Megaupload users get reprieve from data deletion

Jan 31, 2012, 13:15 GMT

Berlin - Legally troubled file-sharing site Megaupload will be able to retain stored data for at least two more weeks, an attorney for the company posted on the micro-blogging website Twitter late Monday.

Megaupload has come under increasing legal pressure in recent weeks after US prosecutors shut down the site and froze its assets amid allegations that it was being used to pirate movies, music and videos. Founder Kim Dotcom remains imprisoned in New Zealand.

Because of those problems, customers had been warned earlier Monday that the company would no longer be able to pay Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group for hosting its cyberlockers, which are used to store content online.

That would have meant the service would have shut down Thursday, endangering any files stored there.

Megaupload has 50 million customers, many of whom use the service to store work documents, photos and other legitimate content. Access to those files has been blocked since the legal investigation began.

But the Twitter post from company lawyer Ira Rothken said that Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications would allow the data to live on a bit longer.

'Carpathia and Cogent agreed to preserve consumer data for (an) additional time of at least two weeks so Megaupload can work with (the) US on (a) proposal,' Rothken posted.

Rothken and his team hope to use the extra time to find a way to keep Megaupload operational in some capacity.