Kim Dotcom’s New MEGA Encrypted Cloud Storage Now Opened to Public
A year after file-storage site MegaUpload was brought down by U.S. law enforcement officials targeting piracy, flamboyant founder Kim DotCom has lunched his new site, Mega.
As of this minute one year ago #Megaupload was destroyed by the US Government. Welcome to Mega.co.nz
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 19, 2013
The cloud storage service is currently under heavy load, with thousands of user registrations per minute and 100,000 registered users within the site’s first hour, according to Dotcom.
Site is extremely busy. Currently thousands of user registrations PER MINUTE.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 19, 2013
Two hours in, he tweeted that the site’s server capacity was on maximum load with 250,000 registrations:
250,000 user registrations. Server capacity on maximum load. Should get better when initial frenzy is over. Wow!!!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 19, 2013
DotCom said Mega users would get 50GB of storage for free and that his lawyers are working on giving former MegaUpload premium users their premium statuses on the new site.
On top of the free storage, Mega — which offers encryption and is being touted as “an awesome cloud storage service that will help protect your privacy” — offers three pricing plans with added storage space and bandwidth.
Dotcom is already teasing a new service on the tail of Mega’s successful launch. In a tweet directed at the MPAA, Dotcom unveiled a screenshot of MegaMovie, which appears to be a service for movies, television shows, and music — content that caused many of Megaupload’s legal woes. The screenshot reveals options to discover new content and share recommendations with other friends using the service.
DotCom’s earlier cyber storage locker, MegaUpload, was launched in 2005, only to be shuttered by U.S. federal agencies, which argued that it was a service pirates were using to facilitate copyright infringement. After being taken to court by U.S. officials for running an alleged “criminal enterprise,” DotCom said he had “no intention” of reactivating MegaUpload, and furthermore would not establish any similar business while extradition proceedings were taking place.
The arrival of mega.co.nz as a cloud-based storage locker may have U.S. prosecutors in a tizzy, but MegaUpload’s defense team says DotCom is “entitled to innovate and work in technology like any other innocent New Zealander” until he’s found to be otherwise.
You can register for yourself here. (It might take a few attempts; just keep hitting “refresh” if you have trouble.)
Source: Mega