Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom (a.k.a. Kim Schmitz, pictured) and six others who ran the site were indicted by The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in January. They are accused of making $175 million and causing $500 million in copyright infringement; if they’re found guilty, they’re looking at a maximum 20 years prison sentence.
Since the indictment, the fate of data stored on Megaupload has been up in the air. Initially, the plan was to erase the data as of Feb. 2. The 25 petabytes of data still exists, though it is stored on 1,100 servers owned by Carpathia and Cogent. Carpathia, which is said to be spending $9,000 a day to maintain that data, is asking the U.S. Federal Court in Northern Virginia to rule on the matter.
Though the government has copied "selected data" from the servers and insists the servers can now be wiped clean, the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- a public advocacy group -- is representing an Ohio man, Kyle Goodwin who thinks otherwise. Goodwin, the operator of OhioSportsNet, says he has legal, copyrighted material of high school sports games that had been stored on Megaupload. The Motion Picture Association of America also wants the data preserved as evidence in a potential civil case against Megaupload.
BONUS: The Strange and Epic Lifestyle of Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom