Dotcom issues warning to Mega users during interview

Aug 1, 2015 08:46 GMT  ·  By

The drama in Kim Dotcom's life never seems to end, and recently, in an interview with Slashdot users, the Internet entrepreneur hinted he lost control of Mega, the company he founded as a successor to Megaupload, which he discourages users from using any longer.

Launched two years ago, Mega has been very popular, especially with paranoid users who have a problem with online surveillance tactics which some governments around the world deploy.

Because Kim Dotcom had his previous service, Megaupload, seized from him, this time around, he put all his shares under his wife's name.

But given that Kim and his wife Mona are now going through a divorce, Kim Dotcom has no more "real" influence in the company he founded.

Kim Dotcom: I'm not involved in Mega anymore

Additionally, asked by a user if his service (Mega) can be trusted anymore after facing criticism from some open source advocates, Kim Dotcom responded by saying, "I don't think your data is safe on Mega anymore."

"I'm not involved in Mega anymore. Neither in a managing nor in a shareholder capacity. The company has suffered from a hostile takeover by a Chinese investor who is wanted in China for fraud. He used a number of straw-men and businesses to accumulate more and more Mega shares."

He continued, "Recently his shares have been seized by the NZ government. Which means the NZ government is in control. In addition Hollywood has seized all the Megashares in the family trust that was setup for my children."

Dotcom plans to launch a Wikipedia-inspired Mega competitor

But Kim Dotcom didn't stop there. He went on to detail a project which he plans to set in motion after the end of the year, when his non-competing clause with Mega expires.

According to Dotcom, he plans to build a Mega-like website, but unlike his previous attempt, which had a closed-source approach, this time he'll put the company's source code online for anyone to see.

Dotcom wants to win his users' trust again by running a Wikipedia-like open website, with the code freely available and run 100% through donations.

"I want to give everyone free, unlimited and encrypted cloud storage with the help of donations from the community to keep things going," said Dotcom.

Since the interview went viral in less than a day, Dotcom has also announced via Twitter he plans to issue a more in-depth statement about Mega's current status during the next week.