Ever since Megaupload was raided and shut down, there has been wild speculation about what would happen to the data stored on its servers. Now, US prosecutors are proposing a route forward which will make it impossible for any normal person to recover their data.
WIRED reports that Julie Samuels, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney representing an old Megaupload user, has been informed that return of data “may require the testimony of numerous witnesses, including potential expert witnesses”. That’s the ruling from the only case concerning Megaupload data retrieval yet to reach the courts.
While that might not sound absolute, Samuels explained to WIRED that “[i]t’s almost an insurmountable hurdle for any individual or small business.” In other words, while it may be theoretically possible to lay hands on the seized data, the reality is that the complexity of the situation makes it impossible.
Perhaps it’s understandable that the government wants to put obstacles in the way: with 60 million-plus former Megaupload users, there could be a lot of work afoot if the process was straightforward. Hopefully the latest incarnation of Kim Dotcoms’s file-sharing site won’t have to weather these problems in the future. [WIRED]