What is the trade-related pseudonym of the German-Finnish internet entrepreneur and founder of Megaupload, sought early 2000-2010s by US authorities in relation to filesharing and copyright charges?
Seizure of Megaupload Seizure of Megaupload The seizure of Megaupload, a popular filesharing website with 150 million registered users, occurred on 19 January 2012, following a US indictment accusing Megaupload of harbouring millions of copyrighted files. According to the indictment, Megaupload was costing copyright holders over $500 million in lost revenues. A German-born programmer named Kim Dotcom founded Megaupload, which is a Hong Kong-based company established in 2005 for the use of file storage and file sharing. At its peak, Megaupload was the 13th most visited website on the Internet. Megaupload's sister sites include Megavideo.com, Megapix.com, Megalive.com, and Megabox.com. On Thursday 19 January
Seizure of Megaupload 2012, Megaupload and its sister sites were closed due to allegations that its founder and its other executives were in violation of "piracy" laws. The allegations stated that Megaupload was costing copyright holders and legitimate businesses $500 million in revenue from "pirated" movies, music, and other media. The MPAA retained the data for use in prosecution. Megaupload countered by stating that the allegations were "grotesquely overblown". Megaupload later proposed a partnership with content providers by stating that "the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take