Dotcom: Privacy is a basic human right
Believing privacy to be a "basic human right", Kim Dotcom let the world know Mega's manifesto at the sites launch party yesterday.
Founder of the file-sharing service, Dotcom billed Mega as "The Privacy Company", believing this to be the future way to use the internet.
"Privacy is a basic human right," he said.
"It's about the human need for refuge from the community."
Jumping on Dotcom's statement, many in the media believe the words to come as a direct dig to governments and large corporations who use existing copyright laws to take away the public's right to data online.
Whether this be true however is a different story, but Dotcom told the waiting press that Mega will be an encryption platform, allowing third-party applications to keep their users safe online.
Journalist Mario Aguilar, Gizmodo, attempted to make sense of the situation, saying:
"And of the message? The whole show was techno theater just as much as it was a keynote. It was stilted and awkward.
"Dotcom is an icon, yes, but he's big, strange icon. His ideas skew to the wackier side of what the mainstream is probably willing to accept.
"People like to complain about the occasional government overreach, but might have a hard time believing in a government conspiracy to quash your freedom by harvesting your data.
"Dotcom definitely has a point, your private info is up for grabs, and more and more is being taken from you every day.
"There's a lot of evidence that he's right that people want an open, free, and private Internet enough to fight for it.
"But for all the lofty talk, the only tangible thing we've got to go on is the platform as Dotcom has built it so far.
"Mega's encryption model is smart, but who knows if it will create the sea change Mr. Kim envisions.
"On one hand, Dotcom sounds like a paranoid, opportunistic man whose home was raided a year ago.
"On the other, he sounds like any other ordinary citizen who wants some space all his own."
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