Kim Dotcom’s Mega: 50GB Free Cloud Storage - no promises getting old files back

[menotu]

by Jon Brodkin - Jan 17, 2013 - arstechnica

Kim Dotcom today said his new Mega service will offer each user 50GB of free storage space. Those are "very generous limits for free users," Dotcom said on Twitter   .

There was bad news to go with that, however. Dotcom said he was "hopeful we could give premium status to former [Megaupload] premium users on #Mega. Our lawyers say we can't at this time. We're working on it." Additionally, Dotcom noted he is seeking court permission to transfer data from former Megaupload user accounts to the new service, but there's no resolution on that yet. Of course, US authorities have fought attempts to return users' files.

50GB is quite a lot more than the free tiers offered by cloud storage and syncing services like Google Drive or Dropbox (although a service called MediaFire actually offers 50GB for free and has apps for the desktop, iOS, and Android). However, Mega has a much different use case.

If it's anything like Dotcom's now-shuttered Megaupload service, many people will use it to upload large video files that could eat up 50GB relatively quickly. And although 50GB is a lot for a free tier in the world of online storage systems, it's actually just a quarter of what Megaupload offered.

As we noted after the site was shut down by the feds for alleged copyright law violations, Megaupload users got 200GB of storage for free and could upload files as big as 2GB apiece. To go beyond those limits, you had to pay extra, and we'd assume Mega will have fee-based plans as well.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/01/megaupload-wasnt-just-for-pirates-angry-users-out-of-luck-for-now/

[Just17]

He is persistent 

[menotu]

Looks like he's "open for business"  

https://mega.co.nz/

https://mega.co.nz/#register

From the About us page

We are a dedicated group of technologists who were given the time, opportunity and Internet access to build an awesome cloud storage service that will help protect your privacy. We have programmed this Internet service from scratch in Auckland, New Zealand. Unlike most of our competitors, we use a state of the art browser based encryption technology where you, not us, control the keys. Our design group includes Kim Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk, and Finn Batato. Our CEO, industry veteran Tony Lentino, has experience running a renowned global domain registry. We hope you like it.

and this from itpro

"This is not some kind of finger to the US government or to Hollywood," Dotcom told Reuters

"Legally, there's just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors," he said, referring to other popular cloud storage services.

His lawyer, Ira Rothken, added that launching the site was compliant with the terms of Dotcom's bail conditions. US prosecutors argue that Dotcom in a statement said he had no intention of starting a new internet business until his extradition was resolved.

Codes and keys

Dotcom said Mega was a different beast to Megaupload, as the new site enables users to control exactly which users can access uploaded files, in contrast to its predecessor, which allowed users to search files, some of which contained copyrighted content allegedly without permission.

A sophisticated encryption system will allow users to encode their files before they upload them on to the site's servers, which Dotcom said were located in New Zealand and overseas.

Each file will then be issued a unique, sophisticated decryption key which only the file holder will control, allowing them to share the file as they choose.

As a result, the site's operators would have no access to the files, which they say would strip them from any possible liability for knowingly enabling users to distribute copyright-infringing content, which Washington says is illegal.

"Even if we wanted to, we can't go into your file and snoop and see what you have in there," the burly Dotcom said.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/645175/kim-dotcom-denies-new-site-is-revenge-for-megaupload-saga?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ITPro%2FToday+%28IT+PRO+-+Today%29

Edit - some browser info from the Mega site

Word on browsers - January 18th 2013

MEGA pushes the browser to its limits, and these limits vary. While it does work with all major current browsers, there are some weighty feature and performance differences:

Google Chrome: The leading browser, by far. It implements the proposed HTML5 FileSystem API, allowing for fancy features such as recursive folder uploads and efficient downloads. Caveats: Requires user permission to batch-write files after a few unattended completed downloads (for security reasons, and only once per session). Slightly anaemic text rendering.

Internet Explorer 10: A solid, modern browser with blazing JavaScript performance (even exceeding Chrome's). However, until Microsoft fixes a memory leak in the Blob saving functionality, you have to close and reopen the MEGA tab every couple of hundred megabytes of inbound file transfer. And, until Microsoft implements disk-based Blobs or Chrome's FileWriter API, memory usage for a file download peaks at twice the file's size - hardly efficient.

Mozilla Firefox 18: Carefully avoids providing any API that would allow writing files from JavaScript.

Safari 6: No JavaScript file writing, either.

Internet Explorer 9: Lacks all essential features required for MEGA: File I/O, Web Workers, ArrayBuffers, and binary cross-domain HTTP access. Nice text rendering, though.

