Megaupload data deleted

[BFG10K]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10891810

Aside from the lethargic transfer speeds, this is another reason why I dislike cloud. All it takes is someone to upload kiddie pr0n or copyrighted files and the authorities can potentially shut the whole thing down, and you lose access to your data.

I cannot fathom why some people eschew HDDs because they’re too "slow", but then they run to cloud.

 

[Mushkins]

I dislike cloud solutions for most things as much as the next guy, but lets be straight on this one.

Megaupload was a filesharing service. You upload, you get a link to the file, you keep it or give it to whoever. It was not a cloud storage service such as dropbox, skydrive, etc.

These filesharing services like megaupload, rapidshare, etc are completely legal in the US as long as the hosts dont *actively* attempt to filter out copyrighted/illegal material (treating all data as neutral) and comply with any legitimate DMCA notices they receive. As long as they dont start filtering themselves, they are shielded from liability for what users upload. That being said, these services are extremely popular for copyright infringement due to their design. It's pointless to go after the uploaders or downloaders, all they can really do is target the infringing files themselves with takedown notices, and they just get uploaded again anyway.

So far, after years of this stuff going on and the "war on piracy", Megaupload has been the only service to be shut down and directly charged with anything. Many others have started doing IP-based filtering to block out users from the US of their own accord to avoid any potential hassle from US law enforcement should something happen. Megaupload was *only* targeted because of Dotcom's flamboyant "fuck the po-lice" taunting, extravagant spending, celebrity endorsements, and probably the biggest one being the referral programs and monetization program encouraging users to make money by sharing and distributing infringing material. Long story short, he kept poking the bear until it bit him.

 

[A5]

Also, these files were deleted because Megaupload quit paying their hosting bills.

As usual, keep local backups of stuff you can't afford to lose. Cloud services are for convenience, not reliability.

 

[jimhsu]

Three different types of "cloud" services being talked about here:

- Private clouds - self-hosted stuff (e.g. ownCloud, etc)
- "Cloud services" - e.g Amazon S3, Skydrive, online backup
- File sharing services - mega, rapidshare, 4shared, etc

So far, DMCA and co. have only gone after the 3rd category, for good reason:

- "Free" (advertising-paid) access
- Lack of sharing restrictions
- Lack of enforcement (in case of mega)

Emerging solutions such as Bittorrent sync are looking to upset the balance yet again.

Nevertheless, online cloud-based backup solutions are an essential part of the computing experience right now. I can't count the number of times that Crashplan has saved me so far, from corrupted program files that I can't bother installing, to critical documents from 2 years ago, missing configuration files, entire missing www-roots, etc.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I thought the government had copied all the files to their own servers so they can prosecute him and the users? So is it really deleted then? That's a sigh of relief. I did happen to use the service a few times months before it got hit by the disaster. It was only a couple power point presentations though. The service was great for sending stuff to people if it was too big for email. That's what it was mostly meant for really. It was used a lot at work.

There's lot of other services like that though such as Bayfiles.

 

[Elixer]

I thought the government had copied all the files to their own servers so they can prosecute him and the users? So is it really deleted then? That's a sigh of relief. I did happen to use the service a few times months before it got hit by the disaster. It was only a couple power point presentations though. The service was great for sending stuff to people if it was too big for email. That's what it was mostly meant for really. It was used a lot at work.

There's lot of other services like that though such as Bayfiles.

Watch it Red Squirrel, they are going to come after you for spilling secrets!

Clouds are mostly temp storage, so no big loss, but it sure sucks when you lose your data on any type of storage system.

 

[Tsavo]

9 billion poorly transcoded movies and tv shows screamed out in pain.

Then they were silent.

 

[Nothinman]

I dislike cloud solutions for most things as much as the next guy, but lets be straight on this one.

Megaupload was a filesharing service. You upload, you get a link to the file, you keep it or give it to whoever. It was not a cloud storage service such as dropbox, skydrive, etc.

Oh I didn't realize that services like SkyDrive, Box, DropBox, etc didn't let you take a file/directory within your account and share it via just a URL.

 

[alangrift]

A hosting company wouldn't keep your data if you stopped paying them.

 

[JAG87]

Oh I didn't realize that services like SkyDrive, Box, DropBox, etc didn't let you take a file/directory within your account and share it via just a URL.

It doesn't matter, their intended purposes are completely different. Those services are primarily for synchronization, with the added flexibility of collaboration and sharing. File hosts are primarily for file sharing. They don't sync anything.

