Megaupload Readies for Comeback, Code 90% Done
January this year the U.S. Government destroyed Megaupload, but founder Kim Dotcom is a not done with the file-hosting business yet and is preparing to come back with a vengeance. The coding work for the new Megaupload is nearly finished, the servers have been ordered, and investors are lining up. A return of the file-hosting site appears to be looming.
With 50 million visitors per day at its peak, Megaupload was one of the largest websites on the Internet.
This quickly changed January this year when the U.S. Government took down the file-hosting service and had several key employees arrested including founder Kim Dotcom.
Abruptly, the focus of Megaupload’s team shifted from serving customers to defending itself in a high-profile criminal prosecution. While the criminal case is moving ahead very slowly, Megaupload’s founder does have some progress to report on another front.
Dotcom previously announced that he planned to bring Megaupload back to life, and new information suggests that this may happen rather quickly. In an update this weekend he tweets that most of the work on the second incarnation of the site is already done.
“Quick update on the new Mega: Code 90% done. Servers on the way. Lawyers, partners and investors are ready,” Dotcom teases.
“Be patient it’s coming,” he adds.
From the brief progress update it’s clear that the site is on schedule for launch later this year. In addition, it’s interesting to note that despite the ongoing criminal case, partners and investors are happy to be involved.
In recent weeks Dotcom has delivered several hints about the new Megaupload, which he says will be bigger and better than the file-hosting service that was taken down.
“We are building a massive global network. All non-US hosters will be able to connect servers & bandwidth,” he explained earlier.
According to Dotcom we can expect a Megaupload with an even greater range of applications than just file-sharing. While developers of file managers are being encouraged to get in touch for early API access, Dotcom is also calling out to those involved in email and fax tools, VOIP and video apps.
It’s clear that Dotcom doesn’t have the slightest urge to throw in the towel.
“They abused the wrong guy. I am going to turn this world upside down. Power to the people. Bye bye Echelon. Hello Freedom,” Dotcom added.
It will be at least a few more weeks before the new Megaupload appears online, but there are exciting times ahead. MEGA exciting.
Megaupload Readies for Comeback, Code 90% Done
Assange to address UN on human rights
Julian Assange will address permanent representatives to the UN General Assembly at a high-level talk on the legal and ethical legitimacy of diplomatic asylum. RT has exclusive rights to broadcast the event live from the UN headquarters in New York.
Among those joining Assange for the panel discussion at the 67th General Assembly Debate on Wednesday will be Ricardo Patino, Foreign Affairs Minister of Ecuador, and Baher Azmy, the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Ecuador’s sponsorship of the event is linked to their mid-August decision to grant Assange political asylum, a move that sparked worldwide debate over the legal and human rights dimensions of diplomatic asylum.
Assange took shelter in Ecuador’s London embassy in June after losing his court battle to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault. The WikiLeaks founder fears he will be extradited to the US after arriving in Sweden for his role in leaking thousands of secret US diplomatic and military cables. Washington and Stockholm denied Assange’s allegations.
A breakthrough in the diplomatic standoff between Britain and Ecuador over Assange could be forthcoming, as UK Foreign Secretary William Hague will meet with Patino during the UN summit on Thursday.
Ecuador is expected to request safe passage for Assange to Ecuador’s embassy in Sweden, where he would be questioned on the sex crimes allegations leveled against him.
Assange to address UN on human rights
93 Percent Of Fox News Climate Coverage Is ‘Misleading’
There’s a new report out today analyzing climate coverage from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and Wall Street Journal. The results likely won’t shock anyone who reads this blog.
According to a review of recent climate coverage at these two outlets, 93 percent stories from Fox News on climate were misleading and 81 percent of stories in the WSJ op-ed section were misleading. The assessment was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
What makes a “misleading” comment? UCS researchers say they include “broad dismissals of human-caused climate change, disparaging comments about individual scientists, rejections of climate science as a body of knowledge, and cherry picking of data.”
Or, as climate scientists have called Fox News’ climate coverage over the years: “utter nonsense,” “utter rubbish,” “patently false,” and “simply ignorant.”
According to the UCS analysis, Fox News aired 40 stories or interview segments between February and July 2012 that mentioned climate change. Here’s how the misleading statements broke down:
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page also did very poorly. According to the UCS analysis, which looked at op-eds over the last year, 81 percent of pieces mentioning climate change were misleading. In this case, the WSJ featured many stories personally attacking climate scientists:
In 2009, a managing editor at Fox News issued a memo telling reporters to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.”
This shoddy reporting isn’t just limited to U.S. operations. According to a recent analysis from the Australian Center for Independent Journalism, the top six Australian newspapers featuring overwhelmingly negative and misleading coverage about climate issues in 2011 were all owned by Rupert Murdoch.
“It’s fair to say they’ve campaigned against it rather than covered it,” wrote the report’s authors.
Responding to Rupert Murdoch’s disinformation campaign, one Australian climate scientist put it bluntly: “The Murdoch media empire has cost humanity perhaps one or two decades of time in the battle against climate change.”
This study shows once again that Murdoch’s news outlets are leading the charge in climate disinformation.
93 Percent Of Fox News Climate Coverage Is ‘Misleading’
More soldiers die from suicide than combat
Another extremely sad revelation following a decade of war - new Pentagon statistics are showing that the military is losing an average of one soldier per day not to combat in Afghanistan, but to suicide.
As of this writing, according to an Associated Press investigation, there have been 154 suicides for active-duty troops in 2012 - nearly one per day of the year so far.
Besides a surging suicide rate, the military is also experiencing higher incidences of sexual assault, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse and other forms of misbehavior.
Analysts say these figures are reflective of an over-burdened military that is reeling from multiple deployments over the past 10 years, mostly to Iraq and Afghanistan. It should be noted that these wartime deployments come in addition to peacetime obligations such as year-long, recurring commitments to places like Qatar, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Kosovo and parts of Africa - assignments that are often handled by National Guard units from around the country because they are in excess of the staffing and manning capabilities of active duty components.
Needless to say, the American military is busy -- some say too busy. Still, military suicide rates had been leveling off; they fell in 2010 and 2011. So the increase now was not only unexpected but difficult to explain.
Or is it?
More soldiers die from suicide than combat
FUTURE PRIMATE 