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indigo6alpha | 78 points | Dec 07 2016 05:53:18

[DISCUSSION] Dealing with the MEGA crisis | Megalinks MegaDB [DISCUSSION] Dealing with the MEGA crisis

We have a lot of META posts on the homepage and all of them are valid concerns. I personally know what a huge pain-in-the-ass it is to put in so much time and effort to try and share content with the users and then have all that taken down in one fell swoop. But let's deal with this nagging issue as a community rather than throwing out the rule book and making up our own individual rules.

Because I see a lot of non-MEGA links posted here ever since the MEGA crisis started. I admit, it's a temporary solution, but I feel it totally defeats the purpose of this sub. Existing non-MEGA links won't be taken down, but I have adjusted the spam filter to accept only mega.nz, mega.co.nz and self-posts. I can't believe we didn't have that filter on before now.

We've had a lot of discussions about going private in the past. We'd also discussed other potential solutions to our problem. But we saw a decline in takedowns when users started posting the link and the key seperately, so we'd put that all aside. It's safe to say that's not the case anymore.

I'm going to consolidate all the solutions users had suggested in the previous discussion threads and update this thread with the list. I hope we can decide on a solution based on the feasability.

Please refrain from creating more META posts as they will simply clutter up the homepage and actual content will just get buried. Instead, post your opinions and questions here.

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[-] BloodHawkDarkWolf | 43 points | Dec 07 2016 08:05:43

Something everyone needs to realize is that a majority of the factors in accounts and files getting deleted had nothing to do with this subreddit. Mega was targetting using hashes, accounts using the same email address, probably ip addresses and whatever else they can think of. It's just like when video games ban cheaters: they gather information for a while and ban in waves. Well, MEGA just banned in waves.

KEEP CALM. DON'T PANIC. Let's give things a day or two and see what happens. But this sub is not the be-all and end-all of MEGA corporation and other organizations. It's pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

However, as far as protecting your posts here goes there is a lot you can do using something as simple as formatting. You can split urls or keys, put half at the beginning of a line or sentence and the other half at the end. Half at the beginning of the post, half at the end. You can replace several characters with XXX then list them later in the post. Put half the info at the beginning of 2 successive paragraphs. As long as you tell people what you're doing people can cut & past a little.Be creative.

If bots are searching the post they will not be able to figure this out. If it's people then none of this will work, and neither will 3rd party sites with captcha, steganography, or making the sub private.

It's possible none of that will even be necessary. Things may go back to the way they were, they might change completely. MEGA has a new website they're working on so eventually this one will probably be shut down anyway. Use what works while it works, but be prepared for change.

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[-] oeffoeff | 6 points | Dec 07 2016 13:48:18

Mega was targetting using hashes

Isn't mega supposed to encrypt the content? How can they do hashes of files that should be encrypted, without having the passkey or userpassword? it shouldn't be possible... unless mega was lying.

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[-] BloodHawkDarkWolf | 4 points | Dec 07 2016 17:58:51

I don't know. You don't know. MEGA knows, and they're not telling. Everything on our end is speculation, what we can reverse engineer from patterns. I'll go back to the analogy of games banning cheaters: they deliberately keep as much information as possible secret so people don't figure out the criteria for bans and use that information to avoid the bans.

Let's be real. MEGA isn't really concerned about content beyond what they are legally required to do, or unless it costs them money. They let people host whatever, and do the minimum amount of takedown necessary to appease organizations and avoid losing money and hassle.

If they are lying it's not the first time a business has done it and it shouldn't surprise anyone. Businesses that operate in U.S. are required to be able to proved access to government agencies on demand, etc. Whatever the situation, the specifics don't really matter. MEGA is the best option for our purposes, and that's why we use MEGA.

  • Remember that files stored in the cloud are not your files. They are the companies files, they own them, and they can do whatever they want.

  • Utilize what works while it works. When it stops working, adapt and change.

  • Add a plan C to your plan B. Nothing is forever, the only constant is change.

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[-] kolt54321 | 1 points | Dec 09 2016 01:55:51

How can they track with hashes, when nearly everything here is a re-encode?

