The Fate of Megaupload’s Data to be Decided–Soon

And so, the Megaupload saga continues (read related story here). The popular file-sharing website went under last January and the people behind it have been charged with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering, and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.

People who used the site for legal purposes have been fighting to get their data back. While pirates used Megaupload to distribute copyrighted content, a number of users were merely using the site as a cyberlocker or as a backup for their files.

A hearing on the fate of this data was discussed in a hearing last Friday in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. A panel has been weighing in on what to do with the files that Megaupload kept, including the federal government and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Over twenty-five million gigabytes worth of data now sits idle on Megaupload's servers which were rented out from Carpathia Hosting, who is losing revenue for storing the data on machines that they are no longer being paid for. Ira Rothken, Megaupload's lawyer, insists that the data should be preserved so that her clients can prove their innocence in court. Megaupload had previously tried to cut a deal with Carpathia to gain access to the files, but the deal was rejected by the government.

As a result of the hearing, U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady ordered all the parties involved to negotiate and come up with a solution that all sides would agree to over the next two weeks. During this period, the data is to be preserved.

Rothken welcomed the news with a gleeful tweet.

Megaupload is pleased with the Judge's ruling in US in favor of server data preservation and ordering conference with experienced MagistrateSource: The Inquirer (http://s.tt/19lTn)

-- Ira Rothken, Megaupload lawyer

We'll be back with updates in two weeks' time. Stay tuned!

Article by Hazel Chua

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