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Dotcom Wins Right To Sue NZ Government

Posted by samzenpus on from the time-to-sue dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A Court of Appeal judgement released today has ruled in favor of Kim Dotcom and will let him sue the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) alongside New Zealand Police. During the High Court case, it emerged that the GCSB had been illegally spying on Dotcom prior to the raid on his Coatesville mansion, on behalf of the FBI, who now wants the Megaupload millionaire extradited to face trial in the US over copyright infringements."

8 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. His mansion by one+eyed+kangaroo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apropos of nothing at all, I was fortunate to have a client drive me past Kim Dotcoms mansion in a fashionably distant and hilly area North of Auckland a little while ago. It was, he said with evident disdain, a "rented mansion". I've no idea how true that is.

    The main gate over which heavily armed special forces apparently had to pass, is barely a metre high, and surrounded by... no fence at all.

    When did we start to allow police forces in Western countries start to behave like militias?

    1. Re:His mansion by Marful · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When did we start to allow police forces in Western countries start to behave like militias?

      It's been that way for over almost a decade now.

      DHS just dropped ~$100 million on a bunch of APCs, school Districts are buying assault weapons for their on-campus police forces and the LAPD has been known to send out swat team members to deal with parking tickets.

      The bottom line is: the police have realized that they can practically guarantee they get to go home at the end of the day if they treat every interaction like a military engagement and utilize overwhelming force to suppress their enemy. The fact that innocent people will get murdered in their zeal of officer-safety-at-all-costs doesn't even enter their thought process.

      http://www.cato.org/raidmap

    2. Re:His mansion by macraig · · Score: 5, Informative

      When did we start to allow police forces in Western countries start to behave like militias?

      How Cops Became Soldiers: An Interview with Police Militarization Expert Radley Balko. There ya go.

    3. Re:His mansion by isorox · · Score: 5, Informative

      DHS just dropped ~$100 million on a bunch of APCs,

      Department of Health and Safety bought some UPSes?

      school Districts are buying assault weapons for their on-campus police forces

      You've got a fucked up country if you have an on-campus police force

      The bottom line is: the police have realized that they can practically guarantee they get to go home at the end of the day if they treat every interaction like a military engagement and utilize overwhelming force to suppress their enemy. The fact that innocent people will get murdered in their zeal of officer-safety-at-all-costs doesn't even enter their thought process.

      Does it really?

      There have been 22 police officers killed in the line of duty in the UK since 2000 Half of those were traffic collisions (accidents or delibete), so I'm not sure how a SWAT team would solve that. That's a 1 in 90,000 chance of dying in the line of duty each year.

      New Zealand has 7 deaths (half accidental) since 2000 (1 in 19000)

      Canada had 5 deaths in 2012, 4 of which were vehicle related (1 in 13000)

      The U.S has had 19 deaths SO FAR THIS YEAR. Last year was about 130, out of 794,000 officers (1 in 6000)

      The U.S. is an anomaly, don't lump the western world into your dysfunctional society.

    4. Re:His mansion by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As someone that was involved with a legal case with campus police, I can assure you that United States Universities do in fact have their own police forces. Not only that but they are afforded special treatment in the court system. They not only enforce the ordinances on campus... they write them. Campuses are often HUGE and take up hundreds or thousands of acres, even if the buildings themselves don't. People like to donate land to universities in their wills. Because the campus police can write their own ordinances, they do so at will. This was what my court case was about. The changed a rule the same day I was charged, just so they could charge me... or at least "someone" and I was the unlucky sap. They were trying to prove a point. But I fought it so vigorously (because I was furious) the case wasn't resolved for almost a year and nearly everyone forgot about it. I lost in the end and the Judge thought the whole thing was ridiculous so my fine was almost nothing.

      The one thing I learned in college? Fuck the police.

  2. Re:He is no hero, no Aaron Schwartz, no EFF. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The government has basically ruined their ability and right to prosecute him by illegal and ridiculous behaviour. Is he a bad guy? probably. Does he deserve to have his basic freedoms respected? Ya, just like anyone else.

    Like other cases where a person's legal rights are infringed by investigators (and prosecutors), dotcom deserves to go free and the evidence used against him stricken. That's the only way to ensure that the same tactics won't be used again and again against people.

    Kim Dotcom is no hero, but the government is definitely the villain of the piece, and their actions have led to Kim Dotcom's credibility (ha!) in this case.

  3. Re:Hemispheres... by causality · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But that is not why the OP was calling NZ western. He/she did it because it has a similar culture to the US, as if that makes it a better country in terms of human rights.

    There was a time when it did mean that. Ask your grandparents or your oldest living relative about that, maybe they will be old enough to remember. It was definitely a long time ago. Now we in the "Western nations" do the very same things we used to look down on "Communist" countries for doing. That includes things like imprisonment without trial, secret FISA courts, summary executions of citizens, etc.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  4. Re:Mega and YouTube by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    in all cases, it is the creators of content, the very people that we should protect the most, that get screwed.

    Well no. In all cases, it is The People, the people that we should protect equally, that get screwed. If you're the little guy, you can't afford to wage war over "intellectual property". These laws are there to benefit corporations.

    The first copyright law of which I'm aware stated "all books passing through this port must be submitted for copying", not "thou shalt not make copies". That kind of copyright was about increasing human knowledge. The kind we have now is about rent-seeking.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"