Megaupload boss: Site popular among US government users

The boss of the recently shut-down Megaupload file-sharing site claims that his records show plenty of US government users, including members of the Senate and the Department of Justice.

"Guess what – we found a large number of Mega accounts from US Government officials including the Department of Justice and the US Senate," Kim Dotcom (formerly Schmitz), the portly potentate of Megaupload, told the Torrentfreak blog. "I hope we will soon have permission to give them and the rest of our users access to their files."

No doubt government officials will claim that these accounts are for "research processes", or owned by a few "bad apples", but it does seem that Dotcom is willing to name names when his case comes the trial. Megaupload was one of the largest sites of its type, and the fallout could be very interesting if lists of users are made public.

Dotcom's pad – nice, but Larry Ellison might call it a cottage

Dotcom is currently fighting extradition from US authorities in the New Zealand courts, after he was arrested with three others at a rented New Zealand mansion following an investigation by the FBI into the site. He is currently out on bail – despite FBI objections – and faces extradition hearings in August.

His main concern now is making sure users of the site get their data back, Dotcom told the blog. The government has warned that users face mass deletion of both legal and pirated content – something that the Electronic Frontier Foundation unsurprisingly has a problem with.

"Megaupload's legal team is working hard to reunite our users with their data," Dotcom said. "We are negotiating with the Department of Justice to allow all Mega users to retrieve their data." ®