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But the cloud storage site didn't start out that way. Instead, it began as a way to build a fighting fund for the case — a war chest which would be able to sustain demands worth millions of dollars.

Since his arrest, Dotcom's refrain has been one of innovation. He has talked of business creation along with fostering ideas and talent.

“I'm a thinker and I love to come up with stuff I know no one else is doing,” says Dotcom. As Megaupload faded into memory, he was confronted with the need to again build from scratch and turn what was nothing more than an idea into a business which was popular enough to generate a fortune.

In August 2012, writer Charles Graeber visited to write about Dotcom for Wired magazine. He wrote of Dotcom's worries for the future and how it would take “a decade to build another empire with the next Big Idea. He doesn't think he has it in him.” For all apparent self-doubt, it was only a month later that the “next Big Idea” was underway.

“We saw there was a plan in place to try and drag this out as long as possible,” says Dotcom, “because they know they are sitting on our assets and we are dehydrated and cannot afford our legal team. Over time, I think they assumed that our lawyers are going to jump ship and not work with us any more.

“We needed to create something that allows us to have an income. It allows us to change the one parameter in this whole case which is life threatening to us, which is the dehydration — the lack of funding to defend ourselves.”

The legal team representing the men had until now baulked at the prospect of a new business. Bail included the condition the Megaupload accused not be allowed to re-open their operation. Their liberty depended on it.

The advice had been to leave any plans until after the extradition hearing, but it became obvious the extradition hearing would be some distance in the future. In Dotcom's view, this was a strategy by the US to draw the case out, eating through financial and legal support and eventually leaving the accused defenceless. The possibility of a new business shifted from potential threat to their salvation.

The group, talking about possibilities, were quizzed. “Look guys,” Dotcom told them. “What we know best is what we have learned in the last seven years in the industry we are in. If we wanted to do something new, how would we go about it? How would it not be seen as a new Megaupload?”

The ideas germinated slowly over months. The apology from Prime Minister John Key over the illegal spying and violation of Dotcom's privacy coincided with creating a tangible plan.

“I said I have to create a product which gives privacy back to the

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