Megaupload's Kim Dotcom Launches Cloud-Based Storage Service

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jan 21, 2013

Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom has been talking about his plans for a cloud-based storage service for some time now. This weekend, the controversial internet mogul officially launched the beta version of his new site, Mega.

Dotcom tweeted a link to the site on Saturday (January 19). He noted that it had been exactly a year since U.S. prosecutors arrested him and shut down Megaupload.

The brief description on the freshly-launched website explains that Mega is a New Zealand-based service dedicated to protecting users' privacy. It explains, "Unlike most of our competitors, we use a state of the art browser based encryption technology where you, not us, control the keys."

Currently, Mega allows users to store files, but provides no tools to distribute them. Dotcom said [via The Next Web] that he intends to change this down the road.

Previous announcements confirmed that, by giving users sole access to Mega's decryption codes, the website won't be able to see whatever files you choose to upload. This might help the company to avoid any liability issues, since it will be ignorant about the content of files stored on its servers.

NME reports that Dotcom celebrated the launch of the new site with an event at his mansion near Auckland, New Zealand. The launch included a staged reenactment of last year's FBI raid.

According to The Next Web, Mega is reporting that it has already passed a million users. Check out the new service here.

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