Kim Dotcom, the rotund founder of the shuttered Web storage site Megaupload, is back in business.
Months after he first hyped his new venture on Twitter, the flamboyant entrepreneur is launching a “raid proof” web locker called Mega, which “will work slightly different than Megaupload but will still let users upload, store, and share data files,” CNET reported.
Using a new encryption system, users will be able to password protect their files unlike ever before. And in order for the new company to avoid liability, Mega will not know what sort of files are being uploaded.
“So, even if one country decides to go completely berserk from a legal perspective and freeze all servers, for example—which we don’t expect, because we’ve fully complied with all the laws of the countries we place servers in—or if a natural disaster happens, there’s still another location where all the files are available,” Mega partner Mathias Ortmann told Wired. “This way, it’s impossible to be subjected to the kind of abuse that we’ve had in the U.S.”
In an August tweet, Dotcom described the service as “100% safe and unstoppable.”
Megaupload was shut down by U.S. customs officials in January, coinciding with a swarm of New Zealand police invading Dotcom’s home via helicopter to arrest him. The site has been down since despite the fact that court later declared the raid illegal.
The raid on Dotcom’s $30 million Auckland mansion was like something out of of a bad action movie. It included New Zealand’s elite anti-terrorist police force and a ground force armed with M4 assault rifles, pistols, and a dog. Inside was an unarmed Dotcom, his wife and children, his Filipino staff, and his security manager.
News of the new web storage venture has already caught the attention of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) which Dotcom believes is at the center of his legal woes.
“While we haven’t seen how this alleged new project will operate, we do know that Kim Dotcom has built his career on stealing creative works,” MPAA spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield told The Hill. “He has undermined the people who work hard to produce the movies and TV shows audiences love, and has damaged the consumer experience by pushing stolen, illegitimate content into the marketplace.”
Mega isn’t the only new product Dotcom plans to launch this year. He has also been promoting a music service called Megabox, which would include both paid and ad-supported music downloads.
Although it hasn’t debuted yet, Megabox is already drawing criticism for a model that would replace the ads in users’ web browsers with ads of its own.
Photo by Abode of Chaos/Flickr