Opera: No JavaScript file writing and exceedingly slow JavaScript crypto operations.

Conclusion: If you are planning on using MEGA frequently, there is currently no alternative to using the most advanced browser currently in existence - Google Chrome.

[menotu]

By Darren Pauli on Jan 23, 2013 - crn.com.au

A security researcher has found a cryptographic flaw in the Mega cloud service that could reveal user passwords.

Cryptography boffin Steve Thomas is designing a tool dubbed MegaCracker that would crack hashes embedded into email confirmation links sent from Mega to users as they register for the service.

Thomas has not yet completed the tool and did not say how dangerous the threat was: the confirmation emails would need to be intercepted before passwords could be cracked

http://www.crn.com.au/News/329732,security-holes-poked-in-megas-cloud.aspx

But

BY Charles Poladian | January 23 2013 - ibtimes

Mega Founder Kim Dotcom Issues ‘Cash Prize Encryption Challenge’ In Response To Privacy Debate

Kim Dotcom, founder of the legal and private Mega, has issued a challenge in the wake of the debate surrounding the privacy of the cloud storage site.

Dotcom is so confident of his encryption scheme that he will give a cash prize to anyone who can decrypt the security measures surrounding Mega.

Mega launched on Saturday, quickly attracted more than 1 million users and is becoming a traffic behemoth.

Dotcom tweeted an Alexa graph comparing Mega’s traffic to similar sites Rapidshare, Rapidgator and Hotfile. Mega’s traffic has skyrocketed while the competition has plateaued. But that's not enough as Dotcom looks to make Mega the number one filesharing site on the Internet.

http://www.ibtimes.com/mega-founder-kim-dotcom-issues-cash-prize-encryption-challenge-response-privacy-debate-1035530

[menotu]

MEGA Blog - February 2nd 2013

The MEGA Vulnerability Reward Program

Immediately after our launch, our security model and implementation came under intense crossfire, most of which turned out to be damp squibs (Forbes and ars technica published two of the worst examples). We have, however, also suffered three direct hits, and we want more! To improve MEGA's security, we are offering rewards to anyone reporting a previously unknown security-relevant bug or design flaw

How much can I earn?

We offer up to EUR 10,000 per bug, depending on its complexity and impact potential.

https://mega.co.nz/#blog_6

[menotu]

Emil Protalinski - 16 February 2013 - thenextweb

Mega update: Dotcom’s service now accepts Bitcoin, will expand into email, chat, voice, video, and mobile

Kim Dotcom knows how to stir up a storm on Twitter. On Saturday, he announced Bitcoin support for his cloud storage service and also sent out a slew of tweets suggesting Mega is going to become much more than just the successor to Megaupload.

If you head to https://bitvoucher.co you’ll see six ways to buy Mega services with Bitcoin. There are three monthly options and three yearly options (no refund or exchange for any):

    Mega Pro I: 500GB of data storage and 1TB of bandwidth for 0.5184 Bitcoin per month or 5.1888 Bitcoin per year.

    Mega Pro II: 2TB of data storage and 4TB bandwidth for 1.0373 Bitcoin per month or 10.3781 Bitcoin per year.

    Mega Pro III: 4TB of data storage and 8TB bandwidth per month for 1.5563 Bitcoin per month or 15.5674 Bitcoin per year.

For those who don’t know, Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, currently the most-widely used alternative to common forms of money (total market cap at over $100 million). Because it has no central issuer, it has no single authority and thus no way to lock out certain users (or countries) out of the network. It can be used to pay for certain transactions both offline and online.

Bitcoin is a perfect fit for Mega, which wants to distance itself from governments as much as possible.
Beyond cloud storage

Dotcom teased that the file hosting service is just the beginning. There’s a reason his company is pushing the privacy angle so hard; he apparently wants Mega to offer a variety of services that will rely on encryption and other features to keep user data safe from prying eyes:

In the coming years #Mega plans to expand from secure cloud storage to secure email, chat & voice, video and “mobile”.

When it comes to email, most users are already perfectly happy with Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo, but Dotcom apparently isn’t. Chat, voice, and video are mostly satisfied with Skype.Interestingly, Dotcom mentions both Gmail and Skype, as well as iCloud, as services that don’t offer enough privacy because they are based in the US, where the American government can demand access to data under certain circumstances.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/16/mega-update-dotcoms-service-now-accepts-bitcoin-will-expand-into-email-chat-voice-video-and-mobile/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29