Five years ago, the U.S. government shut down one of the most popular file-sharing websites of all time, Megaupload – but now it’s coming back.
At one point, Megaupload was the 13th busiest site on the web, boasting upwards of 50 million users every day and featuring 150 million registered users, reports The Guardian.
The site was founded back in 2005 by German Internet entrepreneur, Kim Dotcom, but was eventually closed down for piracy breaches, but Mr. Dotcom (not his real name…) revealed in a series of tweets that Megaupload’s days were far from over.
And if you used to be a Megaupload user then Kim has also promised he’ll be handing you back your account with ‘premium privileges’, while adding that the site will use bitcoins.
When the site was originally taken down, Kim was arrested when armed police raided his home, claiming Megaupload had cost film and record companies $500 million by encouraging users to share and store TV shows and films on the site.
Although Kim’s net worth is not actually known, his lavish lifestyle has been well documented – such as flying on private jets and his numerous exuberant number plates.
In 2012, the FBI estimated that Dotcom was personally making about $115,000 a day.
And here I am, saving every penny just so that I can get the train to work…
