In January, US law enforcement officials shut down the Megaupload file sharing web site, claiming that the site was being used for uploading and downloading pirated content. The shutdown of the site also left the site"s many millions of users unable to access the content they uploaded on their accounts, including many who uploaded legitimate content such as documents, photo galleries and more.
TorrentFreak.com reports that Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and his legal team have been working with the US Justice Department to allow Megaupload"s users to access their content. In the course of their investigation, Dotcom claims:
Guess what – we found a large number of Mega accounts from US Government officials including the Department of Justice and the US Senate. I hope we will soon have permission to give them and the rest of our users access to their files.
A few days after Megaupload"s site was shut down, there was a threat that the content stored on the company"s servers might be deleted. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the server files were saved from deletion.
One of the two server hosting companies that Megaupload used, Carpathia Hosting, announced in February it was teaming up with the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation to help some of MegaUpload"s users retrieve their files. However, TorrentFreak.com reports those actions are currently on hold while MegaUpload"s legal team continues its talks with the US government.