At the same time as Kim Dotcom's new storage service Mega was brashly launched 10 days ago, a third-party link-aggregating site called Mega-search.me was also created. Earlier this week, Mega-search.me got real use—and real attention—when the files shared there started disappearing from Mega.

The mega-search site looks and feels like a search engine, but the only thing that's searchable on it are files on Mega that Mega users have chosen to share, along with the encryption keys needed to unlock such files.

In a blog post put up late yesterday, Mega explained its actions.

"It has come to MEGA's attention that there are micro search engines that use our (M) logo and other MEGA branding without authorization," states the unsigned post. "Worse, such site(s) were reported in a highly publicized manner and purport to be globally available search engines, but don't have their own DMCA takedown policy or registered DMCA agent."

The whole point of Mega is to have increased privacy and security vis-a-vis other cloud services, so sharing encryption keys "utterly eviscerate[s]" the goal, states the post. Then there's this vague tidbit at the end: "We do believe that by ignoring our advice and making encryption keys public, especially through sites that do not even implement a proper notice-and-takedown protocol, you were not entirely unprepared for negative repercussions."

Also, those who did point to files using the mega-search.me site got notices that their files were subject to a DMCA copyright-related takedown—regardless of whether their files were apparently pirated material or legal. Since it was Mega itself that was breaking the links, those DMCA notices were an odd, and presumably erroneous, explanation to users.

One can draw two conclusions from this episode. First of all, it seems perfectly legitimate to do something about a third-party search engine that not only played fast and loose with the rules but also emulated Mega's logo. In fact, if Mega really wants to withstand the next legal assault, it would have been foolish to do nothing about Mega-search. Cries that Mega was "censoring" content were overblown, to say the least.

Still, the whole episode raises questions about what kinds of sharing would be allowed through Mega. Would sharing encryption keys publicly be OK if the site didn't emulate Mega's logo, or if it had a takedown policy that Mega viewed as "responsible?" That's not clear.