Mega file-sharing: Need to Know

Is Mega legal?

Yes. Much like Megaupload, the new file sharing site does not break any laws. The slogan of the website rather cheekily is "The Privacy Company".

Mega aims to cover itself with a disclaimer.

To absolve itself of responsibility of any potential legal action, in the terms of service, Mega states that users who sign up agree to absolve the firm from any responsibility if they are pursued by authorities for copyright infringement.

However, there will no doubt be people who use the service to infringe copyright regardless of these terms and it remains easy to do so.

Users can upload a movie to their account, generate a link to a download and then post this in a forum or email it to other potential infringers, for example.

Above I uploaded a trailer for Harry Potter and was able to share it with anyone by generating a link. However, this could easily be used to share copyrighted material

It will be up to content creators, such as movie studios, to scour the internet for such links and then file copyright infringement notices to Mega, so they can be taken down.

Will the FBI try and shutdown Mega?

Millions of users were left without access to their files once the FBI seized the Megaupload domain and shutdown the website. Kim Dotcom and his lawyers are still fighting with the authorities to retrieve this data and port it over to Mega.

But could Mega be subject to the same fate as its predecessor?

The answer is yes, and Mega acknowledges this too.

"Although we keep each file in at least two locations, there is no guarantee against multiple concurrent failures and repeated unprecedented government misconduct," Mega warns its users.

It's this final statement which suggest you should use the service at your own risk.