WebProNews » Mega http://www.webpronews.com Breaking News in Tech, Search, Social, & Business Mon, 27 May 2013 01:30:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Kim Dotcom Loses Appeal In Extradition Battle http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-loses-appeal-in-extradition-battle-2013-03 http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-loses-appeal-in-extradition-battle-2013-03#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:11:21 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=219441 With all the excitement over the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that Kim Dotcom is still facing extradition to the U.S. To fight this, Dotcom and his legal team argues that they need access to the evidence the U.S. will bring against them. Lower courts agreed with Dotcom, but the Court of Appeals didn’t buy the argument.

TorrentFreak reports that the Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that said the U.S. had to present all the evidence it had on Dotcom and his associates. In its ruling, the court says that evidence is not required in an extradition case because it’s not a trial over whether the party is innocent or guilty. Instead, the court said that the U.S. only has to prove that they have a case against Dotcom to move things forward.

It’s a pretty big setback for Dotcom, as he was hoping to get access to all the evidence the U.S. has against him. Dotcom isn’t giving up, however, and plans to bring his case before the Supreme Court.

For the next installment in the long running Dotcom legal battle, we’re going to have to wait for word from the Supreme Court. If it picks up the case, we can expect to see Dotcom’s already delayed extradition trial delayed even further. If the court doesn’t agree to hear the case, Dotcom’s extradition trial will go on as planned in August. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-loses-appeal-in-extradition-battle-2013-03/feed 0 Mega Branching Out Into Encrypted Email Soon http://www.webpronews.com/mega-branching-out-into-encrypted-email-soon-2013-02 http://www.webpronews.com/mega-branching-out-into-encrypted-email-soon-2013-02#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:31:16 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=218856 One of the major advantages of using Mega, at least according to Kim Dotcom, is that it has world class encryption that blocks anybody from snooping on the files you’re downloading. Now Dotcom wants to apply that same encryption to the world of email.

The Guardian reports that Dotcom plans to launch “an end-to-end encrypted email service” in the future. He says the email client would be fully secure so users “won’t have to worry that a government or Internet service provider will be looking at [their] email.”

A fully private email client would be welcome as more people are starting to look for more ways to secure their privacy. Microsoft may think that it’s a privacy warrior in its new Scroogled campaign, but the real threat comes from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA.

A pro-privacy email client could be very popular around the world, especially in developed nations where fears of email surveillance are high. The demand might be high enough for people who don’t use the Mega file storage service to at least use the email service.

So, when will this Mega email service become available? Dotcom’s talk at London, where he announced the service, didn’t go into details. He did, however, post this wonderful picture of his disembodied head on a projector screen:

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/mega-branching-out-into-encrypted-email-soon-2013-02/feed 0 Mega Gets 3 Million Users In A Month, Mobile App Coming Soon http://www.webpronews.com/mega-gets-3-million-users-in-a-month-will-get-a-mobile-app-soon-2013-02 http://www.webpronews.com/mega-gets-3-million-users-in-a-month-will-get-a-mobile-app-soon-2013-02#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:17:17 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=217798 Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched last month with a ridiculous launch party that included a fake FBI raid on Dotcom’s mansion. After the launch, the file-sharing service managed to snag over a million users in just a few days. According to Dotcom, the latest numbers show that Mega continues to grow.

In a Twitter post yesterday, Dotcom revealed that Mega now has over 3 million users and over 125 million files hosted on the service. He also revealed that Mega would be getting a mobile app soon:

Dotcom also revealed usage statistics by country, and found that most of Mega’s users come from France, followed by Spain, Brazil and Germany. The U.S. brings up the rear at number five. TechDirt points out that France leading the world in Mega usage is interesting as the country recently put in a “three strikes” system to punish those who pirate content on torrents and P2P networks. They note that correlation is not causation, but it is interesting to think that Mega is becoming a file-sharing haven for those in countries, like France and Spain, that have implemented harsh file-sharing laws.

As the year goes on, expect Mega to grow even larger with the help of a mobile app and the recent announcement that Mega would be accepting bitcoins as payment. The security and anonymity promised by Mega may also help the file sharing network grow as more countries around the world implement systems intended to punish file-sharers.

[h/t: The Next Web]

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/mega-gets-3-million-users-in-a-month-will-get-a-mobile-app-soon-2013-02/feed 1 Vikram Kumar Is The New CEO Of Mega http://www.webpronews.com/vikram-kumar-is-the-new-ceo-of-mega-2013-02 http://www.webpronews.com/vikram-kumar-is-the-new-ceo-of-mega-2013-02#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:33:28 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=215650 With all the theatrics surrounding the life of Kim Dotcom and the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that the startup is a legitimate file sharing business. As such, the company was in need of a permanent CEO as current CEO Tony Lentino was only in the position on a temporary basis. After some searching, it looks like Mega has found its man.

