Megaupload user to get a hearing

One of the users that has his data seized as part of the Megaupload takedown by US and NZ authorities, Kyle Goodwin, has been granted a hearing, that will allow him to fight for the retrieval of his data – something that the US officials are not keen on at all.

The claim by the FBI and other organisations, is that ultimately Megaupload is filled with pirated movies, games and music. The argument from many of the site's users, is that in-fact they had a lot of legitimate personal files on there, including family photos, homemade music and important backups.

Currently all that data is sitting on the Megaupload servers, that have been held by US authorities for the past ten months, with no user able to access them. Back in May, Goodwin filed a motion with the support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, asking courts to find a way to get the data back to Megaupload users. After several months of negotiations and increasing pressure from the EFF, Mr Goodwin now has a hearing.

“The Court stated today that it will hold a hearing to find out the details about Mr. Goodwin’s property – where it is, what happened when the government denied him access to it, and whether and how he can get it back,” says EFF attorney Julie Samuels (via Torrentfreak).

KitGuru Says: This is a case that could massively help out Kim Dotcom too. If the data is handed back to users, it makes Megaupload not look like the nest of piracy that the FBI and others claim it is, while if users aren't granted their data back, it could be argued that the users were the pirates, not the platform owner.

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