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[-] extremebs | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 15:12:31

MEGA has a new website

Wat? Where did you get this info???

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[-] BloodHawkDarkWolf | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 17:51:12

MEGA is working on MEGA 2.0. They have been very public about it and discussed and promoted it. There is not much hard information about it yet, it is not live. Just do some google searches and you will find what information is available, which isn't much.

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[-] rowanobrian | 3 points | Dec 07 2016 18:47:28

not actually. kim dotcom, who founded mega, is behind mega 2.0. he was ousted from mega. n he doesnt have any stakes in mega currently. mega n mega 2.0 are not related at all

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[-] yazanabueid | 16 points | Dec 07 2016 06:12:50

for temporary we can link to websites where we have to fill out a captcha in order to recieve the link and key or anything that can 100% prove that we are human and not a bot

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[-] envoie-moi | 6 points | Dec 07 2016 16:07:48

pahe does that and I've just checked out a couple of their tv series packages and they are down too.

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[-] ElonMusk0fficial | 3 points | Dec 07 2016 19:46:39

don't think this helps. by the looks of it even if nobody has ever downloaded the file and the link and key are nowhere online the file will still be deleted if it matches a hash from another file that was taken down. I could be wrong but I think that's how its happening

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[-] LaTarte | 10 points | Dec 07 2016 09:19:15

Would it be possible to start deleting older post with broken links? A lot of the time when people are looking for something, they just get the reply of "use the searchbar." And I get that. I always use it when looking for stuff, but it gets frustrating digging through all of those posts to find that none of the links work. I can try to help if needed. I can start compiling lists of posts with broken links, but I think community members could help as well by deleting their posts themselves as well. This is just a suggestion and feedback is welcomed. I'd really hate to see this community decline since I really would prefer to steer clear from torrents.

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[-] ash663 | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 10:17:52

I think they have already started doing that for major threads.

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[-] imranr11 | 9 points | Dec 07 2016 06:36:45

For more appropriation. I think the best non-go-private-hide-under-the-rock solution is to archive our files and give them different/shorter names. The link protector is the best way to eradicate all the bots problem. Tumovie/tuserie follow this method and non of their links got taken down recently. We could also give code names to the content posted here. Writing [email protected]. instead of the actual name.

*Also if the content of this post is true then we should refrain from posting the encryption keys here as that will only help those who are trying to delete shared content.

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[-] fob911 | 7 points | Dec 07 2016 19:38:34

I have an extreme solution, being a victim of having my account suspended for my few uploads on here (I seperated the key from the link too and all that). I believe the best surefire way to stop these is to start encrypting our extensions with the wxyz trick, then hinting at which cipher to use to decode them in the comments.

For example, i link something like wxyz.nz/ARIBRQ and I mention in the comments something about a caesar salad. This is a hint to use the Caesar cipher to decrypt the extension, so then the link would therefore become mega.nz/XOFYON. The decryption keys don't have to be encrypted.

EDIT: Some users believe this was done through file hashes. I don't believe this to be the case at all, as I single handedly downloaded every LazyTown episode from a Youtube channel in 1080i and re-uploaded here (there's no torrents for it or anything like that) and they were taken down. The Youtube channel's still up too. Other users have reported files on other sites are still up. I am 90% sure this was an attack on this subreddit.

EDIT 2: I am 100% sure this was an attack on the subreddit alone | Megalinks MegaDB I am 100% sure this was an attack on the subreddit alone, going through each and every Megalink on this sub and taking them down. My proof is that on the recent Smallville x265 Megalink I posted an old link that was never posted on here, rather it was posted a long time ago on /r/megarequests. This link was alive for years. In less than 12 hours that link is now gone. I truly believe this was someone going through all the Megalinks and comments and taking them down.

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[-] infaader | 2 points | Dec 10 2016 00:54:19

deleted ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.4146 ^^^What ^^^is ^^^this?

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[-] [deleted] | 5 points | Dec 07 2016 06:24:03

1

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[-] indigo6alpha | 13 points | Dec 07 2016 06:25:36

A lot of users had a large number of their accounts suspended. It's been known for a while now that MEGA is targeting content across accounts using the file hash. So some of these accounts were private, with no shared files.

