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of links spawning across the internet all led to one place and the root file was the one which had to be destroyed. Not the case, according to Megaupload’s advice, because it did nothing to establish the ownership of the root file. The lawyers were clear, says Dotcom. “It’s their responsibility to identify infringements, If they don’t work with you, if they don’t make an effort, it’s not your obligation to police the internet.”

Megaupload didn’t have a search system — one of a number of aspects which lawyers said would attract claims the website was designed to aid and abet infringement. The links instead were placed on third-party websites, which generated ranking lists of infringing content. Dotcom’s expectation (and advice) was that policing the internet required the studios to monitor it and quash the links as they emerged.

The eventual FBI indictment, which was far in the future at this stage, reflected the Megaupload team’s efforts to manage the increasing numbers of deletions sought by the copyright holders. “All that noise that (copyright holders) were making was really not logical to us,” says Dotcom, but the complaints were such that he created a system for copyright holders — the “Direct Delete” access which allowed them access to Megaupload’s systems to remove infringing links. It was an extension beyond what the law allowed.

Direct Delete didn’t really work, to Dotcom’s surprise. “They used it very sparsely, very little. They didn’t make a big effort.” Warner Bros was the only company which stood out from the others, making heavy use of the system. “I was surprised later when Warner Bros was one of the leading parties to bring us down.”

Looking back, Dotcom says: “We gave them the tools and the law gave them the obligation and yet here I am facing extradition and 80 years of jail time because they haven’t done their job. I have provided everything they needed to do that.”

Was the difficulty one of perspective? The copyright industry couldn’t conceive of a future in which infringement or violation was controlled and managed. Instead, they would talk of a future in which there was no copyright malfeasance. It was a view which many in the internet industry felt was at odds with the wildling nature of the technology.

“I think [the copyright industry] never approved of the DMCA,” says Dotcom. “They said, if we do this, if we follow those rules and fulfil our obligation to identify everything, then we accept that and that’s going to remain the status quo. It will be hard for us to change it. If we do not fulfil our obligation and there is a lot of piracy, it is easier for us to attack sites like Megaupload, Rapidshare and MediaFire because we can make a case . . . and we can try and get a law that favours us.

“The DMCA is perfect. It keeps the balance intact. There will always be

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