Dotcom 'in tears' after Dutch company deletes Megaupload files

[News_Editor]

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (BNO NEWS) -- Controversial internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom said he was "in tears" Thursday after a Dutch hosting company erased hundreds of servers previously rented by outlawed file-sharing website Megaupload, calling it the "largest data massacre" in history.

Megaupload, which reached 180 million registered users and was listed among the 100 most visited websites in the world, was shut down by U.S. prosecutors in January 2012 after the site's leaders were charged with running an international organized criminal enterprise. They allege the owners were responsible for an estimated $500 million in losses to copyright owners.

But with a court case still underway, Dutch hosting firm LeaseWeb announced this week it had erased 630 dedicated servers that had been rented by Megaupload. "Millions of personal Megaupload files, petabytes of pictures, backups, personal and business property forever destroyed by LeaseWeb," Dotcom said.

The internet entrepreneur, who earlier this year launched a new website offering file storage, said he was "in tears" after finding out the data had been irreversibly lost. "This is the largest data massacre in the history of the Internet caused by the U.S. government, the Department of Justice and Leaseweb," he added.

Dotcom said it had not been warned by LeaseWeb that it was planning to wipe clean the servers, and his lawyer Ira Rothken said Megaupload had "continuously urged" the hosting firm to preserve user data and evidence. LeaseWeb said it deleted the servers on February 1, but Megaupload was not informed until this week.

"The LeaseWeb servers contained my personal files on Megaupload. Important evidence destroyed. How is this justice?" Dotcom asked in a series of tweets. "The FBI seized all my data and hasn't given me a copy yet. And now my backups on Megaupload are gone too. How convenient."

But Alex de Joode, senior regulatory counsel for LeaseWeb, defended the company's decision to erase the servers and claimed nobody had shown an interest in them. "For over a year these servers were being stored and preserved by LeaseWeb, at its own costs ... without any request to do so and without any compensation," he said.

De Joode, describing the storage of 630 out of 60,000 servers a "relatively small burden," said keeping the servers would have had to serve a purpose. "During the year we stored the servers and the data, we received no request for access nor any request to retain the data. After a year of nobody showing any interest in the servers and data we considered our options," he explained.

The hosting firm said it had informed Megaupload about its decision to "re-provision the servers," but De Joode said the company had received no response. "To minimize security risks and maximize the privacy of our clients, it is a standard procedure at LeaseWeb to completely clean servers before they are offered to any new customer," he added.

But Dotcom rejected De Joode's statements, insisting it had repeatedly asked LeaseWeb to retain the data stored on the servers, which were part of a larger network of servers run by the file-sharing website. "LeaseWeb could have waited for the U.S. court to decide on Megaupload user data. They knew of our desire to pay if the court released funds," he said.

"Leaseweb has taken it upon themselves to play judge and executioner," Dotcom continued, adding that he would seek to evaluate potential legal claims against LeaseWeb on behalf of Megaupload and its users. "Nobody should believe for a second that we haven't tried everything to convince LeaseWeb not to delete Megaupload user data."

When U.S. prosecutors shut down Megaupload in January 2012, authorities used helicopters and special forces to raid Dotcom's multi-million dollar mansion in Coatesville, New Zealand. He was arrested along with three others, but as the U.S. is looking for his extradition, the process has been delayed with warrants being considered invalid.

According to the initial indictment, U.S. prosecutors estimate Megaupload collected a total of more than $150 million from its premium users since its launch in 2005. Online advertising on Megaupload.com and its associated websites resulted in at least $25 million more in income.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)

[harrry]

He shouldn't worry. I am sure the Feds have a complete backup.

[Thaddeus]

They allege the owners were responsible for an estimated $500 million in losses to copyright owners.

How can you lose something that you never had and aren't likely to get.

[GentlemanJim]

Funny that Bittorrent is one of the largest P2P sites in the world, and it's American and has never been touched. How does that work then? Seems like Bittorrent lobbying the US Government to get rid of competition.

[innerspace]

Funny that Bittorrent is one of the largest P2P sites in the world, and it's American and has never been touched. How does that work then? Seems like Bittorrent lobbying the US Government to get rid of competition.

Bittorrent is software. It hosts and does nothing illegal.

Can be used in illegal ways but...so can a spoon.

Many torrent sites are under attack.

But torrent sites do not host anything illegal. The end users host and share the files. The torrent searching sites just host .torrent files which are links to the other files on end users computers.

Megaupload had 1 company hosting directly the illegal content of millions of people.

Torrents have millions of people hosting millions of things... no simple court case.

Wonder if the hosting company were emailing the @megaupload.com email address they had on file...which was confiscated hence no reply!

[dave111223]

Why would you expect a server company to continue storing your files indefinitely without paying them?

Dotcom had a "desire to pay if..." um...sorry no pay no play.

[dave111223]

Funny that Bittorrent is one of the largest P2P sites in the world, and it's American and has never been touched. How does that work then? Seems like Bittorrent lobbying the US Government to get rid of competition.

Are you joking?

[FDog]

It was like the keystone cops in NZ. Helicopters over the property etc etc.

Then the court found the warrants illegal. The courts have also told the FBI they have illegally confiscated materials and must return them.

NZ police had a nasty rap on the knuckles for just going along with the gung ho FBI without question. I doubt they will do so again.

[tolsti]

Anyway... Kat.ph is back.