Megaupload users get data deletion reprieve

Users of Megaupload have had fears that their files could be deleted in the next few days allayed, as the firm's lawyers claimed the data will be safeguarded until mid-February.

It was previously reported that all content on Megaupload could be deleted as early as Thursday 2 February.

Company lawyer Ira Rothken told TorrentFreak that Megaupload was in talks with the various parties involved with storing content and that data has been saved for at "least two more weeks".

He suggested that the ultimate aim was to make a deal that allowed users to obtain their content.

But it remains unclear how users will be able to access content as Carpathia Hosting, one of the firms used by Megaupload, released a statement stating that it has no access to content.

"Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on Megaupload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload's customers," the firm said on its web site.

"We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on Megaupload servers contact Megaupload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting."

Meanwhile, US authorities have made backups of selected content that is believed to infringe copyright law, and only these files will be used against Megaupload in any future trial.

Since it's closure on 19 January, over 50 million users have been unable to access content that was uploaded to the site. It is unclear how much of the content on the site was violating copyright laws, but US authorities claim that up to $500m of pirated content was stored.

Senior executives including the founder Kim DotCom were arrested and could face trial in the US, pending extradition from New Zealand.

They are accused of netting over $175m in profits through advertising and via premium membership packages.

Hours after Megaupload was closed, hacktivist group Anonymous launched denial of service attacks against several US government web sites.

The Pirate Party is also trying to gather support to sue the FBI for "misappropriation of data".

A statement on Pirata.cat claimed that closure of Megaupload had impeded the access to millions of archives of non-infringing content, and that the FBI has violated Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code by misappropriating personal data.