MegaUpload will be reborn as Me.ga in January
Kim DotCom, founder of the controversial MegaUpload service, says that the new site avoids violating U.S. copyright law.
Kim DotCom is once again making news and thumbing his nose at authorities.
DotCom told Reuters today that he will launch Mega, the son of MegaUpload, near the first anniversary of the police raid on his home and the shutdown of MegaUpload, a storage service accused of hosting millions of pirated movies, music and other digital media.
Police in New Zealand arrested DotCom last January at the request of the U.S. government, which has alleged in an indictment that DotCom and six associates are guilty of criminal copyright violations, conspiracy, and money laundering. DotCom and the other defendants deny wrongdoing and are fighting attempts by U.S. prosecutors to extradite him to this country to stand trial.
The new cloud storage service will differ from MegaUpload in an important ways, according to DotCom. First, instead of using the .com domain, it will operate on the Gabon-based domain .ga, as Me.ga.
The service will also not make use of any U.S. hosting companies. Mega will also enable copyright owners will be able to get "direct delete access" of pirated content provided they agree not to hold Mega's operators responsible for the infringement, DotCom told Reuters.