Dotcom opens ‘Mega’ sharing site

Kim Dotcom – the owner of Megaupload.com which was closed a year ago has started a new website. The new file storage and sharing site has already received a lot of attention and Dotcom says that innovation won't be stopped.

The new Mega website started accepting registrations from the public at 6.48am Auckland time which is the same time that the first helicopter landed at his NZ$30 million mansion a year ago. Tactical squad officers raided his house at the time.

The new site had more than a million visitors and 500,000 people registered in the first 14 hours according to the man himself. He invited journalists and other people to launch the new site.

Dotcom stood on a stage outside his home and said “I’ve never seen anything like this. Sometimes good things come out of terrible events.”

The new Mega website will let users upload, download and share files, in the similar way to Dropbox and even youtube.com according to Dotcom. Mega also allows file encryption through an Internet browser with the user having the only key to unlock the file. This prevents governments and storage providers from viewing the contents.

Dotcom said that breaking into a file at Mega is ‘impossible'. They are using 2048-bit RSA SSL code which would take a desktop computer around 500,000 times longer than the age of the universe (13 billion years old).

Gizmodo have said that the random generation of the encryption code may actually be predictable. They said “The code actually leaves Mega open to decide whether or not they feel like enforcing encryption for any given user. Of course, it also benefits Mega to keep everything encrypted for its own ‘see no evil’ purposes.”

A year previous Dotcom's house was raided and authorities seized 18 vehicles and his Megaupload sites were shut and his bank accounts were frozen in Hong Kong. He then spent four weeks in jail before winning his release on bail.

His new stage show promoting Mega included characters dressed in swat gear with fake assault rifles. They jumped down from the roof of his house while a helicopter with FBI printed on the side hovered overhead.

He said “This is not about mocking any government or Hollywood. To those who use copyright laws to stifle innovation, you will be left behind on the side of the road of history.”

Megaupload had generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds from the exchange of pirated movies, games, books and software.

Kitguru says: The man is going to make a lot of money again.

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