 

[Nothinman]

It doesn't matter, their intended purposes are completely different. Those services are primarily for synchronization, with the added flexibility of collaboration and sharing. File hosts are primarily for file sharing. They don't sync anything.

Intent matters, but so does functionality and both have the same base functionality. Abusing them to share large files like MegaUpload would be a bit more work, but not much.

 

[corkyg]

A hosting company wouldn't keep your data if you stopped paying them.

Good point. It would be more logical if they would simply lock it and make the key dependent on payment.

 

[mannox]

i cant stand the cloud either

 

[BFG10K]

Also, these files were deleted because Megaupload quit paying their hosting bills.

This is a technicality at best, given users still couldn't access any of the data even when it was still there.

 

[24601]

This is a technicality at best, given users still couldn't access any of the data even when it was still there.

Wonder when Carpathia gets paid by the government to wipe the files.

Leasewebs seemed more than willing to get paid to wipe the files on their servers.

Considering Carpathia is literally a government contractor located in Virginia, it's only a matter of time.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd be very surprised if the government was relying on the host in first place to store the data. They are probably stored on government servers for further analysis. I know if I was in Megaupload's shoes the very first thing I had done is contact my host to immediately terminate the account and destroy all data. Better to start over from scratch than get extradited. Then again they could just extradite anyway for tampering with evidence. Chances are the government had all the data before the owner even realized he was under attack, too.

 

[HOOfan 1]

i cant stand the cloud either

The biggest problem with the cloud is that the industry seems to be embracing it...and moving away from traditional methods.

I can't stand that. Individuals will be too dependent on the "system" and we see day in and day out that the "system" is very often flawed.

 

[24601]

I'd be very surprised if the government was relying on the host in first place to store the data. They are probably stored on government servers for further analysis. I know if I was in Megaupload's shoes the very first thing I had done is contact my host to immediately terminate the account and destroy all data. Better to start over from scratch than get extradited. Then again they could just extradite anyway for tampering with evidence. Chances are the government had all the data before the owner even realized he was under attack, too.

All of the data on the Megaupload servers were encrypted.
The reason the government doesn't want the data as evidence is because Megaupload can use it very beneficially to it's defense since it can reveal exactly the data it wants during any legal proceeding.

This is the reason why the government specifically hasn't pressed any charges (since there are no charges to press).

However, the government is not allowed to directly order the data be deleted since that would be tampering with evidence and if it does go to trial the case would be immediately thrown out for that reason.

Therefore the government is sitting in the best position possible for itself, and holding all of Megaupload's assets while waiting for Kim to run out of funds for his lawyers as well as waiting for their specific deals with the hosting services to go through as well as doing some selective brute force decryption of some of the files (this takes a long time).

 

[Mushkins]

Intent matters, but so does functionality and both have the same base functionality. Abusing them to share large files like MegaUpload would be a bit more work, but not much.

You're mincing words for the sake of being argumentative. The services provided by Megaupload type sites and the services provided by dropbox, skydrive, et al. are fundamentally different and you know it, right down to the functionality.

The advertisements and marketing, the clickthrough monetization, the method of uploading and downloading, the intent, all of it is different.

The cloud sync services are based around your account, everything you do is directly tied to your user account. You log onto each device you want to sync with the same user account, and the purpose of the service is primarily that synchronization between devices. You can subscribe and pay the provider for things like more available space, and you dont get paid if someone downloads your links.

The filesharing services are essentially a pretty web interface for a seedy open FTP server. You dont need an account to upload and share your file, you literally go to their site, select the file, and it spits out a link to share with other people. Some of them have very minimal account based features like folders. They make their money off two things: locking download speeds behind premium subscriptions, and clickthrough traffic based ad revenue. The latter, they generate by saying "hey users, make an account and share files with people. For every 100 downloads we'll give you a penny!" So they pay out a penny after making a few dollars in ad revenue from those 100 pageviews, and get the users to do all the legwork.

These schemes *clearly* are not designed with sharing some family photos with your friend in mind, as that doesnt generate nearly enough hits to make the user any money. They're designed to encourage you to upload things LOTS of people want (warez, porn, movies/music/etc), and plaster the download link all over every warez forum on the internet. You make money, they make money, and nobody gives half a shit about the law because the company hides behind the protections of their neutrality in only taking down content that is reported as infringing.

Just because both services allow someone to generate a download link does not make them the same thing by any means.