Kim Dotcom Not Happy, Says 'Mega Mass Piracy Report' Is On the Way (torrentfreak.com) 39
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom does not seem like a happy man right now. After accusing two of his former colleagues [Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk] of facilitating Chinese spying, Dotcom says that a report is being produced to show that mass infringement is taking place on Mega, a company he co-founded. Surprisingly, he says it will include live pirate links to content posted by Mega users. [...] Turning his attention to former colleagues Ortmann and van der Kolk, last week Dotcom publicly blamed them for his exit from Mega, claiming they had "stolen" the company from him. How this dovetails with previous allegations related to his major falling out with former Mega CEO Tony Lentino, who also founded domain name registrar Instra, is unknown.
Local media reports suggest that Dotcom hasn't spoken to former friends Ortmann and van der Kolk for years but their recent deal to avoid extradition in the Megaupload case by pleading guilty to organized crime charges puts Dotcom in a tough spot. "My co-defendants who claimed to be innocent for 10+ years were offered a sweet exit deal for a false confession," he said last week. And he wasn't finished there. After a research team found that Mega was vulnerable to attacks that allow for a "full compromise of the confidentiality of user files", Ortmann himself responded via a security notification stating that the issues had been fixed. In response, Dotcom accused Ortmann and van der Kolk of creating "backdoors" in Mega so that the Chinese government could decrypt users' files. "Same shady guys who just made a deal with the US and NZ Govt to get out of the US extradition case by falsely accusing me," he added.
Whether this reference to the no-extradition-deal betrayed what was really on Dotcom's mind is up for debate but whatever the motivation, he's not letting it go. In a tweet posted yesterday, he again informed his 850K+ followers that the company he founded "is not safe" and people who think that their files are unreadable by Mega are wrong. Shortly after, Dotcom delivered another message, one even darker in tone. It targeted Mega, the company he co-founded and where his colleagues still work. It's possible to interpret the tweet in several ways but none seem beneficial to his former colleagues, Mega, or its users. "In addition to security vulnerabilities a comprehensive report about mass copyright infringement on Mega with millions of active links and channels is in the works," he said. "[P]erhaps the most worrying thing about this new complication in an escalating dispute is its potential to affect the minority of users that actually store infringing files on Mega," adds TorrentFreak. "Any detailed report of 'mass copyright infringement' will draw negative attention directly to them, especially if the report includes active hyperlinks as Dotcom suggests."
"Couple that with Dotcom's allegations that the content of user files can be read, any conclusion that this upcoming infringement report hasn't been thought through from a user perspective can be easily forgiven..."
Local media reports suggest that Dotcom hasn't spoken to former friends Ortmann and van der Kolk for years but their recent deal to avoid extradition in the Megaupload case by pleading guilty to organized crime charges puts Dotcom in a tough spot. "My co-defendants who claimed to be innocent for 10+ years were offered a sweet exit deal for a false confession," he said last week. And he wasn't finished there. After a research team found that Mega was vulnerable to attacks that allow for a "full compromise of the confidentiality of user files", Ortmann himself responded via a security notification stating that the issues had been fixed. In response, Dotcom accused Ortmann and van der Kolk of creating "backdoors" in Mega so that the Chinese government could decrypt users' files. "Same shady guys who just made a deal with the US and NZ Govt to get out of the US extradition case by falsely accusing me," he added.
Whether this reference to the no-extradition-deal betrayed what was really on Dotcom's mind is up for debate but whatever the motivation, he's not letting it go. In a tweet posted yesterday, he again informed his 850K+ followers that the company he founded "is not safe" and people who think that their files are unreadable by Mega are wrong. Shortly after, Dotcom delivered another message, one even darker in tone. It targeted Mega, the company he co-founded and where his colleagues still work. It's possible to interpret the tweet in several ways but none seem beneficial to his former colleagues, Mega, or its users. "In addition to security vulnerabilities a comprehensive report about mass copyright infringement on Mega with millions of active links and channels is in the works," he said. "[P]erhaps the most worrying thing about this new complication in an escalating dispute is its potential to affect the minority of users that actually store infringing files on Mega," adds TorrentFreak. "Any detailed report of 'mass copyright infringement' will draw negative attention directly to them, especially if the report includes active hyperlinks as Dotcom suggests."
"Couple that with Dotcom's allegations that the content of user files can be read, any conclusion that this upcoming infringement report hasn't been thought through from a user perspective can be easily forgiven..."
We used to have these places.. (Score:1, Troll)
We had these places at one time where we could put people who had you know, emotional problems or other mental health issues. We got rid of most of them and just let them blog and vlog their way into assumed stardom. Well at least they thought they were stars, but instead, they were sad individuals in need of some electric shock or heavy doses of anti-psychotic drugs.
Kim has been on a crazy journey for years but all the hype and intrigue, his grandiose statements have amounted to what? Nothing.
#GetHelpKim
Whaaat? (Score:5, Insightful)
I didn't know Mega was used for anything other than piracy?
Lie with dogs (Score:3)
Get flees
It's an expression that predates history. I have little sympathy for Dotcom but he's entitled to due process
Careful with those URLs... (Score:2)
If he posts those URLs to pirate content as he says, he may end up being charged himself with facilitating piracy.
