Megaupload users face mega deletion

Jan 30, 2012, 19:00 GMT

San Francisco - Users of the online storage site Megaupload: you have been warned.

Any data that you may have stored on the file-sharing site may be subject to deletion starting Thursday, because the site can no longer afford to pay the hosting companies responsible for storing the files of some 50 million users.

That was the warning contained in a court filing made Friday by prosecutors, ComputerWorld reported Monday.

The US sued the owners of Megaupload earlier this month, claiming that the site was one of the internet's major piracy tools and filing criminal charges against seven of the site's senior executives.

US prosecutors shut down the site and froze its assets, leaving it unable to pay Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group for hosting its cyberlockers, to which users can upload and share files. While the government alleges that the site was used to pirate movies, music and videos, millions of users also stored work documents, photos and other legitimate content.

The letter said that federal officials had completed their search warrants of the company's files.

'It is our understanding that the hosting companies may begin deleting the contents of the servers beginning as early as February 2, 2012,' it read.

In a statement issued Monday, Carpathia Hosting denied it had any control over the files.

'The reference to the February 2, 2012, date in the Department of Justice letter for the deletion of content is not based on any information provided by Carpathia to the US government,' the company said in a statement. 'We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on Megaupload servers contact Megaupload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting.'