Megaupload was very popular before being shut down due to it copyright infringement case. Only problem is not ever user was sharing files illegally. Thankfully the MPAA may let people get back their files that they deem legal. Hit the jump for details on the MPAA restoring files on Megaupload.
The Motion Picture Association of America filed a response on Tuesday, addressing a motion to return the Megaupload users’ files locked up in the United States v. Kim Dotcom case. In an Eastern Virginia District Court, the MPAA asked that if the court grants users the ability to retrieve their files from the locked-down servers, that no illegally downloaded copyrighted material be let free in the process.
The original motion the MPAA responded to was brought by a man named Kyle Goodwin. Goodwin stored videos he made of local sporting events on an external hard drive, and on Megaupload’s online file locker. Bitterly, his hard drive crashed just days before Megaupload was taken down by the Feds in January.
Goodwin is just one user who lost irreplaceable files in the shutdown of Megaupload. TorrentFreak noted that, “among these users are many people in the US military who used the site to share pictures and videos with family. Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom previously informed TorrentFreak that least 15,634 soldiers had accounts at Megaupload.â€
At the same time Carpathia, the server company contracted out by Megaupload to store all the files that users uploaded, has been hurting under the cost of keeping such massive amounts of data without Megaupload being able to pay its rent. The company asked the court for protective measures until it decides whether to junk the user data or give it back.
While claiming to be sympathetic to the plight of legitimate users, the MPAA said that it is essential that any retrieval process, “include a procedure that ensures that any materials the users access and copy or download are not files that have been illegally uploaded to their accounts, given that MPAA Members and other rights holders are certain to own the copyrights in many of the files stored on the servers.”
The MPAA’s demands will make returning files to users difficult, given their qualifications. “In addition,” the MPAA wrote, “in no event should any Megaupload defendants or their representatives—who have not generally appeared in this proceeding, and who are not subject to the control and supervision of the Court—be allowed to access the Mega Servers under such a mechanism designed for the benefit of third party Megaupload users.”