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[-] sirin3 | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 09:29:43

But how can MEGA have the hashes when the files are encrypted?

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[-] indigo6alpha | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 12:08:41

Yes, they don't have the file hash itself, but two identical files with the same file hash will have the same decryption key. So if a file is tagged for copyright infringement, MEGA can search for files with the same decryption key and delete those as well.

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[-] ElonMusk0fficial | 5 points | Dec 07 2016 15:45:17

what if you do this.

  1. get OG video file (or whatever content you have)
  2. place inside folder.
  3. add a text file to the folder with some random character/words just so you create a random file size.
  4. zip the contents of the folder with both files inside.
  5. change the file extension from zip to something random before you upload.
  6. instruct the downloader to change the extension to zip once downloaded and extract on their pc

this will create a separate hash for each file uploaded to mega yet the contents will remain the same

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[-] [deleted] | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 21:27:34

Doesn't help though because you still can't import and generate new links with a different hash.

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[-] ElonMusk0fficial | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 21:58:15

well there is no way to do it if you are just importing from another mega cloud drive, but if you download then re-up after you do the steps above I think it would work

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[-] [deleted] | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 22:21:12

Yeah if done that way it would work.

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[-] Ethan2k16 | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 12:33:01

They can't tell if you re-upload a copyrighted file, only if you import it. https://mega.nz/#help/client/webclient/security-and-privacy/how-do-you-perform-deduplication-do-you-use-convergent-encryption

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[-] [deleted] | -5 points | Dec 07 2016 06:33:40

[-] ash663 | 4 points | Dec 07 2016 10:17:00

This is extremely unfortunate. If anyone needs any content on MEGA, reply to this comment, I'll try to upload it on MEGA and PM you the link.

Also, if the mods need any dev work, shoot me a PM, I am free for the next six months and would love to help in whatever way I can. I have been working on a secure cloud-storage architecture and if it could be of any help, I'd have achieved something I set out to.

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[-] Zzoitb3rG | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 12:24:45

Would be awesome to see utopia season 2 back online!

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[-] ripmelmao | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 14:46:31

Hey! Do you have the awaken my love flac? Can't find it anywhere :/

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[-] DefsNotAnAltAccount | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 21:58:07

I re up'ed. It's now in the comments for the post.

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[-] capitalCritical | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 18:35:03

Have you got Star vs. The Forces of Evil season 2?

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[-] Cynicbats | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 18:46:55

Not OP but i've downloaded both seasons episodes from here.

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[-] horrayimuseful | 1 points | Dec 08 2016 14:11:21

Any chance you have season 2 and 3 of the strain, the most recent post is down and I only managed to get ssn 1. TY fam

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[-] horrayimuseful | 2 points | Dec 08 2016 14:19:12

Also the Japanese horror movie "Noroi: The Curse" (2005)

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[-] zaxelrose | 1 points | Dec 08 2016 18:31:20

I found a Star Trek DS9 x265 576p torrent, complete seasons and extras for 50GB. I know it's a lot to ask, but it would be nice to finish the Star Trek collection with a copy of DS9 that isn't huge.

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[-] qpqrkjq | 1 points | Dec 10 2016 16:12:44

Every episode of Black Mirror, if you could? Prefer 1080 but will take 720 (which I saw is what you uploaded). Thank you for your time!

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[-] BudCaligari | 0 points | Dec 07 2016 14:32:47

Anything? Because I have a list of movies. I got a lot of it before, but unfortunately my account was suspended. https://www.reddit.com/r/megalinks/comments/5gn6h0/slug/daughxp

Thanks for any help, love the work everyone does in providing these things :)

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[-] ash663 | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 14:42:19

I'd love to upload all of them, but would need some time. If you have any priority order, let me know.

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[-] BudCaligari | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 15:11:04

Take the time you need. Gracias!

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[-] HeartSLB | 0 points | Dec 07 2016 17:55:27

The Hunger Games series and Twilight Breaking Dawn part 2.

Thanks man!

