MegaUpload data could be erased Thursday

[CaseAgainstFaith]

The Associated Press reports that in a letter filed last Friday in the MegaUpload piracy case, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group--companies MegaUpload hired to store data--may begin deleting that data come Thursday.

MegaUpload's assets have been seized by the government, and its bank accounts have been frozen, Hence, MegaUpload can no longer pay companies like Carpathia and Cogent for their services, the AP reports.

The government said law enforcement officials had copied some data from servers but hadn't physically taken the servers--and that now that the original search warrants have been executed, the remaining data cannot be legally accessed.

source - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57368037-93/megaupload-data-could-be-erased-thursday-says-report/?tag=mncol;topStories

Well if you had legal data stored with megaupload good luck.  This doesn't look promising.  Though I wonder why they would erase the data so quickly since it is being used in a "criminal" investigation?

[Kit Walker]

Well if you had legal data stored with megaupload good luck.  This doesn't look promising.  Though I wonder why they would erase the data so quickly since it is being used in a "criminal" investigation?

If I read the except you posted correctly, the server hosts are starting to delete the data since Megaupload no longer has any means of paying them. Since the government didn't seize the servers and their search warrants executed, they have no control over or access to the remaining data at the moment. Now, the government has a few days now to hit the courts for new warrants or an injunction or what have you in order to prevent the deletion, but right now it isn't in their hands.

[Smurfette Principle]

Though I wonder why they would erase the data so quickly since it is being used in a "criminal" investigation?

I wonder that, too. If you're claiming that the data is pirated, you need to prove it is pirated, which means you need evidence of that pirated material. And since the trial won't happen for a while... what are they doing? I'm wondering if it has to do with the Pirate Party's recent lawsuit on behalf of the non-pirate users who lost legitimate data through Megaupload's takedown.

If I read the except you posted correctly, the server hosts are starting to delete the data since Megaupload no longer has any means of paying them. Since the government didn't seize the servers and their search warrants executed, they have no control over or access to the remaining data at the moment. Now, the government has a few days now to hit the courts for new warrants or an injunction or what have you in order to prevent the deletion, but right now it isn't in their hands.

Ahh, ninja'd. Though I have to wonder why they would take it down without trying to get evidence of the thing they are taking it down for. "Everyone knows there are pirates there" isn't evidence.

[Shane for Wax]

Taken from the other thread-

The FBI copied some data during its seizure, but left the bulk untouched. The government, after seizing MegaUpload’s assets, hasn’t stepped forward yet to assume the costs of keeping this data while the trail moves forward. It’s a reminder that criminal investigations haven’t caught up with the reality of today’s data centers. Remember that in June of last year, the FBI knocked dozens of innocent sites offline when it seized servers at a hosting facility in Reston, VA. Perhaps the big takeaway is that when it comes to policing the criminal use of data, there is a good chance of collateral damage.

I'm glad to know we can delete evidence now.

[CaseAgainstFaith]

Taken from the other thread-

The FBI copied some data during its seizure, but left the bulk untouched. The government, after seizing MegaUpload’s assets, hasn’t stepped forward yet to assume the costs of keeping this data while the trail moves forward. It’s a reminder that criminal investigations haven’t caught up with the reality of today’s data centers. Remember that in June of last year, the FBI knocked dozens of innocent sites offline when it seized servers at a hosting facility in Reston, VA. Perhaps the big takeaway is that when it comes to policing the criminal use of data, there is a good chance of collateral damage.

I'm glad to know we can delete evidence now.

Maybe it's a new stopgap measure to help decrease our over crowded prison system?  Probably not though.

[Shane for Wax]

It's against everything you're ever told in criminal justice do not destroy evidence.

If you want to prove you were right in taking over the servers and everything else then maybe you should pay to keep the servers holding the evidence?

[e13]

Well, this trial is going to bomb. Good going! *eye roll*

[Witchyjoshy]

This stupidity on the part of the investigators is just an insult to laws and law enforcement everywhere :-/

[StallChaser]

Taken from the other thread-

The FBI copied some data during its seizure, but left the bulk untouched. The government, after seizing MegaUpload’s assets, hasn’t stepped forward yet to assume the costs of keeping this data while the trail moves forward. It’s a reminder that criminal investigations haven’t caught up with the reality of today’s data centers. Remember that in June of last year, the FBI knocked dozens of innocent sites offline when it seized servers at a hosting facility in Reston, VA. Perhaps the big takeaway is that when it comes to policing the criminal use of data, there is a good chance of collateral damage.

I'm glad to know we can delete evidence now.

This kind of thing isn't unprecedented, and certainly isn't the worst case of the government stealing/destroying property with or without a criminal trial.  See civil asset forfeiture laws...

[Kit Walker]

This kind of thing isn't unprecedented, and certainly isn't the worst case of the government stealing/destroying property with or without a criminal trial.  See civil asset forfeiture laws...

The government aren't the ones destroying the data. Admittedly, they might be allowing it to be destroyed, but the situation is analogous to a landlord clearing an apartment of a tenant's things because the rent isn't being paid while they're in jail.

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Well, either this is intentional on the government's part, or they didn't think this far ahead.

Either way, they're going to have a LOT of people pissed off at them.  Say what you will about backup.  Some people probably can't afford other means of backup, so they used MegaUpload.

[Shane for Wax]

This kind of thing isn't unprecedented, and certainly isn't the worst case of the government stealing/destroying property with or without a criminal trial.  See civil asset forfeiture laws...

The government aren't the ones destroying the data. Admittedly, they might be allowing it to be destroyed, but the situation is analogous to a landlord clearing an apartment of a tenant's things because the rent isn't being paid while they're in jail.

Even then when there's an investigation going on over the person in jail the cops go in with a warrant to clean out everything they might need. Or, they're supposed to.

[Vene]

This kind of thing isn't unprecedented, and certainly isn't the worst case of the government stealing/destroying property with or without a criminal trial.  See civil asset forfeiture laws...

The government aren't the ones destroying the data. Admittedly, they might be allowing it to be destroyed, but the situation is analogous to a landlord clearing an apartment of a tenant's things because the rent isn't being paid while they're in jail.

Even then when there's an investigation going on over the person in jail the cops go in with a warrant to clean out everything they might need. Or, they're supposed to.

This portion suggests to me that what you described is what they already did. It depends upon what is meant by "some data."

The government said law enforcement officials had copied some data from servers but hadn't physically taken the servers--and that now that the original search warrants have been executed, the remaining data cannot be legally accessed.

[Shane for Wax]

Considering there's no way they could have slogged through the entire amount of data to know they got all relevant data they might need to prove they were right in seizing it in the first place, I am inclined to believe they aren't doing what they should have.

The FBI copied some data during its seizure, but left the bulk untouched.

The bulk. Which means I don't believe this to be a proper seizure/takedown if only a small amount of data was actually illegal.

Not to mention that if something isn't integral to an investigation the owner can take it back. This is not what is happening. So it is still wrong.