Data on Megaupload servers may be deleted

Federal prosecutors say two U.S. companies hosting Megaupload's servers could begin deleting all user content as early as Thursday. The people behind Megaupload have been charged with online piracy that allegedly brought them almost $175 million in revenues and caused more than $500 million in damages to legitimate copyright holders. But Megaupload.com claims millions of people used the site to store legitimate data including work-related documents, family photos and other personal information. U.S. law enforcement has completed its search of Megaupload's servers and copied all relevant data from them, court documents show. No longer in the custody of law enforcement, the servers have been released back to Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications, the two U.S. companies Megaupload leased them from, Computerworld reported Monday. The servers were never removed from the premises of the two companies, it reported. People seeking access to the data contained in those servers should contact Cogent or Carpathia directly, federal prosecutors said in a court document filed Friday. "It is our understanding that the hosting companies may begin deleting the contents of the servers beginning as early as Feb. 2, 2012," it said. If the companies decide to delete data, tens of thousands of users who used Megaupload.com to store documents, photos and videos could lose the data forever, Computerword reported.