The MegaUpload Saga just got far more interesting. We reported back when this all first started that the only reason the U.S. could go after MegaUpload was because some of their servers were hosted in the U.S. out of Carpathia Hosting in Virginia. The data was going to be erased, but the Pirate Party and the EFF both want the government to let legitimate users access to their data first. Kim Dotcom, now out on bail, understandably wants access to the servers for his defense.

So here we are today with Ars Technica reporting that Carpathia spent $9,000 a day in keeping the servers up and running in a facility. MegaUpload could totally pay for the expenses if the company’s accounts weren’t completely frozen. Carpathia, tired of renting out a facility to house these servers, took it upon themselves to move the servers to one of their own facilities at their own expense.

Carpathia, after footing the bill for so long, wants the U.S. government to start paying them back for keeping these servers online. A reasonable request since multiple parties don’t want the information gone just yet. The aforementioned parties want it for defense and consumer reasons and the MPAA wants the data so they can start suing MegaUpload and its partners. The government isn’t having any of it though. They say that legitimate users are out of luck. As for the MPAA, they haven’t filed any kind of lawsuit yet so there’s no reason to retain the information for them.

What about Carpathia’s valid complaint about them losing money over all of this? The government says they should just wipe the servers and lease them to new customers. The government doesn’t need the data anymore and they couldn’t care less about any other parties using it. In fact, the prosecution would be pleased as punch if Dotcom wasn’t allowed access to the data that could help him win his trial.

But wait, there was that one story that said Dotcom’s money and possessions may have been seized with the wrong warrant. If this is true, he could get all his money back which would lead to him being able to get the servers back. No so, says the U.S. government, obviously seeing the opportunity Dotcom has here. They claim the servers can’t be let out of their jurisdiction because their contents could be used for illegal activities if let back out in the wild. If that wasn’t bad enough, they also pulled the old child porn card claiming that sources detailed the existence of child porn on the servers which would make the servers contraband.

So there you have it, folks. Things just got a whole lot more interesting in the MegaUpload Saga. The judge in the case could still rule that the government does indeed owe Carpathia money, but the government is going to fight that tooth and nail. Carpathia still has the option to delete the info off the server, but they also damn Dotcom to a weak defense if they do so. Not to mention pissing off the thousands of legitimate users who demand their data be returned to them.

We’ll keep you updated on any developments over the coming months. Remember, Kim Dotcom’s extradition hearing begins in August. That’s when things should get really interesting if they weren’t interesting enough for you already.