
Inside the Secretive World of MegaUpload - gluejar
http://owni.eu/2011/12/20/inside-the-secretive-world-of-megaupload-kim-schmitz-megaworld-the-mega-song/
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nikcub
> He made a name for himself infiltrating some the best protected computer
> systems in the world (including NASA’s)

funny. anybody who was part of the scene back then would tell you that NASA
was far from the 'best protected' network. jpl.nasa.gov became a running joke.

I had multiple runins with Schmidt back then (many people did) - the guy was a
poser and a script kiddie, all too happy to talk up other hacks as his own in
the media.

but anyway, most people know Kim Schmidt is behind the Mega companies. nothing
new here. He went from being rich to being broke again a few times in his life
(including a pump and dump that he was charged for) and started fresh out in
Asia with Megaupload.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if these celebrities were paid to be in the
video. I wonder if anybody has thought of asking them.

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ma2rten
Actually, it never even came into my mind to think that the celebrities were
_not_ paid to be in the video.

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droithomme
This is a pretty cool and well designed attack piece. I like the introduction
of issues such as as "he bought the largest house in new zealand" coupled with
the innuendo "while refusing to say where he got his riches", suggesting it is
criminal activity and he must be a gangster. Gosh, I wonder who ordered this
piece up.

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gluejar
Here's another "attack piece", by Kim himself: [http://torrentfreak.com/from-
rogue-to-vogue-megaupload-and-k...](http://torrentfreak.com/from-rogue-to-
vogue-megaupload-and-kim-dotcom-111218/)

~~~
gluejar
I love the way he boasts about how unflattering his wikipedia article is.

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drumdance
Whenever I come across stories like this, I wonder if I'm doing startups
wrong. The blogosphere is full of stories about being transparent, raising
money from well-known angels and VC etc. but I wonder if there are 10
secretive companies making tens of millions for every one that makes it on
TechCrunch.

~~~
brador
There are many. Chances are you're focusing on startup ideas that appeal to
"modern hipster".

Usually, white, middle-class, male, nerdy, tech savvy, 20-35, easily whipped
into a frenzy.

The founders of these startups, being of the same demographic, have a high
visual appeal to their prospective customer base. They're photogenic and in
some ways, aspirational. Hence, they make popular blog posts possible. Giving
them high marketability and value to online news organisations (your main
source of news) who are also targeting this demographic.

For example, notice on kickstarter, who gets the most funding?

On the other hand, other profitable startup ideas that do not appeal to the
demographic of the blogs and websites you visit are missed. When's the last
time you visited a traditional forum? or any site other than your top 10
bookmarks and a bunch of links you got from them?

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richardburton
This is such a fascinating story. I mean I would just love to know how a
company so secretive got all those celebrities to sing a its praises.

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GBKS
My guess is they did it the same way all the interviews for Borat were set up.
Send in a few legit looking people in business suits with some good marketing
speak and contracts, and it should be easy to get the celebs to say a line you
wrote about a website they don't know for 10k.

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richardburton
Check out this video of the founder thanking his users:
<http://www.megavideo.com/?v=TKY5290L>

What a big-dog!

~~~
laironald
He's only mega because so many people are happy. How cute!

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tszming
When you access megaupload.com from Hong Kong, you will get

"This service is temporarily not available from your service area."

~~~
wesley
Isn't this for tax reasons? A lot of tax paradises do not allow you to offer
your services locally.. Correct me if I'm wrong.

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rdl
True for International Business Corporations (IBCs) and free trade zones in
many places.

However, in Hong Kong you just pay local taxes on local income (8% I believe),
and no taxes on overseas income (although if you're a US citizen it becomes a
lot more complex, with Controlled Foreign Corporation rules, etc.).

It's much more likely that he doesn't want to face local legal issues in Hong
Kong. i.e. "never sell no crack where you rest at, I don't care if they want
an ounce, tell em: bounce".

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sgaither
50 million visits would make up 4 percent of the Net? That seems high.

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dazbradbury
They could be talking as a percentage of accessible data? Although, that seems
like a difficult thing to calculate.

EDIT: Seems like a few people have tried, so they could just take those
numbers. For example:

"5 billion gigabytes" - WiseGeek 2011 - <http://www.wisegeek.com/how-big-is-
the-internet.htm>

According to Megaupload, they store over 100 petabytes of data. Which equals
102m GB - <http://megaupload.com/?c=faq>

That would put them at roughly 2%.

EDIT 2: Alternatively, google has them at about 1.8% reach -
[https://www.google.com/adplanner/planning/site_profile#siteD...](https://www.google.com/adplanner/planning/site_profile#siteDetails?identifier=megaupload.com)

~~~
nikcub
when you are talking about total internet traffic, 2% reach with a page that
weighs 100KB is very different to having a 0.1% reach of people downloading
pirated movies

