton of money off piracy anyway, so they might actually be able to resist the temptation and go legit. Which would actually require them to DE-incentivize piracy; ie charge customers for excessive downloading of a particular file.

 

[Draxz]

Not really. E-mail has a 25Mb limit per file, and there are so many times that I've had to send files to people or myself and it was just over the limit. Skype is good, but not if you want to send it to yourself. Also you have to both be online so you can't send something for later.

Mm, as a student, having an external harddrive does help a lot though. I work a lot with video, imaging and Adobe (in general) so I know what you mean by the limit. There's been a lot of times where I've had zipped files at 4gbs and it's a pain in the ass since there's no where to put it. But that's just how I work around it.

 

[Doom972]

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

They probably won't, because they are using this method to make remove any responsibility for pirated content. I doubt they'll bother checking each non-encrypted file.

This will be interesting to see.

they should keep the encryption optional in for the people that have nothing to be afraid of and don't want to go through the hazzle.

Oh, but the encryption is not for users, it's there to clear the host of any legal responsibility over the files.

I'm not sure but i believe the only need to check those files that are flagged by someone.

One more thought, will this make megavideo counterpart impossible or is it possible to provide a encryption key for a streaming video?

Since they actually want people to upload whatever files they want, the flagging system would be counter-productive.

I guess Megavideo could work with the encryption key. The uploader would just have to give the key to whoever he wants to be able to see it.

 

[Draxz]

That's what they thought originally too, Mega Upload was one of the fastest hosts to take down files but was put at the top of a 'Rogue Site' list created by the RIAA and MPAA. Then all of a sudden the FBI is talking with New Zealand police, calling him a terrorist of all things and then he gets raided at gun point, blind folded and literally kidnapped by NZ police. No warrants showed, several of the people claimed to be shoved against walls or floors when they were already on their knees, hands in the air, clearly unarmed...

As for TPB, one of the creators was caught last month for supposedly breaking into a financial database and is being held in Sweden and another isn't so much hiding as he's trying to prove he hasn't been the CFO for TPB for about 3 years and is still trying to appeal his 5 yr jail sentence which was handed to all 3 'founders' a year and a half ago.

As for why MegaUpload isn't reopening? Because he wanted a more open brand, he wants to branch it out to things like MegaSong, MegaMovies, Mega *insert product name here*, which is actually kinda smart of him. I honestly think the copyright lobbyists will call the encryption a legal gimmick and will try to stop the reopening, or complain that they won't act on DMCA takedowns because 'we don't know what's on our servers.' which will probably cause big issues. That said, I seriously don't expect NZ to be raiding them, or anyone raiding them after the humiliation that the government felt in court when it was found that 99% of what was done, was A. Done illegally and B. Showed just how badly they'll bend over and take it from America.

That makes sense... Though, equally I've always thought of MegaUpload as a library. Except books, it's files and it's illegal. I personally like the idea of sharing because it's not stealing. As a freelance photographer, it's hard to get work at times and let alone a good pay. Most of my personal work and etc. is online and free. If somebody wants to purchase my work, that's fine but I don't see or believe my work can become a massive profit on it's own. It's like a band for example: they get paid by the record producer and live gigs they do, also the percentage of what the CD makes. I think that people will still by CD's because the merit of what th CD actually is, in art form and possession. I really don't believe that Sharing or sites like Mega(Upload) would've changed that.

But on the other hand, I just like how the governments make complete tits of themselves. Speaking of which, I'll never really understand how YouTube stays completely fine.

 

[Scorpid]

This actually kinda worries me because this IF Kim Dotcom is telling the truth about everything here, it will make his site the number one distributor of all things seedy on the internet. The first and foremost in everyones mind would of course be child pornography... which doesn't sit well with me.

 

[dyre]

That seems pretty interesting, but you'd think someone who went through what what he went through wouldn't rely on the UN Charter of Human Rights to protect him from government interference...

 

[Pebkio]

Did he basically just say "we're going to require that all of the winrars are going to come with passwords"?

You know, this could be funny as hell. See, before, people were able to make sure that the material was breaking copy-write laws and request that Megaupload take it down, which they did... pretty quickly in fact. Under this "we don't know and don't want to know" policy, Mega won't have to take down anything.

I wonder if uploaders will get to choose in which country they want their data stored.

 

[LostintheWick]

Sounds brilliant.
Does anybody know if this is a publicly traded company? I think I want stock