Not the first time⦠(Score:2)
Not the first time that Kim Schmitz throws his cronies and partners in his crooked endeavors under the bus. Lookup his history of fraud, convictions and ratting out his buddies to get himself a better deal. A silly name change wonâ(TM)t help cover all that up.
This man has been a living definition of deep-dark grey-area and egomania since the 90s, live by the sword die by the sword, âoeKimbleâ.
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And yet the actual saying(s) (Greek, Shakespeare, and so on) are, "Honor amongst thieves". The saying itself --- and the meaning -- is exactly the opposite of your old saying.
Is there a Kim Dotcom in the cryptocurrency space? (Score:2)
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2016 Kimmie was busy trying to stay out of jail already, he didn't need to get tangled in yet another con job.
He's just desperate .... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you followed the Kim Dotcom saga at all? It's just another case of a guy finding extreme fame and fortune by running an illegal operation -- until it came crashing down on him.
Guys like him are the modern-day digital equivalent of mobsters. They think they're untouchable and they live the high life for a while. But eventually it starts to unravel and they get paranoid and place blame on other people in their group.
Mega is functionally pretty equivalent to at least a dozen or so other file sharing services out there. Mediafire, DepositFiles, PutLocker, MegaShares (no relation to Mega except borrowing part of the name), ZShare, UploadHere - the list goes on.
And truthfully, almost every legitimate business I know of who needs cloud file sharing uses something like the Microsoft Onedrive that comes as part of their O365 subscription package, or something like DropBox or Google Drive. These other services all exist for practically nothing but facilitating piracy. (And I suspect most accounts on them were set up with fake user info and paid for via methods like disposable VISA gift cards. The content shared isn't even really expected to be preserved for that long. The pirates upload the same thing to several of these services and share all of the links so people wanting to download the files can try one, if another has already been removed.)
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If you don't mind law enforcement going through it, I guess some random criminal's piracy distribution network is a feasible alternative.
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I donâ(TM)t want someone from MS or Google going through my sonâ(TM)s personal informationâ¦
Yeah, I don't trust MS and Google but those guys from DepositFiles/MegaShares/Mediafire seem like a real reputable bunch. I'm sure they would never go through my data!
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In other words, you don't trust banks and credit unions, so instead you hand your investment to ReallyHonestGentlemen Ltd., an investment company that operates out of a van with a tradition since 1705.
Which is 5 past 5pm for you US peeps...
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imagine saying this and thinking "surely nobody can think of any other alternatives"
you have won dumbest excuse on slashdot today, sir or ma'am
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I use Mega for my personal "cloud" space, just for keeping various files I want automatically synced between computers in various locations. I can't speak to anyone else's use of the service, but mine is certainly not shady.
There are legitimate reasons not to want to use Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft; plus even in 2022 Microsoft's offering can't be depended on when it comes to files that don't follow Windows naming conventions (with my job files, I've had it mess up files that start with "." on numero
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Nobody's saying you CAN'T do what you describe. It's just that if you measured the bandwidth for Mega in terms of the ratio between megabytes of legit content, and megabytes of pirated content, it's mostly pirated. Google Drive and Dropbox are far more trustworthy in this space than what Mega is doing.
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Nobody's saying you CAN'T do what you describe. It's just that if you measured the bandwidth for Mega in terms of the ratio between megabytes of legit content, and megabytes of pirated content, it's mostly pirated. Google Drive and Dropbox are far more trustworthy in this space than what Mega is doing.
citation requested for your claim
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Google Drive and Dropbox are far more trustworthy in this space than what Mega is doing.
Trustworthy for the user, or trustworthy for the MPAA/RIAA?
IMO they are mutually exclusive, if not indeed diametrically opposed.
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well, then you're a garbage human being who's fuelling the problem
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> Mega ... Mediafire, DepositFiles, PutLocker, MegaShares... ZShare, UploadHere
Which of those are "cooperating entities" under PRISIM?
> Microsoft ... DropBox or Google Drive
All of those are.
Mega has a low-cost S3 competitor as well.
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Also, why were there FBI agents present? I thought they weren't allowed to operate outside America?
The courts in New Zealand seem to be uncomfortable with the whole thing too, as he still lives there.
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The courts in NZ have ordered him to be extradited. I think he is on his last appeal now, having dragged it out for around a decade.
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Calling Kimmie a mobster is probably giving him too much credit. He's more akin to the con artists of the old days who keeps moving from town to town whenever the jig is up, leaving a trail of people who thought they're his friends in his wake that he used as decoys and fall guys.
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re: mobsters (Score:2)
Fair point... but I did say "digital equivalent". I'm sure they'd have no qualms with trying to hold your data hostage for the right price, or if it gave them the leverage they needed.
Remind me why I give a shit about this guy (Score:1)
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You should care about the outcome of Kim's legal battles, if not the man himself.
It's about corporations pushing the US government to overreach its legal influence and try to prosecute a person with no ties to the US, who never been there, by US laws.
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tl;dr (Score:2)
Kimmie throwing former friends and business partners under the bus.
Also in the news, water suspected to cause things to get wet.