Mega announced today that former CEO of InternetNZ, Vikram Kumar, has joined on as the CEO of Mega. The appointment of Kumar to the CEO seat is a good choice as he headed the non-profit InternetNZ, a group dedicated to an “open and uncapturable Internet.” An ideal that Mega founder Kim Dotcom holds dear.

“Mega is delighted to welcome Vikram Kumar as its new CEO”, said Lentino. “I have assisted Mega since its inception, putting time and energy into finding investors, setting up support staff and general overview of the company in its initial stage. Now Mega runs on a day-to-day routine, and I am pleased to hand the role of CEO to Vikram who is an experienced leader in the Internet industry.”

In his new role as CEO, Kumar says that he looks forward to building on the “initial success” of Mega and developing it “into a significant company on the international Internet stage.” His profile says that he takes great interest in “the challenges the Internet is facing such as privacy, security and openness.” Once again, another sign that Kumar and Dotcom are a match made in Internet heaven.

As for former interim CEO Lentino, he’ll still be on Mega’s board of directors while overseeing his own company, Instra Corporation. He said that he’ll be working alongside other Mega executives to make the new startup a “global success.”

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/vikram-kumar-is-the-new-ceo-of-mega-2013-02/feed 0 Kim Dotcom Offers Cash Reward To Anyone Who Breaks Mega’s Security http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-offers-cash-reward-to-anyone-who-breaks-megas-security-2013-02 http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-offers-cash-reward-to-anyone-who-breaks-megas-security-2013-02#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:47:11 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=214393 ]]> Mega has been under a lot of scrutiny since it launched over a week ago, and not just from the copyright lobby. The Internet security community has been claiming that Mega isn’t as secure as Kim Dotcom claims. Now Dotcom is offering a cash reward to anybody that can prove it.

In a tweet, Dotcom offered a €10,000 ($13,500) reward to anybody that can crack Mega’s security:

In a previous blog post, Dotcom addressed some of the initial concerns the security community had with Mega. One of the major concerns was that users could not change their password, which is required to decrypt your files. To allay that concern, Mega now lets you change your password. Users can also reset their password under the following scenarios:

  • You are still logged in
  • You are not logged in, but your account is empty (password resets with data present are considerably more tricky — we do not want a breach of your e-mail account to jeopardize the integrity of your files — and will be addressed at a later stage)

    • The change doesn’t address all of the concerns, but it’s a good start. For the other concerns, security researchers will have to break Mega’s encryption and prove that it needs work. From there, Dotcom and his team of developers will hopefully fix any problems found.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-offers-cash-reward-to-anyone-who-breaks-megas-security-2013-02/feed 0     Grab Some Popcorn And Watch The Hour Long Mega Launch Party http://www.webpronews.com/grab-some-popcorn-and-watch-the-hour-long-mega-launch-party-2013-01 http://www.webpronews.com/grab-some-popcorn-and-watch-the-hour-long-mega-launch-party-2013-01#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:27:11 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=213033 As you all know by now, Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched over the weekend to much fanfare. The new file-sharing site is already in the top 150 most visited sites on the Internet, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

    Dotcom has already shared the speech he gave at the launch of Mega, but we didn’t get to see the full spectacle. Now you have the opportunity to see what all the hubbub was about as Dotcom launched his latest product.

    The video clocks in at an hour and 14 minutes long. You might want to grab a snack:

    Despite hosting a massive launch event, Mega has not been without its stumbles over its first few days. The service was a little unreliable at first, and then reports started coming out that Mega’s encryption wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. The launch problems have been fixed already, but Dotcom is now engaging critics of the site’s encryption. He will even be offering a cash reward soon for those who can break it.

    Perhaps the strangest thing to come out of the launch, however, was the above video being taken down from YouTube as a result of a DMCA complaint from GEMA. Dotcom claims all the songs in the video are of his own creation. The video is back up, but Dotcom says GEMA will be hearing from his lawyers.

    It’s pretty obvious that Dotcom and Mega will continue to run into situations like this as the file-sharing service becomes more popular. In fact, it shouldn’t be too long before we start hearing some noise from the same media industry that’s been gloating about the shut down of Megaupload.

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/grab-some-popcorn-and-watch-the-hour-long-mega-launch-party-2013-01/feed 0     Watch Kim Dotcom’s Speech At The Mega Launch http://www.webpronews.com/watch-kim-dotcoms-speech-at-the-mega-launch-2013-01 http://www.webpronews.com/watch-kim-dotcoms-speech-at-the-mega-launch-2013-01#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:03:37 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=212657 You’ve probably heard a lot about the Mega launch over the weekend by now. The file sharing service hit 1 million users within a day, and is now quickly catching up to established file sharing service, Dropbox. What you may not have heard is the speech Kim Dotcom gave at the launch event. Well, now you can watch the speech in its entirety courtesy of Dotcom himself.

