Megaupload Founder Dodges Jail Again; Wife Under Investigation

New submitter xenn writes "The linked article, titled by TVNZ as 'Kim Dotcom bail appeal dismissed, funds released,' somehow doesn't quite capture the drama the lies within... 'Meanwhile, it emerged today that U.S. authorities are investigating Dotcom's pregnant wife, Mona Dotcom, as part of a world-wide sting on Internet piracy. Toohey said she had received a preliminary application from the U.S. indicating that Mona could have been involved in Megaupload.'" Torrentfreak adds that U.S. attempts to put Kim Dotcom back in jail failed, and he's been granted access to his bank accounts to cover essential expenses (to the tune of $30+k per month).

Comments

Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[CajunArson]

If this were a CEO, doctor, or lawyer who made less than half of what this guy makes and were arrested for something that wasn't related to infringing IP rights then the usual lynch mob would be out screaming about how all "rich" people are evil and we need to destroy Wallstreet and kill all the Republicans, ban Faux News, etc. etc. [insert administration approved Media Matters talking points here].

When the perpetrator is a guy who got rich by getting kickbacks to facilitate piracy, however, he's suddenly some Robin Hood hero who takes from the evil rich music & movie companies to give to uh... himself. Suddenly he's no longer an evil 1%er and is our new personal hero just like Michael Moore & Bill Maher.

Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[DeadDecoy]

I think the problem here is not that he's rich and probably of questionable morals, but that there is an imbalance of justice that is being applied. Here, there is a concerted effort to pursue an individual who is key in distributing probably millions of dollars worth in copyrights. Meanwhile, the justice system couldn't give two shits about prosecuting bankers for predatory loan practiced or curtailing insider trading among congress critters. As such, this event doesn't demonstrate one guy getting nailed for doing something wrong but rather one rich group going after a slightly less-rich individual to protect their profits. This activities of the former even extend to the non-rich individuals. Given this, it's hard to be cheerful when justice is not being applied for justice's-sake but rather for moneyed interests.

Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[forkfail]

The problem with your argument is this: you assume that those who see a problem with the distribution of wealth think that we should not reward merit at all.

This is not the case.

What is the case is that the disparity of wealth, when it grows too extreme, does not drive industry; it does not build a middle class, and it rewards existent wealth as opposed to rewarding hard work, diligence and innovation. Especially when so much of it is hoarded in offshore accounts.

An extreme disparity of wealth leads to a third world economy (see also Mexico) and destroys the middle class. And historically, when it gets bad enough, it causes a nation to rip itself apart.

Furthermore, it leads to corruption of democracy, as we've seen in this country. From Citizens United to the "private fundraisers", too much of our system is bought and paid for by the concentration of wealth that we've allowed to develop in the hands of the very few. It warps both the social fabric, and

Are all successful people in the 1% evil? No. Are all of their gains always ill gotten? No. However, the concentration of wealth in this nation, the disparity of income for effort, has grown so extreme that it no longer furthers those things that capitalism is supposed to be good at promoting: hard work, merit, innovation and the rest of the values that it is supposed to drive.

Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[MozeeToby]

[...] while changing the rules of society in order to gain more and more and more.

To be fair, rather than changing the rules he just chooses to ignore them, or at the very least interpret them in a way that allows him to make millions of dollars at other people's expense. I completely agree that the current copyright and patent system is broken and unrealistic in a modern world, but that doesn't mean I think people should be able to become multi-millionares by helping people distribute other people's work.

Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[Urban Garlic]

> When, exactly, was Microsoft good, interesting, or cool?

In the mid- to late 1980s.

In those days, IBM a monopolistic corporate behemoth that suppressed innovation to protect their market, and we all suspected that their long term strategy in the PC marketplace was "embrace and extinguish", in favor of the more lucrative mainframe trade that restricted computation to people who could pay a lot.

Microsoft, on the other hand, had a reasonably well-documented OS with lots of hooks to hang extensions on, and decent development tools that weren't too expensive. MS-DOS opened up the machine and gave you convenient access to it at many levels, you really felt like you could do anything with it.

You may vacate my lawn at your convenience.

Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er!

[dthx1138]

Meanwhile, the justice system couldn't give two shits about prosecuting bankers for predatory loan practiced or curtailing insider trading among congress critters.

Two things: One, the predatory lending practices and other shady shit that wall street did prior to the financial collapse was for the most part perfectly legal. That was the problem, and we don't do ex-post-facto laws around here. AFAIK, in the cases where there were illegal actions, investigations are ongoing (also, congress managed to change the laws for next time. See Dodd-Frank).

Secondly, the justice department has no control over insider trading in congress. Again, that's a legal activity which some congressional members are trying to make illegal by passing a bill. Separation of powers, my friend.

Re:It's a witch hunt

[spidercoz]

no, it'd be a wild goose chase, just ask the RIAA how it's working for them

criminals

[amoeba1911]

It's sad that we root for a scumbag like Kim Dotcom. It's sad, because he's an underdog criminals in a system of super criminals. Chris Dodd is no less scumbag criminal mastermind than Kim Dotcom, but Chris Dodd bribed the right people to make it seem like he's legit. Don't get me wrong, I also root for Kim Dotcom, but let's not forget he's a scumbag... he's just not as big scumbag as the "legal" scumbags that currently rule the world.

Re:criminals

[Anonymous Coward]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Here, here

[ThatsNotPudding]

The only boats the contemporary US ecomony raises are yachts.

Where did the last US generation shop? Sears, Montgomery Wards, JC Penney. Where does this generation (have) to shop? Walmart and Best Buy. That ain't progress, people.

Re:It's a witch hunt

[Znork]

The Feds should be going after the MAFIAA execs for fraudulent accounting, withholding taxes, racketeering and corruption.

But it seems they've got a lot of dirty cops and bought judges on their payroll these days.

Re:Premature

[whoever57]

Have to wonder if the US over-played its hand in this case. Seems very little is going the way they've hoped.

No, I don't think so. The desired result has already been achieved -- they have wrecked his business.

All that is happening now is after-the-fact justification for wrecking the business and to avoid accusations that the sole purpose was not to go after a criminal, but to wreck a business that some powerful people did not like.

Re:It's a witch hunt

[sjames]

I might be a bit more sympathetic to their position had they not burned the shop down before even beginning to hold a trial.

Re:It's a witch hunt

[westlake]

The feds should be going after the users that upload the content, not the hosts.

Megaupload was paying bounties for hot files.

That takes you light years distant from being an innocent host ----and it means that the uploaders whose rewards can be traced are toast --- the only question is how long it will take before they feel the burn.