Canadian Court Rejects US Request For Megaupload Server Data

We've been following the saga of Kim Dotcom and Megaupload for a long time now. While most of the coverage is focused on attempts by the United States to extradite Dotcom and other managers of Megaupload to the US to stand trial, it's been easy to forget about the data confiscated. Recently the United States government tried to get access to all data stored on Megaupload servers that were seized in Canada.

The United States Government sent a request to a court in Ontario asking the court to send mirror-imaged copies of 32 computer servers to US authorities. The Ontario courtroom rejected the request of the US indicating that a more refined order was needed. Interestingly, Megaupload's legal team had never fought the seizure of the servers in Canada.

However, the legal team representing Megaupload did argue that there was a large volume of data and information on the servers and sending blanket mirror copies of the data would be overly broad. Megaupload maintains that the amount of data on the 32 servers is equal to roughly 100 laptops and urged the court to review the content.

The Canadian judge told the United States government to refine the request and limit requested data to information relevant to the case. We will continue to follow the Megaupload case, as more information is made available in the coming weeks and months.

[via Michaelgeist.ca]