What Happens To Your Files When a Cloud Service Shuts Down?

MrSeb writes "Megaupload's shutdown poses an interesting question: What happens to all the files that were stored on the servers? XDA-Developers, for example, has more than 200,000 links to Megaupload — and this morning, they're all broken, with very little hope of them returning. What happens if a similar service, like Dropbox, gets shut down — either through bankruptcy, or federal take-down? Will you be given a chance to download your files, or helped to migrate them to another similar service? What about data stored on enterprise services like Azure or AWS — are they more safe?" And if you're interested, the full indictment against Megaupload is now available.

Comments

Evidence

[Aryden]

As a point, the government will be using all files hosted on those servers as evidence in the case. They will not likely, and are not required to, give access to those files.

Re:Evidence

[Nethemas the Great]

However, you may wish to relocate somewhere that has a reasonable economy and fewer ill feelings towards the US or its citizens. Accordingly Brazil might be a better choice since it has traditionally given the finger to US extradition requests.

Re:Evidence

[forkfail]

That, in a word, is horseshit.

The legitimate users of the service have lost real property without any intent to do wrong. The takedown was without warning. The folks who lost their legitimate data have had their fourth amendment rights absolutely trampled.

And you think they should be grateful that all they lost was their data, and not their physical freedom?

Re:Evidence

[Marxist Hacker 42]

And if it's damning, there are plenty of dead-man-switch based e-mail services that will happily e-mail your file to several news outlets for a cheap price if you fail to check in.

Re:Evidence

[sjames]

I have no doubt that some people used megaupload for for copyright infringement, but it was also a perfectly legitimate service used for lawful purposes by many people.

We don't go bust Ma Bell just because we know that more than one crime has been plotted over the phone.

Re:Evidence

[kiwimate]

According to the indictment:

all users are warned in Megaupload.comâ(TM)s âoeFrequently Asked Questionsâ and Terms of Service that they should not keep the sole copy of any file on Megaupload.com and that users bear all risk of data loss. The Mega Conspiracyâ(TM)s duty to retain any data for even a premium user explicitly ends when either the premium subscription runs out or Megaupload.com decides, at its sole discretion and without any required notice, to stop operating.

But besides this, Megaupload was not positioned as a legitimate backup site. If that's what people wanted, it sure wasn't competing against Carbonite. Numerous sources describe that if you didn't have a premium account then any files you uploaded got deleted if they weren't downloaded within a 21 day period. That's not for backups; that's purely for sharing files, for transferring files from me to you.

There are a ton of people in this story saying exactly this - if you uploaded your only copy of a file to this (or any other) cloud site, then more fool you.

Finally, my comment was about the poster I replied to talking about people being deprived of real property, and pointing out that the prevailing claim on Slashdot is that data files aren't real. One or a thousand copies of the file - according to posters here, it makes no difference in the real world.

So a data file disappears, forever? So what? Nobody's lost real property, have they? Unless you argue about all the work and effort and time spent to create that work - but now we're back to recognizing that electronic data files, despite not being real, nonetheless have "real" origins, and "real" impacts.

The debate is clearly purely semantic, but it's used constantly on Slashdot when the shoe is on the other foot and it's somehow considered an irrefutable stance.

Re:Evidence

[EdIII]

A huge part of the whole cloud approach is that it is an approach to data storage that comes with all of the redundancy built in. The idea is that it's expensive to run your own redundant data stores, keep them secure, etc. So, one basically outsources it to the cloud.

I disagree. If you are using the "cloud" as your sole backup strategy, you have failed. I personally use 3 points of failure. Primary storage, which can be distributed and redundant by itself. Secondary storage, which is really just a copy of Primary but on different hardware. Finally, Offsite storage. I don't use Amazon for that, but another service which is a differential backup, with versioning, and we maintain the encryption keys locally. Only encrypted data gets uploaded to the service.

And if this can happen to one company, it can happen to any, including the "more reputable" ones like AWS. Especially with the SOPA-esque laws and treaties being pushed.

I don't think any company will be safe with SOPA type laws. The end game is going to be complete control and Big Brother watch points at every level of the network. The fundamental idea being that we can't live without Government thinking for us, doing what is in our best interest, and that it needs to be able to watch everything everywhere to protect the American Way of Life. Freedom cannot exist without UnFreedom.

If only I was making that up. How many examples could I give that show Government has that idea? Carnivore? Echelon? Clipper Chip?

This will absolutely break the cloud model. It renders all the advantages of the cloud moot, and in fact, opens up a completely new security hole (that of unwarranted seizure and or destruction of data by government agencies, or perhaps even rival corporations with an accusation of illicit content). Disney thinks that MyLittleComic is storing their data in JoesCloud? Accuse JoesCloud of hosting illicit data, get the whole thing nuked.

This is happening right now. I honestly believe the majority of all DMCA take down notices are fraudulent, hostile, and premeditated sociopathic behavior on the part of content companies.

Not just the DMCA either. Every aspect of government and regulations is gamed by corporations to gain an advantage on other corporations, citizens, or to suppress unpopular speech. Some of it has nothing to do with laws either. Astroturfing?

This results in loss of business (at least in the USA); it makes it harder for the smaller firms and startups to be viable; and it further entrenches those corporations that are big enough to pay the appropiate bribes^H^H^H^H^H^H lobbyist donations in Washington DC.

The US has been fucked for years. The DMCA alone is responsible for huge monetary losses. People are just coming here to learn about technology and get degrees to flee elsewhere where there is more freedom, which is deeply tragic and ironic.

MegaUpload was not in the US. While I don't think this is SOPA-esque behavior because the FBI did conduct an investigation (due process), the people involved were clearly not just complicit, but actively involved in criminal copyright infringement, and stole data from their users. Seriously, we all know this true. Everybody has for years. Let's not feign ignorance simply because it serves the noble purpose of fighting for freedom. MegaUpload was a slimy ass site where you were more likely to get infected by something than to get what you wanted. Anybody I ever dealt with professionally used a different service for private file sharing like Dropbox.

What I do have serious questions about is how the FBI thinks it has international jurisdiction to arrest anyone anywhere when no US laws were violated on US soil.

Finally, I would never, ever argue against due diligence. I would, however, claim that for a number of organizations that cloud use IS due diligence. And I'd still mainta

One story down

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Is a case against some Dell folks for massive insider trading scam.

Wanna take a whild guess as to who gets more jail time?

What happens to the Cloud when it rains ?

[Yvanhoe]

Today, millions of people understood why technical staff always had reservation about "cloud-based" solutions.