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Megaupload Founder Dodges Jail Again; Wife Under Investigation

Posted by Unknown on from the you'll-never-catch-me dept.

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).

50 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. It's a witch hunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

    1. Re:It's a witch hunt by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      Because that's less of a witch hunt...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:It's a witch hunt by spidercoz · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
    3. Re:It's a witch hunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Regardless, I still think he should be locked away for a long time, honestly.

      Not for the piracy, no, but because he was enough of a fucking douchenozzle to change his name to "Dotcom".

      Seriously. That shit should've died back in the 90s with the tech bubble.

    4. Re:It's a witch hunt by sjames · · Score: 2

      The problem is they're going after the shop keeper who might or might not have actually known that some of his customers were witches.

    5. Re:It's a witch hunt by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's more like them putting Sony Execs in jail because a Walkman might play non-licenced MP3s.

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    6. Re:It's a witch hunt by Gilmoure · · Score: 2

      Or ducks. You can't always tell.

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    7. Re:It's a witch hunt by g0bshiTe · · Score: 4, Funny

      I heard Tech Bubble was his cousin.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    8. Re:It's a witch hunt by Znork · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    9. Re:It's a witch hunt by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    10. Re:It's a witch hunt by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 2

      No, the fed should not be wasting its time on something which should no longer be against the law and should go back to investigating actual crimes which have a negative effect on society.

      --
      Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
    11. Re:It's a witch hunt by westlake · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    12. Re:It's a witch hunt by justforgetme · · Score: 2

      As an afterthought, maybe they should do that?

      --
      -- no sig today
  2. Re:30K/month is probably "essential" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Given the summary "$30+k", it depends on the value of "k".

  3. Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by CajunArson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    1. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Are we reading the same Slashdot? People around here love rich technologists whenever they do anything that the Slashdot crowd considers good/interesting/cool. Kim Dotcom is hardly the only rich person to get plaudits; people can't fall over themselves fast enough with praise whenever John Carmack is mentioned, and Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) has a large fanbase as well.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    2. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by leonardluen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We like him because he is sort of our "Robin Hood". he takes from the big media companies and gives to the media-poor...

      the audience of this site typically hates MPAA/RIAA they are like the sheriff. and we don't entirely like most IP laws and think they are too restrictive.

    3. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Informative

      If he has a mortgage on his $5 million house that alone will eat into most of that amount. And there are good reasons the fabulously wealthy would have a loan rather than pay cash, namely the fact that once you get to a certain amount of money, using it to generate more money is pretty easy. You'll probably come out better off with a loan with a crazy low interest rate (since you have the cash and income to cover it times 10) and invest the same money in something else (if you make even a 7% profit you come out well ahead).

    4. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by DeadDecoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by forkfail · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Check your premises.
    6. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      [...] 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.

    7. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by spidercoz · · Score: 2

      He got rich by having no ethics, just like wall streeters. Fuck him AND the horse he rode in on. And it pisses me off that I have to defend this piece of shit against the questionable-at-best tactics that have been used against him by law enforcement. Two wrongs don't make a right.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
    8. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, the rich technologist Bill Gates who has blown his billions on malaria research, HIV/AIDS research, composting toilet technology, etc.

      What an asshole.

      Come to think of it, Windows machines might be used for piracy. Maybe they should be investigating some folks in Richmond...

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    9. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by C0R1D4N · · Score: 5, Funny

      Whats Virginia got to do with it?

    10. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by Urban+Garlic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > 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.

      --
      2*3*3*3*3*11*251
    11. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by billcopc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Kim Dotcom isn't a hero, he's a fraud artist. That said, if he has the resources and visibility to pry the lid off the copyright system and its hordes of legal goons, I'll at least give him partial credit. It's less about the actual money, and more about what you do with that money. Right now, copyright is largely used as a "rich get richer" weapon, in part because it is an expensive system to maintain and enforce. If someone halfway around the world decides to upload my app to RapidShare, I have to pay some suit-wearing prick a few thousand in legal consultations, just to get the ball rolling. So for the sake of a $20 piece of software, enforcing copyright makes my lawyer $2000 richer, and me $1980 poorer - assuming I even get my $20 back which is very unlikely.

      Your Robin Hood comment is spot-on. Yes, I think Dotcom is a scumbag, but he's less of a scumbag than the thousands of executives behind Disney, Viacom, Sony, Time Warner. He'll also be much easier to take down, even after he takes a bite out of those media cartels. Or, as we radicalist nutbars say: "the end justifies the means".

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    12. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by scot4875 · · Score: 2

      Doctors and most lawyers aren't rich. Many are well off, but few are rich.

