Self-styled Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom has resurfaced with a bold statement of intent: to create a new online service that will “turn this world upside down”.

Dotcom promises that his latest brainchild, called simply Mega, will offer “one-click encryption of all your data transfers … total privacy” – implying that the new service will enable untraceable transfers of copyrighted files.

The entrepreneur has been living in New Zealand while on bail, awaiting a US extradition hearing in 2013 related to charges of copyright infringement alleged to have occurred within his “cyberlocker” service, Megaupload.

Prior to that, Dotcom was convicted on separate charges of insider trading and embezzlement – but employed clever PR tactics to reinvent himself as a lone warrior, fighting against forces determined to stand in the way of internet freedom. However, with the content industry claiming that Megaupload users routinely exchanged copyrighted material on the platform, US enforcers closed the site down in January. Dotcom netted revenues of $175m before the shutdown.

He has now taken to Twitter to make a plea for external development support on Mega. Exactly what form it will take has yet to be revealed, but the few details provided so far indicate that “non-US hosters” will be able to connect servers and bandwith to the service, and that one strand of the platform will be a “Megabox” music offering.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia