It’s been more than 7 years since cyberlocker piracy king Kim Dotcom was indicted for copyright infringement by U.S. authorities. He’s fought extradition from New Zealand tooth and nail, but earlier this month his final appeal was denied. Whether he ends up in a U.S. jail will apparently be determined by New Zealand’s Minister of Justice.
In the meantime, MEGA, founded in in 2013 to replace his shuttered Megaupload.com, is till in business and continues to host infringing conent uploaded by online pirates everywhere. The company is supposedly worth $210 million and, while Dotcom himself claims no direct involvement, conveniently his wife remains a primary shareholder. It’s a murky and twisted enterprise–but is that really a surprise?
In June, the site averaged 12 million visitors per day and it’s a safe bet most weren’t there for legit reasons. Aside from piracy, much of the traffic appears porn related. Visitors from Brazil, Mexico and the United States lead the pack.
Easy to find, watch and download pirated movies, music and books on MEGA
From the start, Kim Dotcom has claimed MEGA is perfectly legal. Supposedly, since the files are encrypted end to end, operators can claim ignorance as to what exactly is being shared. However, it’s not the truth. I easily found, and was able to view, pirated movies without a so-called encryption key. No account required.
If one does want to actually download the files all that’s required is a free account and installing an app….easy as setting up an account on Netflix.
Google, YouTube, Facebook & Twitter help spread pirated content
In order draw traffic to the site, MEGA users depend on the usual intermediaries like Google, YouTube and Facebook to spread (illegal) links. Today, in the process of writing this post, I did a quick search for the recent hit Captain Marvel. Within seconds–thanks to Google and Facebook–I found a pirated copy hosted by Mega.
Viewing other content, like HBO’s hit “Big, Little Lies” or, as mentioned above, Netflix’s “Bird Box” (thanks Twitter), were also only a couple clicks away.
In addition, I quickly discovered episodes of the BBC/HBO production “Gentleman Jack” (via YouTube) and historian Anne Choma’s audible companion book (which I reported publisher and thankfully it’s been removed).
The full episode of Gentleman Jack can be screened simply by clicking the MEGA link found in the YouTube description. Piracy made easy.
In yet another example, thanks to Twitter I found a link that offered me season one of the subscription TV series “Vida” streaming on MEGA without any key required. No matter what anyone says, MEGA seamlessly offers tons of pirated content.
Of course, per usual, it’s not just Hollywood blockbusters and HBO fare that continue to be victimized. Independent creators, particularly those without deep pockets for anti-piracy defenses, also lose precious income to online thieves enabled by MEGA.
Why do people bother to pirate? As always, the incentive is the money they earn from ads. Pirates upload content to MEGA, post links on places like Twitter or Facebook and cash in when users click through ads on an intermediary site in order to get to view the actual link. I’ve been writing about this business model for nearly a decade and sadly, little seems to have changed.
It remains to be seen whether Kim Dotcom ends up behind bars in the U.S.–but no matter his fate, there’s little doubt that the online piracy eco-system he helped build continues to flourish, creators rights be damned. The role played by intermediaries like Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in the U.S. cannot be ignored either.