      --Jeremy

      --
      Jesus was a liberal
    13. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by dthx1138 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

      --
      I just found the box to change my sig. Um.... [timeless witticism].
    14. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by DeadDecoy · · Score: 2

      You're right. Those are bad examples. I guess the point I was trying to make is that there is a lot of imbalance that exists, which those in power do not pursue with the fervor. Megauploads, does not explicitly distribute copyrighted materials but enables it, putting it on some darkish-gray line with respect to the law. Meanwhile there are other practices which fall in some similar gray area, but little effort is made to correct for them.

    15. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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.

      It's more a case of why isn't he being prosectuted for breaking New Zealand laws. As a New Zealander I couldn't give a toss if our courts sentence him to 50 years, being Americas lacky is what grinds my gears. I bet David Lange would turn in his grave, the only leader we have ever had to tell America to go fuck itself.

    16. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by LordLucless · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I completely agree that the current copyright and patent system is broken and unrealistic

      that doesn't mean I think people should be able to become multi-millionares by helping people distribute other people's work.

      That *is* the current copyright system.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    17. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by LordLucless · · Score: 2

      in the cases where there were illegal actions, investigations are ongoing

      Well, yeah, but they didn't seize all their assets and shutdown their business before beginning the investigation did they?

      congress managed to change the laws for next time

      Yes, that's part of a problem. The difference between law and morality is becoming more and more obvious to more and more people.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    18. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by chronoglass · · Score: 2

      they are the 15%! and make their money off of the backs of the other 95% of us! (+- 10%)

    19. Re:Uh oh-- it's a 1%er! by purpledinoz · · Score: 2

      If this were a banker who stole $1.2 billion of customer's money, there would be no prosecution. Jon Corzine, the CEO of the now bankrupt MF Global, "lost" (ie - stole) $1.2 billion of customer money, and is not is jail. But the Feds are throwing everything they have at Kim Dotcom.

  4. Premature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

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

    Anyone know the score, btw? Is piracy, err.. unauthorized online archiving stamped out yet?

    1. Re:Premature by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  5. Re:It's a witch hunt! by El+Torico · · Score: 4, Informative
    The feds are using the classic witch hunt methodology as explained by Monty Python-

    BEDEMIR: Tell me, what do you do with witches?
    VILLAGER #2: Burn!
    CROWD: Burn, burn them up!
    BEDEMIR: And what do you burn apart from witches?
    VILLAGER #1: More witches!

    Don't worry, they'll be going after the other witches/uploaders/pirates once they go through Megaupload's servers.

    --
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
  6. $30,000 a month by acedotcom · · Score: 2, Funny

    well he is a big guy so thats gonna be one heck of a food bill.

    --
    they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
  7. The Real Story by Talderas · · Score: 3, Funny

    Guys. Guys.

    The real story here is the name of his wife. Kim Dotcom. Really? She was willing to take that last name?

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    1. Re:The Real Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Guys. Guys.

      The real story here is the name of his wife. Kim Dotcom. Really? She was willing to take that last name?

      *He* is Kim Dotcom, she is Mona Dotcom. But yes, she did take his last name, apparently.

    2. Re:The Real Story by NonUniqueNickname · · Score: 4, Informative

      He's Kim Dotcom. She's Mona Dotcom.

    3. Re:The Real Story by s7uar7 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can't think what attracted her to the millionaire Kim Dotcom.

    4. Re:The Real Story by mickwd · · Score: 2

      The original - a classic.

  8. criminals by amoeba1911 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:criminals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  9. Re:Funds by Time2303 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While he got 30K US$ released for the next 3 weeks, he has asked for 180K US$ for "expenses" ;-). Not a shy guy...

    "This sum included $24,000 for security, $29,000 for staff wages and $28,678 for general costs. Among the general costs was a monthly power bill of $8500 and $6000 per month in phonecalls." http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6501320/Dotcoms-expenses-through-the-roof

  10. Here, here by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  11. Re:So where are the dozens of replacements? by boast · · Score: 2

    mediafire, putfile, etc... all jumped in usage. Check google news. It only slowed down piracy for like a week.

  12. Re:Not as much as you think by tqk · · Score: 2

    If only there was a cheaper way to communicate over great distances...

    One of his bail conditions is no Internet, and thanks to the evil Alan Cox and friends, that may rule out carrier pigeons as well.

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  13. Re:Gee, That's Too Bad... by Kalriath · · Score: 2

    New Zealand isn't America. For anything beyond a painkiller or two, our prisons just stick you in a van to the nearest city hospital - she'd give birth the same place as everyone else just under guard, and the baby would likely be taken into protective services custody immediately after.

    --
    For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".