Federal prosecutors are warning users of the now-defunct Megaupload.com website that private server companies could begin deleting files once stored by the file-sharing site as early as Thursday.
The Justice Department moved to shut down the popular site earlier this month, accusing Megaupload.com's owners and operators of running a scheme to violate copyright laws on movies, music and other entertainment.
The company denied the accusations, and users of the site said their data shouldn't be lost as a result of the government's prosecution of Megaupload's executives.
Four men, including Megaupload Ltd. founder Kim Dotcom, were arrested in New Zealand on charges including conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement. They have denied the charges while they await extradition hearings.
A fifth suspect has been arrested in the Netherlands, and two others have been charged but not yet apprehended by investigators.
Megaupload.com billed itself as a "cyberlocker," a means of storing large data files on distant servers. Federal prosecutors charge that in Megaupload's case, its claim of being a cyberlocker was a cover story for "criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale'' that the government says netted the conspirators at least $175 million.
In a letter Friday to the federal judge in Virginia overseeing the case and the lawyers representing the defendants, prosecutors said the government has completed its searches of servers located in Virginia.
According to the indictment, Megaupload leased data-storage space from Carpathia Hosting Inc. and Cogent Communications Inc. Both companies have servers in the Virginia area.
"Now that the United States has completed execution of its search warrants, the United States has no continuing right to access the Mega Servers," the prosecutors wrote in the letter. People who want to access files stored with Megaupload should contact the two companies that operate the servers, Carpathia and Cogent, the prosecutors said in the letter.
"It is our understanding that the hosting companies may begin deleting the contents of the servers beginning as early as February 2, 2012,'' the prosecutors wrote, without specifying exactly how the expected deletions would be conducted.
Investigators have said only a small portion of Megaupload's users were able to store data for a significant period of time, because most data that weren't downloaded in a given time period—up to three months—was automatically deleted.
In a statement posted on its website, Carpathia Hosting said it "does not have, and has never had, access to the content on Megaupload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers."
The company also said the reference in the government's letter to the possible deletion of data beginning Thursday "is not based on any information provided by Carpathia to the U.S. government."
The Justice Department declined to comment beyond the contents of the letter filed in court.
A spokesman for Cogent didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
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