The New Megaupload Has a Super Clever Way to Avoid Getting Raided Again

Megaupload Is Dead. Long Live Mega!

Just when you thought Big Brother had the upper hand, file sharing sites reinvent themselves.

Megauploads, now renamed Mega has come up with an ingenious way around all the file sharing laws that had the FBI rading them Swat style. The key: encryption.

Now every file that is upload will have its own encryption so Mega can not see what the file is, thus can not be held legally liable:

It's really clever, if the government comes a knockin' on a data center or if someone hacks it, they'll get nothing. Dotcom says, "whatever is uploaded to the site, it is going to be remain closed and private without the key." Basically, the idea is that the law doesn't have a centralized entity to go after because they can't come after Mega because Mega has no idea what's on their servers. Dotcom believes that the only way that this could be illegal would be if the law made encryption illegal. Gizmoto

< br />
Shier genius.

I don't think it was really file sharing that got them taken down, I think it was the fact they were about to launch a new service for musicians that would alow us musicians to cut out the middle men of the record companies and keep the real profit. Here is an ATS thread with the details.

I hope they implement this service now they are recreating themselves. Long live Mega!

That is such good news, I used to use mega all the time, it was the best site for that kinda stuff. I also used Rapidshare, 4shared, mediafire and a bunch of others, but they have all been affected the same way, Ive had to resort to torrents! Im glad to see they're back, and I hope they stay back this time

They should've just used TPB style of a cloud solution. Encryption will make it easy to demonise them. Have few operatives upload illegal pictures of children there and mega will be on every blacklist and courtroom after that.

reply to post by pianopraze


Has anyone got a link to this mega site? I keeo going to a buisness solution site

I don't get it. We already have a distributed database to pick out torrents from magnets. Why can't you just search header information from the distributed database? Cut out the need for centralized servers all together. You create a torrent and cue it into the distributed database. The header info is then available for search, and direct download from you. It spreads from there.

Originally posted by AmberLeaf
reply to post by pianopraze

 

Has anyone got a link to this mega site? I keeo going to a buisness solution site

Apparently it is coming soon, not out yet.

Even more good news! He's doing the music part too!!!!!!! *dances for joy*

Anyone remember Kazaa? Gone now, but re-invented in another form.

Kudos to Mr. Dotcom for staying one step ahead with innovation. It is really upsetting to me to visit a site and see the "FBI Seizure" notice on the mainpage. That's just all the way to Friday wrong.

Of course, all the file sharing/storage sites will adopt this new strategy. It adds another layer of complexity, but it also shows we don't really need government intervention in our interwebs. Anything that keeps the government from trying to CONTROL the internet is a good thing.

Long live internet freedom!

I'm surprised he has been able to fight the government in his case. Surely there is a room full of stiff old men with no sense of humour, absolutely fuming right now...

On the other hand, the new platform with encryption seems like a good protection for the 'Mega' corporation to alleviate itself from knowingly aiding in distribution of pirated material.

reply to post by Druid42

Anyone remember Kazaa? Gone now, but re-invented in another form.

There are plenty of ways to get music online, and I don't like nearly any of them. Napster was great when it first popped up, but now with so many bad quality copies being uploaded, and fakes... I'd rather just buy on iTunes. At least then quality is assured and I don't have to worry about blowing my expensive speakers, or causing ear damage with static and hissing.

When Megaupload originally announced megabox idea I got excited. I hate the selection (or lack thereof) on iTunes. I would opt to pay for it (like I do with iTunes), rather than install the ad software on the computer.

To listen to songs through Megabox, users will have two options—purchasing the music through the service, or installing "Megakey" software onto their computer to listen for free. The Megakey software, as Dotcom explained to Torrentfreak, acts like ad-blocking software—except that it isn't. Megakey allows most advertisements to appear, but replaces about 15 percent of the ads served up by websites with ads hosted by Megabox.

"These new solutions will allow content creators to keep 90% of all earnings and generate significant income from the untapped market of free downloads,"

arstechnica.com...

reply to post by boncho


You can't vilify Megaupload for wantonly distributing pirated material. Anyone could make an account, and posit information there. There were many legitimate businesses that used that space to store information.

