Megaupload Search Warrant Shows No Consideration For Legitimate User Rights

As more details surface about the case against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom, the more it seems that legitimate users of the service have been ignored by the legal system. Recently, an entrepreneur named Kyle Goodwin asked courts to return his files to him. As part of his request to have his data returned, Goodwin's attorney filed a motion to have search warrants issued against Megaupload released.

The reason for requesting to see the search warrants was to determine the grounds authorities used to seize the data. The judge overseeing the case granted the request and the search warrants have now been unsealed for all to see. What Goodwin and his legal team found was very disturbing.

The search warrants reportedly make no mention of legitimate users on the Megaupload site. The warrant reportedly describes Megaupload as nothing more than a place where copyright infringing files are stored. None of the records released by the judge mentioned legitimate users of the site.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom says that nearly half of all the files stored on the website were never downloaded. That would seem to mean that 50% of the data seized by the government was simply put there for storage by legitimate users. The court documents also accuse Megaupload of not removing files that were deemed infringing, that Megaupload was informed of in 2010. Court documents show that 36 of the 39 infringing files were left on the servers. Dotcom says that the files were left alone because they were never asked to remove them and they didn't want to interfere with evidence in a criminal case.

[via Torrentfreak]