A new third-party search engine dedicated to the newly-launched online storage service Mega has sparked controversy over piracy fears.
Mega was launched by Kim Dot Com, the infamous internet entrepreneur who was arrested last year and charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering related to his previous venture, MegaUpload.
The new ‘mega-search.me’ search engine is hosted from an anonymous domain, and is not endorsed or owned by Dotcom himself.
The search engine does not automatically update search listings and relies on user submissions. Mega members can provide links, but that does not mean the links are live.
Since its launch 11 days ago, Mega has received around 150 notices for copyrighted content allegedly being hosted on the service since its launch 10 days ago.
One of the key protections that Mega believes will keep it safe is that all files uploaded to the service are encrypted and its team cannot see what users are sharing or storing.
As Mega can claim to have no knowledge of what is being shared, the argument is that the website is legally shielded from responsibility for any swapping and copying of copyrighted material by users.
According to an intellectual property lawyer acting for Dotcom, Rick Shera, the website had received around 150 notices alleging copyright infringement as of yesterday.
Shera said it was usually the case that a cloud-storage provider would not examine what the allegedly infringing content actually was if the notice it received complies with the relevant laws.
“Normally you would look at [the notice] and obviously there are provisions for the copyright owner to swear under penalty of perjury in the United States or to swear in New Zealand that the information is correct,” Shera said.
Shera said Mega would comply with the requirements of the law: “If the notices are delivered correctly then it will act on them,” he said.
