Reconsidering Mega

I don't use a lot of cloud storage with sync to a desktop folder (kilobytes, not megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes), and my preference for what little I do use would be for Proton to get their damn Linux desktop client out already.

I've been using Dropbox for most of my needs in this respect, and I have no real complaints with it, but yesterday I decided to have another look at Mega (not an affiliate link). I had largely written it off years ago because I didn't know if founder Kim Dotcom's legal problems would end with the service (and the data stored on it) disappearing.

At the moment, I'm only using the storage/sync functionality, as I'm quite happy with Proton's VPN and password manager offerings.

So far so good. The only down side I see is that there's one application I use that doesn't offer Mega as a cloud storage option for loading/saving. If I decide I prefer Mega to Dropbox, I guess I'll look for another app.

In theory, Mega offers better encryption than Drobox. That's not a big issue for me as I don't store anything sensitive in the cloud.

Mega also offers a lot more storage than Dropbox -- 20Gb vs. 2Gb -- but like I said, my sync data is measured in kilobytes.

So this note is really for you and about your needs. If you need cloud storage and sync, Mega looks like a pretty good option, and its sync client does run on non-systemd Linux distros like MX Linux.

Mega: Brief First Impressions

So, Kim Dotcom has launched his new file storage service, Mega -- successor to MegaUpload, which was shut down, its servers and domain names stolen, etc., by US government thugs last year.

Mega offers 50Gb of free file storage and is apparently/allegedly (I'm not going to pretend to be tech-savvy enough to authenticate the claim myself) protected end-to-end with 2048-bit RSA encryption. The idea being to create a storage service not nearly as vulnerable to what happened to its predecessor.

My first impression of Mega -- and I've read other similar impressions, so I assume it's not just me -- is that the service really isn't ready for prime time yet.

Part of that may be due to heavy launch-time demand straining its servers, etc., but I did have trouble signing up the first day (it just kept churning -- came back yesterday and things worked), and so far I've been able to successfully upload only one small file (208Kb), while my other upload attempt (6.4Mb) has been sitting in the queue for quite a while at 0% and with an estimated upload time of "infinity."

According to Mega's blog, it's probably not worth bothering with the service unless you're willing to use the Google Chrome browser. Which, of course, I do (in fact, I use the Chrome OS).

If it wasn't for the who and why of all this, I'd recommend writing Mega off -- at least for the moment -- and going with other existing options (Dropbox, Google Drive, Mediafire, etc.) that already work pretty well, and that will accommodate your primitive, buggy, virus-ridden, exploit-vulnerable, rub-two-sticks-together-and-hope-for-fire "browsers."

But the who and why are important. The US tried to shut down Dotcom for no better reason than that some large US business interests find the services he offers ... inconvenient. He was briefly held as a political prisoner in New Zealand under threat of extradition to a rogue nation (the United States) with a pretty nasty record of denying due process, disappearing (and sometimes just plain murdering) people, torturing prisoners, etc. (fortunately New Zealand, unlike the US, still has courts that sometimes abide by, you know, the law and stuff).

I want Kim Dotcom to succeed because all the usual suspects are trying to ensure that he fails. So I hope you'll give Mega a chance -- use it from the very start, and use it more as it proves itself. I suspect that the problems will be ironed out in short order, unless the US government launches an illegal cyber-war of aggression to try and take the site down ... and hopefully even in that case.