Did you miss Megaupload?
It’s coming back my friends.
Bigger and better than ever.https://t.co/9zhpm0ZuTF— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 7, 2016
Noted celebrity hacker, inventor, tech-enthusiast, and all-around cyber-hell-raiser, KimDotCom just announced a juicy sounding new service he plans to drop this upcoming January. Like the good Pavlovian dogs we are, the collective tech choir community voiced a throaty collective Amen! Megaupload is back, or so it seems.
Obviously Megaupload 2.0 will not host servers in the United States or use domains under US control. Avoiding the Mass Surveillance Empire.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 7, 2016
Beyond being based outside of any US jurisdiction, Kim also posted that the new Megaupload would have on-the-fly (end to end) encryption, 100 GB of free storage, and no limit on data transfers. If anything like this comes to pass – successfully – it could well impact the profit margins of many hosting or backup providers. Even more so if Mr. DotCom’s assertions that the entire user registry of original MegaUpload users is in his possession.
Earlier this morning, Dotcom said, “Most Megaupload accounts will be reinstated with Premium privileges on the new Megaupload.” The former users numbered in the neighborhood of almost 100 million. A further series of Tweets confirmed the launch date for January 2017, in line with his somewhat cryptic plans for an encryptable and uncensorable internet with the MegaNet project.
He also reached out saying that former MegaUpload and Mega employees would be welcome to jump aboard the Wild West Web Express, and would be well compensated. “To former Megaupload and current Mega employees. We welcome you with open arms. Mega App developers, we have a great deal for you. Ping me.”
That’s likely as the entire project is a reboot, using no legacy code – though, remember, there is that user database being reinstated as well. It’s unclear where the overlap is there, and how this entire process will shake out. Needless to say, we’ll be following this one closely. Stay tuned for updates.