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Kim Dotcom Reveals Mega Will Offer 50GB of Free Storage
An anonymous reader writes "Kim Dotcom on Thursday used Twitter to reveal some interesting new tidbits in regards to his upcoming Mega service, which will be hosted at the New Zealand-based domain Mega.co.nz. Two days before the service is to go live, Doctom says he plans to offer 50GB of free storage to all members and is also working on bringing over users' Megaupload files and data, but has so far run into legal issues." To say that Kim Dotcom has "run into legal issues" is like saying that Julian Assange is having a sleepover at the Ecuadorian embassy.
Hangin out in Middle Earth for a few months.
Tricksy Hobbitses
Though I think Sony is probably one of the least evil offenders in this regard
I guess you've forgotten about XCP, eh? I surely never will, having been a victim. When was the last time Universal deliberately planted vandalous malwars on their customers' machines and called it "DRM"?
Sony is the worst.
The site isn't live yet, but the information pages are *really* interesting.
1) Distributed storage?
Mega is inviting people to be a mega storage node. Allocate some storage and bandwidth on your system, and Mega will store files there.
This would imply (to me, at least) that the site will use distributed storage. If I'm right, that means it will be nigh impossible for any authority to take the data offline in a single action. All Kim needs is a list associating peoples' files with where they are physically stored, and it won't matter to *the users* if the site gets taken down - he can just publish the list and everyone can get their files from the cloud storage nodes directly. (I'm probably overlooking a more elegant solution, such as unpublicized backup domains which can be announced as alternate portals if the main site gets taken down.)
Also - They propose to *pay you* for being a mega storage node. That won't be popular, no sirreee...
2) Published API?
They propose to publish a comprehensive API and software dev kit. In their words: "We hope to see a thriving ecosystem of crypto-enabled third-party client apps emerge."
We don't need to trust Kim for security. Open source applications will sprout like weeds, and you can choose from whichever publisher you trust. (The Firefox plugin from Mozilla perhaps, or the version put out by the Apache foundation...)
2) Encryption == No liability?
In their words: "You hold the keys to what you store in the cloud, not us."
This neatly avoids any liability on their part for hosting content, and at the same time protects everyone's online content from random web snooping by the likes of CIA, NSA, and various repressive regimes. Including Chinese hackers.
IANAL, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that attaching liability to this type of storage would require new laws, and a sea shift in the way liability is determined. Any such change would be unworkable, since it would also encompass broad swatches of the existing internet.
3) Better functionality
The site mentions improvements in functionality, such as having servers near the customer for speed (due to the distributed nature of storage), complete disk functionality, and so on.
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I have to say, this *really does* look like it will change the world, and will be the future made manifest.
Go check out Mega.co.nz and see for yourself - it's an interesting read.
(Oh, and if you would like to help erode the influence of the media conglomerates (RIAA, MPAA, &c), getting a free account and storing your legally owned files would be a drop in the bucket towards that end.)
Sounds a lot like mega cons. You'd think he could have done better.
Imagine McAfee and Dotcome sitting in a hot tub together, discussing their wild techno fantasies. You're welcome.
Yes, Sir =)
The problem with Mr. Dot-Butt-Cum and his illegal theft operation is that he is clearly attempting to facilitate the theft of assets legally owned by folks other than himself, depriving these legal owners of income from their legally owned assets.
That's not a problem for me.
It's reached the point where I just don't care about the feelings or rights of the "legal owners of income" any more.
For lots of issues there are mitigating circumstances, ways to "consider the other person's point of view", ways to frame the discussion as shades of grey.
Not for these people.
I don't care about the arguments any more. No mitigating circumstances, no heartfelt appeals to starving artists, no reframing of the situation from their point of view.
There comes a point when considering their view is too much of a reach, and you admit to yourself that these people are just plain evil.
Buddah fought against evil, and so do I.
Mr. Dot-Butt-Cum is a despicable low-life (really) whose illegal operation will do more good for the world than all the media conglomerates put together. I applaud him for his sense of hurt, his outrage, and most importantly - his sense of doing something about it!
It's a problem for you, not a problem for me. I wonder how many people think it's not a problem for them, either?