The missus and I just had a long discussion about this... Well not if he's a fat fuck, but if he is right or wrong to make Mega.
Naturally I was of the opinion that the man is a hero for providing true encryption to the world that the government isn't likely to crack... But at the same time, he's pushing it in Hollywood's face basically shouting: "Quit your jobs now, I just fired you all."
Let's face it, if this thing works as advertised, Piracy won't be skimming a little anymore. It's going to destroy hollywood. Lives will be ruined, the industry probably won't survive it in any recognizable form.
So after a long talk about intellectual property and all that stuff, I'm starting to change my opinion about piracy... In short, the way Kim's going about this is wrong. As much as I feel the product is necessary, History won't be kind to him if & when no one makes movies anymore... We'll all be like: "Fuck, I really wanted to see Avengers 3 but now they aren't going to make it... THANKS KIM!"
OK that may be a bit extreme of an example but you get the point.
Here's the thing we really should be discussing; If he were truly a great, moral guy who wanted to make the world a better place and give use truly private file sharing without hurting anyone, he could always limit the # of receivers per file to 1.
Think about that for a sec. If he made Mega do all that it does, but each file can only be downloaded by 1 individual, then Hollywood & the record industry wouldn't be out of work, and everyone could get the true benefit here: Truly private, super-encrypted communications.
...Of course then he wouldn't be able to monetize mega. So we know that won't ever be considered. Hell, he's got investors and owes them a profit so even if he wanted to now he couldn't.
So although I'm generally against intellectual property in the first place, there was a way to offer this particular wonder of modern technology without destroying the livelihoods of literally thousands of people and ruining our new-movie-watching experience for the rest of our lives.
So in my book, Kim's no hero, but his commercial venture offers a benefit that a hero could have invented, tied to something that I'd consider cold and almost evil now.
Perhaps if uncle sam does take mega down somehow, the person to revive it without the evil part can be a real hero and limit transfers to 1 recipient.