It boils down to being able to store information online. There are six ways to Tuesday to find whatever you want online, and the government picked a target to set an example for the rest of the file sharing sites. Sad.

Oh well. It won't be so easy the next time for the government to seize private information. IMO, they just made it tougher on themselves. Once an encryption standard is in place, there will be a wall of privacy on everything. It used to be that you could store something online, and give out a link to it, and you could download it. Now it'll be giving a link and the encryption code.

We already use hash and checksums to verify a file's contents. Encryption is honestly only a logical addition to file transfer. Forced upon us, but, inevitable.

Software will be built that makes it automated. That's what they DON'T understand. The next generation of browsers will use plugins for encryption. They forced our hand. They won't be able to see anything, because everything will have an encryption code. It's just one more generation deeper into defining the RFC's.

It's all good. A transition. One in which ensures privacy.

The interwebs are evolving. They have been and always will. Interference in that process only promotes change. This will be a good thing.

Hang on to your seats.

Seedboxes anyone?

Anyway, "they" can break any encryption they want given enough time.

Hell, DARPA probably already has a quantum computer to do it tied into the survellience/data centers.

I don't don't know if their page loads so in the mean time their song:


Saucersource says:

Hey I loved it first.
Stones need to write 'Sympathy for the Radio Lawyers' but those Illuminati zombies never die.

Unfortunately for big brother, technology can not be bottled up and subverted.

reply to post by pianopraze

I think the Corporations are 1 step ahead of him on this.

The new Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets have "Intel Insider" running on them which audits the media/music/software running across it to see if it's pirated. Which means Intel's chipset must connect secretly to a server somewhere's to check what you are running against what the Corporations have.

The new computers fix this little 'loophole' Dotcom is using.

Only use pre-2003 computers if you into this 'sharing' thingy.

Originally posted by Pervius
I think the Corporations are 1 step ahead of him on this.

The new Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets have "Intel Insider" running on them which audits the media/music/software running across it to see if it's pirated. Which means Intel's chipset must connect secretly to a server somewhere's to check what you are running against what the Corporations have.

The new computers fix this little 'loophole' Dotcom is using.

Only use pre-2003 computers if you into this 'sharing' thingy.

Intel insider is like the many other forms of protection already on your PC like HDCP. But it only kicks in if your using a services that provides such protection.

When WiDi becomes more popular their could be issues.

he technology known as Intel Insider does one thing and one thing only. It protects movies delivered from service providers that are specifically using Intel Insider to protect their content. It has to be enabled on the service provider side. Consumers with Intel Insider enabled PCs will have access to content in higher resolution (1080P) and potentially earlier release.

So if we did not know it was on our server, it isnt illegal? I am not sure that it flies and if it does that loophole is going to be stuffed.

Originally posted by Merinda
So if we did not know it was on our server, it isnt illegal? I am not sure that it flies and if it does that loophole is going to be stuffed.

Perhaps a real world scenario would help explain.

Do you have Love film in the US? www.lovefilm.com

Basically if you were streaming a film from the site and they were paying for the intel insider licence to protect their films, it would detect anything you have ripped from them. Or that's my understanding.

And that wouldn't include things you have copied from a music album etc just stuff that uses that particular type of DRM with the service your using.

I can't wait for this new website. I loved megaupload. I created a collection of old abandonware video games called Dark Phoenix's Retro Releases. For each game I upgraded it with mods like engine tweaks and new textures bringing the game kicking and screaming into the 21st century, then i released my versions on megaupload.

What I loved about it unlike torrents is the files stayed there all the time and you could always count on them being there. With torrents, once a file get some age it loses popularity and is harder to find seeders for it.

One drawback I can see with Mega is people will post their uploads on forums and provide links to the mega URL and encryption key so you can download that file. The Gov can say all mega has to do is search these websites and they can know what is on their servers. I'm assuming this is how the system will work. I have been a member of many such forums like megauploadforum.com. ( now defunct)