A daily digest of IT news, curated from blogs, forums and news sites around the web each morning. We highlight the key commentary and demystify the real story.
Megaupload is warning that its hosting service providers may be about to destroy evidence. The data is 'important' to the company's defense that 'more than 50 million people' used the service for their legitimate cloud staorage needs -- not just copyrighted songs and movies. The U.S. government has washed its hands of the matter. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers hope that justice is seen to be done.
[Updated with more comment and analysis]
Your humble blogwatcher (@richi ) curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Grammar Nazi's (learning you lesson's of speling & grammar)...
Daniel Wagner reports:
Megaupload..says its millions of users stored..family photos and personal documents. They haven't been able to see their data since the government raids. .. Megaupload attorney Ira Rothken said Sunday that the government has frozen its money.
..
[The] U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia..said that now that it has executed its search warrants..issues about the future of the data must be resolved with [the hosting companies]. .. Rothken said the company is working..to try to keep the data from being erased..[and that] the data is important to Megaupload so it can defend itself in the legal case.
Dave Neal adds:
[The] FBI is now hovering its fat finger over the mass delete button. .. [D]eleting all user files will make it harder to argue the case that Megaupload was..a legitimate organisation.
..
[Megaupload's] founders and their lawyers are saying that many users stored non-infringing items..on its servers. This argument is also being used by the..Pirate Party, which is preparing a class action lawsuit against the US.
Andrew Laughlin explains:
Megaupload paid external companies to store the data, but as its assets have been frozen..these companies are not being paid.
..
[The] US attorney's office said that storage companies Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group could start deleting..data by this Thursday. .. [The] two companies will ultimately decide the future of the data. .
But humanssssss is outraged:
Millions of people have their work and personal files on MegaUpload and depend on [it] to provide service for them to make money to feed their family. One or two people in government decide the..livelihood of millions of families. This is immoral, unethical, and downright barbaric.
And Zack Whittaker raises another worry:
[Server] logs could show from which IP addresses illegally downloaded content was accessed.
..
[Repeat] downloaders of illegally hosted copyrighted works could be the next target.
Meanwhile, Ben Popper waxes worried:
Beyond the collateral damage to..users, the loss of data might have a more important impact, the destruction of evidence.
..
The FBI copied some data during its seizure, but left the bulk untouched. The government..hasnt stepped forward yet to assume the costs of keeping this data while the trail moves forward. .. [I]nvestigations havent caught up with the reality of todays data centers.
..
[W]hen it comes to policing..data, there is a good chance of collateral damage.
