U.S. Government Tells Court Megaupload Users Should Sue Company Over Lost Files

The United States government has a suggestion for Megaupload users that can't get their legal data from the file-sharing and storage company: sue them or the service provider for Megaupload. Basically they are saying that since they have gotten the data they wanted from the servers they seized, it's not their problem anymore.

The U.S. government's suggestions are a response to Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin, who (with the support of the EFF) filed a motion asking that the court compel parties involved in the case to find a workable solution for the return of legal user data.

One solution was offered by hosting company Carpathia, who agreed to sell Megaupload the servers containing the data for $1,000,000 earlier this year. This was blocked by U.S. authorities, who did not want to unfreeze the assets of the company or its founder Kim Dotcom. The Motion Picture Association of America also objected but last week said that users could certainly could have access to files as long as they were "legal."

Ultimately the U.S. Government is asking the court to deny the motion, saying that it does not have anyone's property.

"The government does not possess any of Mr. Goodwin’s property, nor does it seek to forfeit it," the Government wrote in court documents. "The government also does not oppose access by Kyle Goodwin to the 1103 servers previously leased by Megaupload. But access is not the issue – if it was, Mr. Goodwin could simply hire a forensic expert to retrieve what he claims is his property and reimburse Carpathia for its associated costs."

The government goes on to say that it no longer has control of the servers and that Megaupload users can access them at their leisure, but doing so would cost the average user thousands of dollars - and the government isn't going to foot the bill. The government characterizes the loss of files as unfortunate, but claims that the financial loss should not considered to be "irreparable harm."

"One reason that monetary loss does not constitute irreparable harm is that Mr. Goodwin has a legal remedy to recover any monetary losses," the government writes. "For instance, if Megaupload (by failing to maintain its leased servers with data he uploaded) or Carpathia (by terminating Megaupload’s lease and choosing not to continue to provide access to the servers) violated a term of service or other contract with Mr. Goodwin, he can sue Megaupload or Carpathia to recover his losses."

Source: TorrentFreak