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[-] hellodarkness007 | 4 points | Dec 07 2016 12:53:12

So if a private sub is made, how would I get in?

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[-] FreebaseJosh | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 13:10:45

Right.

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[-] puffpants | 1 points | Dec 08 2016 23:23:32

have an old account with activity Ie not me

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[-] sirin3 | 4 points | Dec 07 2016 16:54:51

"Crisis"?

Are we not calling it MEGAGate? Or MEGAte for short?

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[-] SlapManiac | 3 points | Dec 07 2016 06:45:51

I don't know if there's a site that does that already or not but it would be easy to make i think. My idea is to layer the mega link with another that won't give you the link unless you enter a code and it keeps record of all the codes entered to access that link. Every approved member has his unique code and it's given to him by mods. This way: 1- bots won't be able to get to the link. 2- if something got deleted you can limit the possibilities to a few number of people whom mods can trim afterwards and void their codes.

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[-] andylaw366 | 3 points | Dec 07 2016 09:47:51

I hope you realize that there are about 25,000 people subscribed to this subreddit. I don't know if this is even realistic; it sounds pretty difficult to implement anyway.

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[-] ash663 | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 10:19:22

Although its impractical, we could actually work out some solution which can be less tedious.

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[-] SpatialWheel | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 09:33:44

iv'e seen some people do this and not sure if it works or not, but it would be much less trouble than all of this to just share a text document with the link on it?

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[-] [deleted] | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 21:28:39

I do it this way a lot. It helps but it doesn't stop it from getting taken down. They just have to download the text file and report the links.

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[-] JustAPrivateBuffalo | 2 points | Dec 07 2016 15:05:13

There is one way we could attempt to solve this that has been pointed out by a few other members already. Steganography is the process of hiding the links within an image and can be used with the megadownloader program.

All that we would have to do is add a stickied post or a post linked in the sidebar which details how to hide and retrieve links from images using megadownloader so that the members of this community can use the method.

And I know that there have been comments made before by people saying that they have struggled to find megadownloader. I am linking the (I believe to be) official website for megadownloader, but also the files on archive.org and on a mega.nz drive itself.

Hopefully with all this and a useful tutorial (I can work on writing one if wanted) then we could begin to use this method of steganography which hoepfully will combat the links being taken down so often. All people would have to do is download the image file and extract the links using megadownloader.

MEGADOWNLOADER LINKS: Official site archive.org files *mega.nz copy

The key for the mega links is: !2paH-jq2pj9I5PxHXzkUADLDHHEKcU3X6y8Chj6f4yg

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[-] GerdPferd88 | 2 points | Dec 08 2016 11:14:30

The user fob911 made a pretty interesting and reasonable comment about how this sub might be monitored by actual people. Other sites or forums which use Mega, still have valid links. There is one user on Tehparadox, who is using a webpage or programm called MegaCrypter. You can not access the actual mega.nz link through MegaCrypter. The Megacrypter link is put into a .dlc afterwards. I don´t really know if the guys from Mega (if they are here) can still take the content down, since they can´t access it direcly. The bad thing is, that you have to reconnect manually after reaching mega download cap. MegaCrypter does not tell download managers like Jdownloader that its capped, it just says the file is temporarily unavailible. Dunno if that might work and if people are willing to do it that clunky way, but maybe the files are more safe that way. Creating MegaCrypter backup links might be an option. Honestly I don´t know what MegaCrypter actually does, I just know you can´t get the raw megalinks. That right here was just an idea that came up in my mind.

You can rant about me now :D

Edit: sorry for the clunky formulation, english is not my mothertounge :D

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[-] sirber | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 12:56:23

The steneography idea is really nice, with megadownloader

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[-] 0x99CCFF | 2 points | Dec 08 2016 23:07:13

i went this route and a bunch of people whined because of the extra step. vcdupper got sand in his vag and bitched at me, so i stopped uploading.

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[-] JustAPrivateBuffalo | 1 points | Dec 07 2016 14:50:16

Yes this in particular is a very good idea.

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[-] misinformedmagician | 1 points | Dec 08 2016 00:08:15

Here's to hopin!

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