EFF Wants Court to Order Return of Personal Data to Lawful Megaupload Account Holders
The Electronic Frontier Foundation asked a federal appeals court to order the return of personal files of client Kyle Goodwin, a sports videographer locked out of his Megaupload.com account after the FBI in 2012 raided and seized the site, seeking…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
evidence of copyright infringement and other crimes (see 1202020109). In a petition filed Monday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, EFF said in a news release it and Goodwin's other attorneys want the court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to give their client access to his data and "create a process" for other lawful account holders to retrieve their information from the cloud-storage provider. "It’s deeply unfair for him to still be in limbo after all this time,” said EFF senior staff attorney Mitch Stoltz. “The legal system must step in and create a pathway for law-abiding users to get their data back.” The petition said Goodwin tried several times to get access to his files through the courts, the latest attempt in October. Five years ago, DOJ charged seven individuals and two corporations with pirating online copyrighted works through Megaupload.com and other related sites. Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was charged in the case and is fighting extradition from New Zealand where he lives. EFF said as cloud computing becomes even more popular similar cases may arise.