[Infowarrior] - MPAA Wants Megaupload User Data Retained for Lawsuits – Updated

[Richard Forno]

MPAA Wants Megaupload User Data Retained for Lawsuits – Updated

	• By David Kravets
	• Email Author
	• March 21, 2012 | 
	• 1:40 pm | 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/mpaa-megaupload-user-litigatio/

Hollywood studios are mulling a massive copyright litigation campaign that entails suing individual users of Megaupload — the file-sharing service that shuttered in January — in the wake of federal indictments targeting its operators on allegations of facilitating wanton infringement, according to a court filing in the Megaupload prosecution.

This story was updated at 11:20 PDT with MPAA disputing the claim that they are keeping the option open to sue Megaupload users.

The Motion Picture Association of America staked out that position — which could amount to millions of defendants facing civil lawsuits — in a court filing in the Megaupload case made public Tuesday. The studios are requesting Carpathia, Megaupload’s Virginia-based server host, to retain the 25 petabytes of Megaupload data on its servers, which includes account information for Megaupload’s 66.6 million users.

“In light of the potential civil claims by the studios, we demand that Carpathia preserve all material in its possession, custody, or control, including electronic data and database, related to Megaupload or its operations. This would include, but is not limited to, all information identifying or otherwise related to the content files uploaded to, stored on and/or downloaded from Megaupload; all data associated with those content files, the uploading or downloading of those files, and the Megaupload users who uploaded or downloaded those files,” MPAA attorney attorney Steven Fabrizio wrote (.pdf) Carpathia Jan. 31, the letter of which Carpathia lodged in a legal filing Tuesday.

UPDATE: Howard Gantman, a MPAA vice president, said in a telephone interview the studios are not intending on suing individual users, but are considering suing Megaupload “or entities involved in the massive copyright infringement.”

“The reason we did that filing so that there is a possibility that litigation might be pursued against Megaupload or various intermediaries involved in Megaupload’s operation. We’re not talking about individual users,” Gantman said.

The potential number of MPAA defendants would have been staggering. Consider that the recording industry went on a massive copyright infringement campaign ending in 2009, but that included just roughly 20,000 defendants. Most of the defendants settled out of court for a few thousand dollars.

Cindy Cohn, the legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the MPAA’s letter “certainly shouldn’t make anybody feel relieved about being sued. This letter indicates the MPAA is keeping that option open.”

A hearing on the matter is set for next month. Federal authorities have said they have copied some, but not all of the data, and said Carpathia could delete the 25 million gigabytes of Megaupload data it is hosting.

Carpathia said it is spending $9,000 daily retaining the data, and is demanding a federal judge relieve it of that burden. Megaupload, meanwhile, wants the government to free up some of the millions in dollars of seized Megaupload assets to be released to pay Carpathia to retain the data.

The criminal Megaupload prosecution concerns seven individuals connected to the Hong Kong-based file-sharing site, including founder Kim Dotcom. They were indicted in January on a variety of charges, including criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Five of the members of what the authorities called a 5-year-old “racketeering conspiracy” have been arrested in New Zealand, pending extradition to the United States.

The government said the site, which generated millions in user fees and advertising, facilitated copyright infringement of movies, often before their theatrical release, in addition to music, television programs, electronic books, and business and entertainment software. The government said Megaupload’s “estimated harm” to copyright holders was “well in excess of $500 million.”

Megaupload was on the recording and movie industries’ most-hated lists, often being accused of facilitating wanton infringement of their members’ copyrights. The indictment claims Megaupload induced users to upload copyrighted works for others to download, and that it often failed to comply with removal notices from rights holders under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

---
Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.