[will118]

I haven't been following his case in too much detail;

I understand that some people used Megaupload for genuine cloud storage, even though it was a small fraction.

I have noticed Kim is always talking about wanting his data back, can anybody tell me why?

I thought some of the evidence was conversations essentially about enticing people to upload more (pirated) content, what exactly was on the Leaseweb servers that would help Kim out?

I'd always thought he would have wanted them wiped?

[dagw]

I'd always thought he would have wanted them wiped?

Maybe he did want it wiped, but didn't want it to look like it he wanted it wiped. Being able to go "They destroyed all the evidence, now I can never prove of my innocence" is a pretty nice PR card to play irregardless of the facts.

[antoko]

I hate to be "that guy" but "irregardless" is not actually a word. I have known some people to use the word ironically but that doesn't come across well in text.

regardless - without regard to

irrespective - without respect to

adding the prefix ir- and the suffix -less is doing the same thing twice, its a double negative.

Ha, there's even a wikipedia entry[1], I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregardless

[sejje]

You sure stepped up in spite of your distaste. The word has been in print since 1795? Yep, better chastise this guy!

Also, double negatives are common in many languages, and were common in English in the past. It's a relatively recent evolution that it's considered bad practice.

Additionally, there's no authority on words, so to speak. "Proper language" is a reflection of how people speak the language. Irregardless isn't going anywhere, it's in widespread use.

[antoko]

Why would you think I'm chastising rather than educating?

You're reading snark where none was intended, and responding in kind.

Double negatives are a problem when you're actually trying to use a single negative which is the case here.

I wasn't offering myself up as an authority on words, I'm pretty bad at both spelling and grammar.

Also, as a Brit living in the US I'm also well aware of different uses of words/spellings and agree that the point of language is communication, and irregardless doesn't cause confusion, as it is obvious what someone means when they use the word.

The whole point of prefacing my comment with, "I hate to be that guy", was to suggest that I'm not actually that guy to soften any perceived insult/criticism.

[pheleven]

It reminds me of the old short "The Parlor":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDPdCzCfFM

[tobiasu]

He is playing the "Megaupload is a legit service with legit users" card. And that may be true for some percentage of his paying customers.

Fighting for his customers data makes him look good and the DOJ/Leaseweb look bad. What's not to like about his strategy?

[MartinodF]

The hypocrisy?

[tobiasu]

Maybe, but that is an industry-wide phenomenon.

Kim is just stretching the limits while other companies keep a lower profile extracting money from the users illegal storage and bandwidth needs.

[rsofaer]

He would have liked to use all the non-infringing content that was there as evidence that Megaupload was a genuine cloud storage company.

[versk]

completely uninformed here, but wouldn't having the servers wiped be better for the defense? no evidence for him, but none for the prosecutor either.

[Deathmax]

The prosecutors already had copied whatever evidence they needed from the servers.

[Avenger42]

And he's now unable to prove that the "evidence" isn't faked, since he can't access the servers himself and verify the contents.

At the very least it should make a good case for an appeal.