Controversial German web entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, founder of defunct file sharing site Megaupload, and its sister cloud-sharing service Mega, has warned that Mega has been forced out of his control via a hostile takeover and into the hands of the New Zealand government, via a Chinese businessman wanted for fraud.
Dotcom revealed the news during a Q&A session on Slashdot, during which he responded to user questions ranging from his foray into politics with the Internet Party in New Zealand to his dealing with US law enforcement. When asked, “What assurance could you give someone to the point that their files may not be kept secret while hosted on [Mega]?”, Dotcom replied:
I’m not involved in Mega anymore. Neither in a managing nor in a shareholder capacity. The company has suffered from a hostile takeover by a Chinese investor who is wanted in China for fraud. He used a number of straw-men and businesses to accumulate more and more Mega shares. Recently his shares have been seized by the NZ government. Which means the NZ government is in control. In addition Hollywood has seized all the Megashares in the family trust that was setup for my children. As a result of this and a number of other confidential issues I don’t trust Mega anymore. I don’t think your data is safe on Mega anymore. But my non-compete clause is running out at the end of the year and I will create a Mega competitor that is completely open source and non-profit, similar to the Wikipedia model. I want to give everyone free, unlimited and encrypted cloud storage with the help of donations from the community to keep things going.
Mega, if it was ever trustworthy, certainly isn’t now. Deleting your files and closing your account seems like a sensible move.
Thank you Slashdot for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of Wired.
