EFF will help Megaupload users reclaim data

WEB FREEDOM FIGHTER the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is looking to reunite innocent Megaupload users with their data files.

Since the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down the web site earlier this month visitors to its pages have been disappointed and unable to access legitimate data.

These innocent users were ignored when the web site was shut down, and as far as we know, are likely to lose their data files in the next two weeks. But not if the EFF can help it.

The EFF along with hosting firm Carpathia have created a web site that asks legitimate users in the United States to come forward with information about their accounts. They promise that they will do their best to reunite them with their data, but add that they are only in the early stages of investigation, so who knows how it might turn out.

"Megaupload had many lawful customers, yet those people were given no notice that they might lose access to their data and no clear path to getting their property back. Setting aside the legal case against Megaupload, the government should try to avoid this kind of collateral damage, not create it," said the EFF.

"The government has finished its investigation of Megaupload's servers and claims that the companies that own those servers - Carpathia and Cogent - are free to delete their contents. Luckily, those companies aren't following the government's example of shooting first and asking later."

It added that Carpathia had made the web site where Megaupload customers can contact the EFF. That is basically it, a bit of information and a contact address, but then according to Carpathia it does not have access to the information anyway.

"Carpathia does not have access to any data for Megaupload customers. We support the EFF and their efforts to help those users that stored legitimate, non-infringing files with Megaupload retrieve their data," said Brian Winter, CMO at Carpathia Hosting.

We asked the organisations how far the relationship extends and whether Carpathia plans to get access to Megaupload users' data. µ