Mega: Kim Dotcom Opens Successor to Megaupload Site

Kim Dotcom, internet tycoon and founder of the controversial Megaupload file sharing site, has opened a new site for file storage called Mega at 6.48 a.m. in New Zealand exactly one year after police had raided his rented mansion in New Zealand. Police had conducted the raid coordinating with FBI which had shut down the tycoon's previous file sharing site.

Mega is also a file sharing and storing site which encrypts the files right from user's servers before uploading them to the site servers. These files can be downloaded and then decrypted. This technique would mean that the uploaded files are not readable by anyone, inclusive of the company, without the decryption key of the user.

U.S. Justice Department had indicted the previous site of Dotcom, Megaupload, and its operators based on allegations that the site knew and encouraged the illegal upload of copyrighted file by the users. In contrast with this, the new site Mega seems to be distancing itself from legal responsibility over the contents on the site servers. This is in spite of the terms and conditions on the site forbidding the upload of copyrighted material.

Kin Dotcom is currently facing charges for copyright piracy and money laundering in the United States. He awaits an extradition hearing scheduled to happen in New Zealand. However, he stated on Sunday that his focus is primarily on Mega which has already been receiving heavy traffic, merely two hours after its introduction. He added that within the first fourteen hours of its launch, Mega has already garnered half a million registered users.