Megaupload
Megaupload was a file hosting service run by Megaupload, Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company founded in 2005 by Kim Dotcom. On 19 January 2012, the United States Department of Justice shut down Megaupload and its sister services, freezing approximately $42 million in associated assets and arresting the site's owners on charges of copyright infringement.
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History
Megaupload was founded by Kim Dotcom in Hong Kong in September 2005, originally a company called Data Protect Limited. The site enjoyed a rapid rise to success, as did Dotcom and his partners. Megaupload's offices were located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. At the time of the U.S. Department of Justice raid on Megaupload, the company was renting an office in a luxurious Hong Kong hotel that cost nearly $13,000 per day. Dotcom announced in September 2012 that he would be launching a new Megaupload service, 90% finished at the time, later that year despite ongoing legal proceedings.
Services
Megaupload was merely one of many services offered by Megaupload, Ltd. Megaupload had five partner services, with two more in development at the time of the raid.
- Megaporn.com was a file-sharing service specifically geared towards pornographic material.
- Megabox.com was a file-sharing service that allowed for playlist and library sharing.
- Megalive.com was a live video-streaming service.
- Megapix.com was an image-hosting service.
- Megavideo.com was a video-hosting service.
- Megabackup.com (in development)
- Megamovie.com (in development)
Within the Megaupload site, users could choose to either pay a membership fee or remain free users. Members enjoyed higher download speeds, concurrent downloads, and limited wait times between downloads, whereas these capabilities were highly limited for free users. Membership fees accounted for an estimated $150 million in Megaupload's earnings.
Statistics
At one point in its operation, Megaupload was the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Throughout its history, it had more than one billion visitors with 180 million registered users, storing 25 petabytes of data. Megaupload is estimated to have been responsible for approximately four percent of the traffic on the Internet, with an average of 50 million daily visits and over 1 billion total page views.
