MPAA is asking the judge to direct Carpathia, the Virginia-based server host of Megaupload, to retain the 25 petabytes of Megaupload data on its servers, including account information on its 66.6 million users, according to a report by Wired’s Threat Level.
MPAA said it wants the data because it could sue Megaupload and others involved in the file-sharing service for copyright infringement.
“In light of the potential civil claims by the studios, we demand that Carpathia preserve all material in its possession, custody, or control, including electronic data and database, related to Megaupload or its operations”, wrote MPAA attorney Steven Fabrizio in a Jan. 31 letter to Carpathia, a copy of which was included in a March 20 legal filing. “This would include, but is not limited to, all information identifying or otherwise related to the content files uploaded to, stored on and/or downloaded from Megaupload; all data associated with those content files, the uploading or downloading of those files, and the Megaupload users who uploaded or downloaded those files.”
A hearing on the matter is set for next month. Federal authorities have said that they have copied some, but not all, of the data and that Carpathia could delete the 25 petabytes of Megaupload data it is hosting, according to the report.