More than nine months have passed since Megaupload’s servers were raided by the U.S. Government.

All this time Megaupload’s 1,103 servers have been gathering dust at Carpathia Hosting in the United States.

After initial negotiations over a voluntary return of user data failed, entrepreneur and Megaupload user Kyle Goodwin lost patience and decided to take action.

Earlier this month the Court granted Goodwin a hearing and to assist in the case his attorneys have now put in a request to unseal the original Megaupload search warrants and all related material.

The lawyers submitted their request to the U.S. District Court yesterday, arguing that the right of access to the materials is “fundamental to a democratic state.”

“Openness in criminal cases ‘enhances both … basic fairness … and the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system,’ as well as increasing the likelihood that the warrants issued in these types of cases involving seizures of digital third-party data are not overbroad,” they write.

“This is a particularly important point in criminal cases concerning cloud computing, where the norms for the scope of seizures are still being developed even as an ever-increasing percentage of personal and business activities are conducted online each year.”

Knowing more about the grounds that were used for the seizures will assist Goodwin’s lawyers and people in similar circumstances to protect their fourth amendment rights.

“Under the Fourth Amendment people have a right to be secure in their ‘papers’ and ‘effects’ against unreasonable searches and seizures. A person’s ‘effects’ may be the subject of Fourth Amendment protection even where there is no particular privacy or liberty interest,” the lawyers write.

“Gaining access to the materials that served as a basis for the government’s seizure of his property can assist Mr. Goodwin and other innocent Megaupload users in determining whether the seizure was unreasonable.”

On a larger scale, the seizure materials will aid in the national discussion about copyright infringement related domain and data seizures.

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