End of the Internet or the beginning of a new-style Internet?

By: Anthony Garreffa (more) | Software Content | Posted: Feb 5, 2012 4:11 pm

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MegaUpload is in trouble, but did the FBI and U.S. Government have a hand in it?

end_of_the_internet_or_the_beginning_of_a_new_style_internet

After I had written 90% of this editorial, I noticed CNET (of all places) had an article where they've stated that a large number of MegaUpload's internal (remember that word: internal) communications have been acquired by the FBI. In one of the exchanges of the conversation, MegaUpload managers were scared over a Skype IM chat back in 2007 that founder Kim Dotcom wasn't "safe with his money" and "the current situation is a bit risky."

How federal investigators got access to MegaUpload employees and founders' conversations, lead CNET to believe that the FBI somehow managed to place "government-issued" spyware on the defendants' computers.

You're thinking that there's an explanation to this, well, there's not. Nothing that you or I could explain, as the FBI has cited alleged conversations go back five years, some of the earliest days of MegaUpload. Skype states that "IM history messages will be stored for a maximum of 30 days," considering the criminal investigation didn't begin until a few months ago, that raises some serious, serious questions.

Sources then told CNET that Skype, now owned by Microsoft, were not asked by the FBI to turn over any information whatsoever and have not been served with legal process. This begs the inevitable question of "how in the hell did the FBI get access to those conversations?"