    Dotcom’s YouTube channel was updated today with a recording of his speech at the public of Mega. Like everything Dotcom does, the event was the epitome of extravagance and indulgence. There was even a fake FBI raid that poked fun at the very real raid that was carried out by New Zealand police a little over a year ago at his mansion.

    Besides a few jokes in bad taste, the speech mostly dealt with the politics surrounding Internet freedom. His hope is that Mega will start a dialog on copyright reform. He also issues a stern warning to those “who use copyright law as a weapon to drown innovation and stifle competition” by saying that they will “be left on the side of the road of history.”

    The speech will definitely please Internet freedom fighters, but Anonymous may not be so welcome to his words. The hacker collective has labeled Dotcom a “snitch” and says his working with the authorities in 2010 is what led to the arrest and conviction of the founders of NinjaVideo.

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/watch-kim-dotcoms-speech-at-the-mega-launch-2013-01/feed 0     Anonymous Blames Kim Dotcom For The Closure Of NinjaVideo http://www.webpronews.com/anonymous-blames-kim-dotcom-for-the-closure-of-ninjavideo-2013-01 http://www.webpronews.com/anonymous-blames-kim-dotcom-for-the-closure-of-ninjavideo-2013-01#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:58:28 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=212529 Members of Anonymous have been huge supporters of Kim Dotcom since the feds took down Megaupload in early 2012. The collective even engaged one of its largest operations to date in defense of the site. Now the same group is calling Dotcom a “snitch.” What happened to bring about this sudden change?

    For those who have been following the legal fight between Megaupload and the DoJ in the U.S., you would know that Megaupload thinks the U.S. set them up. In 2010, the feds asked Dotcom to keep some files on their servers to help in a separate IP investigation. Dotcom consented and kept the files while the fed went about its work. Dotcom accuses the feds of using those same files later as evidence when shutting down Megaupload in 2012.

    Now, this is where things get interesting. Wired reported last November on some case files that had been unsealed in the case that found those files that Dotcom held onto were used in the investigation and eventual conviction of the founders of NinjaVideo, a video streaming site that piggybacked off of Megaupload’s Megavideo service.

    Disregarding the fact that the Wired report is over three months old, Anonymous has now come to the conclusion that Dotcom is a traitor to the cause. Here’s a snippet of the press release:

    In the Wired article, it outlines that in June of 2010, Dotcom agreed to keep secret a warrant by the DHS HSI IPR Center of Carpathia hosting, and was told by HSI that he was not target of the investigation, which he had in fact been a target of since January of 2010. Dotcom “cooperated” in the “spirit” of “being a good corporate citizen”, which apparently means ratting small fish out so the the top dog can stay king. Kim Dotcom thinks he can play both pirate and “good corporate citizen” at the same time, but one cannot be both.

    Kim Dotcom broke the pirate code. He is a snitch, and needs to be exposed to the world as such. Hana Beshara, “Queen Phara”, has been sitting in FPC Bryan in Texas for the past year awaiting release this August because Kim willingly cooperated with this investigation, thinking he would be building a rapport with the IPR fanatics at DHS. Matthew David Howard Smith, aka (Dead1ine), founder of NinjaVideo, will be released from Butner Penitentiary in North Carolina this April.

    Let’s just look into how ridiculous this is. Never once has Dotcom ever claimed to be a pirate or fighting for pirate rights. He believes in a free Internet for sure, and he thinks that Hollywood should update its business model to reflect changes brought about by the digital age. That being said, he never once said content should be free, and is in fact working on legitimate business models where artists get paid more for their work directly from fans (see Megabox) instead of through labels.

    The problem here lies in what Anonymous wanted Dotcom to be, and who Dotcom really is. Anonymous thought he was the next great pirate martyr fighting for the free flow of information, and Dotcom is that to an extent. He’s well loved by Internet groups because he’s fighting against what he feels is an abuse of power by the IP lobby and media industries. What Anonymous didn’t see or just refused to acknowledge is that Dotcom is also a businessman. He’s trying to make a profit even if his methods challenge the status quo and land him in trouble.

    Both sides have compelling arguments in this admittedly one-sided fight as Dotcom has so far refused to acknowledge Anonymous’ accusations. Dotcom’s U.S. lawyer Ira Rothken said that Megaupload was only being a “good corporate citizen” by handing over the data. Anonymous says that Dotcom was selling out a fellow ally in the fight against aggressive IP rights protection.

    An individual’s stance in this new fight will be decided by how they feel about Dotcom and the Megaupload case. Many feel that he’s only in this to save his own ass, and is using his current trial as a publicity stunt to build up hype for his new services like Mega and Megabox. Others feel that he is fighting for reform and Internet freedom. I don’t think this particular revelation about his involvement in NinjaVideo is going to change many peoples’ perception of him. You either already didn’t like the man, or you think he’s just doing his best to make good out of a nasty situation.

