Megaupload founder, Kim Dotcom, claims half a million users have already signed up to the new-file sharing service ‘Mega’, which was launched 14 hours ago.
Facing trouble in handling the massive demand, Dotcom commented on Twitter about the “unbelievable demand” of the new file sharing service that, according to Mr. Dotcom, received huge publicity after the Sunday launch party.
Doctom tweeted : If I would tell you how many signups we had since the launch you wouldn’t believe it. I can’t believe it. So, I won’t tell you.
Mr Dotcom said 500,000 users registered for the site in its first 14 hours, with some reports claiming that figure has now passed one million.
The new file sharing service allegedly uses military-strength encryption which, according to Dotcom, will operate legally in U.S.
“This is not some kind of finger to the US government or to Hollywood Media Corporation (NASDAQ:HOLL),” Mr Dotcom said. “Legally, there’s just nothing there that could be used to shut us down.”
One year ago, Kim Dotcom was arrested on January 20th by police in the FBI-led raid following a closure of Megaupload, Dotcom’s other file sharing and file storage site.
Despite Dotcom’s assurance to operate the new site legally, the global music industry plans to monitor the new cloud storage service closely.
“We will be watching closely to determine whether the new Mega service infringes our members’ rights, particularly given that, according to our information, it has gone live without licensing content from many – if any – rights holders,” said International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) spokesman to SkyNews.
Megaupload was siezed by U.S on the grounds of causing a huge harm to the music rights holders in the media industry, depriving artists of over $500 million by sharing copyrighted material illegally on its site.
Comparing the legitimacy of the new site with the existing file sharing service like Dropbox and Boxnet, Dotcom claims the new site “is just as legitimate as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors”.
In his recent tweets about the new file sharing service, Dotcom compares the ‘unbelieveable growth’ of Mega with Dropbox’s down trend using Alexa statistics.
IFPI spokesman told Sky News that piracy rates fell when the U.S closed down Megaupload and many consumers starting using legitimate services that respect that rights of artists and their work.
