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Kim Dotcom Presents New Micro-Payment Service Which May Help Prevent Piracy

Kim DotCom (Image Source: http://bitcoinist.com)

Kim DotCom (Image Source: http://bitcoinist.com)

Kim Dotcom, the founder of the controversial Megaupload file hosting service, has presented a new micro-payment service that he argues could help stop piracy.

Setting Up Shop

The Bitcache logo (Image Source: https://fs.bitcoinmagazine.com)

The Bitcache logo (Image Source: https://fs.bitcoinmagazine.com)

The new service is called Bitcache and it allows users to charge others who download their contents for a few amounts of cash. The idea is that users can upload the content they created onto the new service and put a price on that. It could be any file (sound file, video files, etc.) for any amount of cash (from $1 and up). Bitchache will also distribute the file across the Internet, in other file storage sites, torrent websites and other file-sharing websites. Users would be able to download the files but it is encrypted and they won’t be able to use it unless they pay the amount required. For example, a person makes articles for a living. He can upload his samples for free or ask for payment by adding a price on the uploaded item.

The new service will also include “a web browser extension and a mobile app” in the future. It would also allow other content creators, like bloggers and people who make YouTube videos for a living, to be able to charge and accept payments from their viewers.

This project was funded through the crowdfunding investment platform “Bank To The Future” in October of last year. Currently, it is still under development but the demo was released on Tuesday, August 29. Kim received 185,000 requests for access and only 10,000 of them were given invitations. Twitter users seem to like the project.

Kim argues that this technology can help copyright owners to get more revenue from the content they’re making by making it readily available for everyone around the world. It can also help stifle piracy by tapping into the group of people that are able to pay but can’t get access the content they want to pay for. He also said that you can’t completely stop piracy and that there will always be people who will choose to pirate, but by making everyone able to access and pay for content it can increase the revenue received by content creators.

“That’s about $10 billion worth of revenue that is just being left on the side,” he told BBC in an interview.

Fighting Piracy

Megaupload's registration page (Image Source: techhive.com)

Megaupload’s registration page (Image Source: techhive.com)

Fighting online piracy has been an issue for a long time on the Internet. Copyrighted material has been uploaded over the Internet, making it easily accessible by anyone who knows their way around the it. For years, governments around the world have tried to implement legislations and laws to combat piracy, which they argue causes billions of dollars of revenues lost. A few examples of those were SOPA, PIPA, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Pirates and other people argued, however, that piracy doesn’t actually affect sales: files being passed around the Internet are intangible and can be copied indefinitely. They consider this act as copying and not actual piracy or stealing. They also acknowledge that different people have different reasons to pirate as an alternative way to get the content they want.

Kim has been acquainted with the problems of piracy for a very long time. In fact, his first file-sharing website, Megaupload, was taken down by the FBI on charges of copyright infringement. Kim has been a big name because many use his services to share files, some of which are illegally uploaded.

If this service is successful, it may lessen the incidents of piracy by giving people legal alternative platforms where they can host and pay for content they want, without any barriers. That’s assuming Kim does it right this time. He has struck twice: first with Megaupload; then with MEGA. The third time’s the charm, but three strikes might finally put him out of the ball game for good.