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/anonymous-blames-kim-dotcom-for-the-closure-of-ninjavideo-2013-01/feed 3     Kim Dotcom Says Mega Is Already Catching Up To Dropbox http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-says-mega-is-already-catching-up-to-dropbox-2013-01 http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-says-mega-is-already-catching-up-to-dropbox-2013-01#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:58:04 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=212487 Mega launched over the weekend to much fanfare. The new file sharing site from Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom already reached over 1 million users within a day, and it’s still growing. For now, Dotcom is taking a break from the public eye, but he’s still tweeting away all kinds of stats about his new startup.

    In a series of tweets from about 10 hours ago, Dotcom announces some early stats for Mega. The biggest surprise is definitely how fast Mega has grown since its launch. We know that the site has over 1 million registered users, but it’s obviously higher than that now. Dotcom isn’t sharing the exact number, however, because he says he can’t believe it.

    Although we can’t see how many registered users the site has, we can see that it’s growing astronomically thanks to a tweet from Dotcom that compares Mega’s traffic to established file sharing service Dropbox.

    He also tweeted out that Mega is now the largest .co.nz site on the Internet. I’m betting the folks in Gabon were now wishing they let Dotcom keep his original me.ga domain name.

    Of course, the launch has not been without some issues. The ever increasing demand for Mega is causing the site to load slowly for some while others are having issues with uploading. Dotcom is aware of the issues and is promising to get everything under control:

    Another issue Dotcom now faces are reports that Mega’s much hyped security and encryption are not as protective as he claims. He says that he he will be addressing those issues soon:

    Mega has already proven to be a success, but how long will it last? TorrentFreak reported yesterday that anti-piracy group StopFileLockers is already attempting to shut off Mega’s revenue streams. Similar groups are probably exploring their options in regards to Mega as well. Dotcom claims his new site is legal, but the media industry will no doubt find something to complain about.

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/kim-dotcom-says-mega-is-already-catching-up-to-dropbox-2013-01/feed 1     Mega Already Has Over 1 Million Users, Dotcom Teases Future Projects http://www.webpronews.com/mega-already-has-over-1-million-users-dotcom-teases-future-projects-2013-01 http://www.webpronews.com/mega-already-has-over-1-million-users-dotcom-teases-future-projects-2013-01#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:15:32 +0000 Zach Walton http://www.webpronews.com/?p=212200 On Sunday, Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz finally launched after a year of preparation and rebuilding since the original Megaupload was shut down in early 2012. Dotcom held a massive media event in New Zealand to celebrate the launch, and provided more details as to what his goals are with this latest venture.

    The Next Web reports that Dotcom announced at the Mega launch media event that the service has gained over 1 million users within a day. It’s a fantastic start, but the service still has a ways to go before it reaches the levels seen with the original Megaupload.

    At the event, Dotcom shared some more details about Mega and other upcoming projects like Megabox. First and foremost, he assured the audience that something like Megaupload won’t happen again because his team “scrutinized every pixel to ensure it’s built from the ground up to adhere to the law.” As for the 220 jobs lost when Megaupload was shut down, Dotcom says he plans to offer every one of them their jobs back while creating a few hundred jobs in New Zealand. As for Megabox, he says the service will launch in six months.

    Of course, a concern is that Hollywood and the music industry may not appreciate the relaunch of the Mega brand. To them, Dotcom says he he wants “to find a diplomatic solution.” To further elaborate, he says that “the wiser thing to is to start a dialog to solve this problem between Hollywood and the Internet. We can solve this by sitting down together.” He extended the same offer to President Barack Obama despite the fact that Obama’s administration are the ones leading the prosecution in the states.

    Speaking of movies, Dotcom teased on Facebook that he also plans to revive Megavideo in a slightly different format. Just like Megabox, he fully intends to shake up the industry with Megamovie. It’s only a tease at the moment so details are scarce, but it seems like a service that would allow movie studios to sell their films directly to consumers while retaining more profit compared to other services like iTunes or Amazon Instant Video. Considering that Megabox is still six months out, it will probably be a while before we see anything more on Megamovie.

    Megabox1 day ago

    That was just the beginning.

    Powered by socialditto  241 likes ·  64 comments

    So, what will Dotcom do now that Mega has been launched? He said that he plans to take a step back from the public eye for a while. During that time, he will be writing a book about his experiences over the last year. He also wants to take a break because he doesn’t want “to be seen as someone who is always in the media.” He can’t escape the public eye completely, however, as he will be attending court a lot over the course of the year as his extradition hearing approaches.

    ]]>     http://www.webpronews.com/mega-already-has-over-1-million-users-dotcom-teases-future-projects-2013-01/feed 0