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Dotcom Alleges Megaupload Raid Was Part of Deal To Film The Hobbit
c0lo writes "Kim Dotcom alleges, in an 20 min interview with the Australian public television, that Megaupload was offered up by the New Zealand's PM 'on a silver platter' as part of negotiations with Warner Brothers executives for shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand. He promises that he'll substantiate the claims in court. He also says that the extradition case the U.S. government is weak and the reason behind the latest delay in extradition hearing (postponed from August this year to March next year) is an attempt to bleed Dotcom dry of his money. Also interesting, Dotcom says that the latest debacle of the massive scale online online surveillance by U.S. spy agencies has triggered an 'explosion' of interest in mega.co.nz, the 'cloud storage' site with user generated encryption."
I'm also switching from Gmail to Megamail, even if it doesn't erase my Google history.
Your eggses precious, we wants them. Yes, precious...
Normally, I'm one who rails against conspiracy theories for being ridiculous, but somehow, this one, well... It deserves a listen to.
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
This is about as surprising as either Bush, Obama, or any future/past president violating some type of civil right in a severe fashion
When John Key is done with politics, he'll be packing his bags and leaving New Zealand for his very nice place in Hawaii. Right now he is finalising the deals selling off NZ's state-owned (ie taxpayer-owned) assets. He is guaranteed a knighthood, and several boardroom positions with the newly-privatised companies.
Not bad for a couple years in politics. Of course, he was previously a currency trader with the nickname "the smiling assassin" so it's no surprise to learn that he was already wealthy (NZ$50m +) before entering politics, but he's one hell of a lot richer now. Between the MPAA bribe money and the shares he gained in sweetheart deals from the state-asset firesales to friends, this guy will be sitting even prettier.
All I can say to the USA is "You're welcome to the cunt."
(Oh, and I forgot to mention that he only became Prime Minister of NZ as a result of his leaking to the media the sensitive private emails of his then-boss Don Brash, thus causing his resignation. Key grabbed that throne before the cushion even had time to cool.)
Kim Dotcom's main business seems to be publicity for Kim Dotcom, with the evidence postponed to a future date. On the other hand, somehow, in some way I can't quite put my finger on, this sort of thing is just that little bit more believable this week. Not sure why.
Slashdot - News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, in ISO-8859-1 Has just realised that beta makes this signature redundant
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
So why not for protecting that other 'strategic' resource, films & music!
"Peter Jackson to shoot prequel to box office behemoth LOTR on location in New Zealand. Surprising no one."
Essentially the whole of Middle Earth has been mapped to locations in New Zealand. The Lord of the Rings film locations Your production facilities are there. Your costs are known.
You will in the end have six big budget feature length films that will look as if they were shot in the same world and time because they were shot in the same world and time. It is a strategy that has paid off handsomely for Warner Brothers before,
The US believes Kim is a hobbit-ual criminal....
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Just curious, what change in the labour laws happened? Did it apply just to the film industry (e.g. actors, or film crews, conditions on a film set) or did it affect everybody in NZ (e.g. change in maximum working hours, minimum wages etc)?
Megaupload was offered up by the New Zealand's PM 'on a silver platter' as part of negotiations with Warner Brothers executives for shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand.
seems plausible since there are few jobs in New Zealand, and KDC seemed like a rather small egg to break for the omelette. Del Toro even said in parting words the film was "economically and politically" complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit_(film_series)#Del_Toro.27s_departure
the reason behind the latest delay in extradition hearing (postponed from August this year to March next year) is an attempt to bleed Dotcom dry of his money.
yes. yes it is. this is a very well documented business law tactic in which you leverage your significant legal and monitary resources against a competitor or target for acquisition and simply wait until they declare bankruptcy. in many cases the resulting acquisition (should someone decide to conveniently buy up kim dot coms holdings) can even be written off ones taxes.
the latest debacle of the massive scale online online surveillance by U.S. spy agencies has triggered an 'explosion' of interest in mega.co.nz, the 'cloud storage' site with user generated encryption.
here we see Kim jumping the deliniation between government and studio, and thats appropriate for a number of reasons. although the US government is by and for the poeple it rarely listens to anything but the most powerful lobbying groups. Hollywood lobbies through a number of channels. for example, it doles out cash to the department of defense in order to secure $war_devices for its latest blockbuster, and in return enjoys closer access to government foreign policy than had it simply made a sequel to waynes world. perhaps it kills a documentary on marijuana and gets cozier with the DOJ, it doesnt matter. these side-channel efforts are a caustic means of jack-booting the US government into wasting time and resources in bullying its NATO allies into violating the soverign rights of their citizens for the sole good of one industry. its not even our largest industry, but it serves a very important role in government and society. the TV series '24' for example is conjectured to have existed solely to acclimate the american public to the idea that torture was entirely acceptable and effective in the last-minute prevention of a terrorist attack. it makes, or was supposed to have made, the entire 'guantanamo' thing go down easier.
what Kim notes of particular importance in the last quote is particularly critical to the course of american democracy as a whole. We've known for quite some time the american system has problems, but the government has always controlled the message and the people in turn have largely chosen to move on with their 3 sick days per year and sufficient paycheck. When an individual or group 'leaks' a particular piece of information publically, in a means that cant be controlled or filtered, it breeds dissent and unrest in groups it should not. to confirm american warcrimes for example in afghanistan and iraq serves to undermine the united states authority in conducting our 'freedom wars' guaranteed each 4 years. Leaking a domestic spy program serves to underscore the fact that the government understands the only means to prevent dissent and control information is to prevent 'leaks' at their source. Terrorism is the reason, but only so far as terrorism is a definition of the challenge to a governments authority or the ability to directly undermine it. I believe Kim is correct in saying the US government has an undisclosed vested interest in precluding american citizens from gaining access to an offshore, cryptographically secured resource to which they have no access.
Good people go to bed earlier.
"Razzle Dazzle"
You got nothing to worry about.
It's all a circus, kid. A three ring circus.
These trials- the wholeworld- all show business.
But kid, you're working with a star, the biggest!
Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle 'em
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give 'em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather 'em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?
How can they hear the truth above the roar?
Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle 'em
Show 'em the first rate sorceror you are
Long as you keep 'em way off balance
How can they spot you've got no talent
Razzle Dazzle 'em.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(musical)
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
And over time the men of Dale had become complacent on privacy, liberty and freedom of association, and yet they prospered. No longer content with the wealth of accumulation, they valued innovation and the free exchange of information. To this end they did help to build the greatest communications network that had ever been. Through it all their wealth flowed like a river --- real wealth --- not the dusty treasure hordes of kings locked in windowless rooms.
The fortune and fate of Dale is bound with that of the dwarves, for it is they who had built it. "Long ago in my grandfather Thror's time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and their tools to this Mountain on the map." They were especially skilled in working gold, copper and silver into thin filaments which they strung far across the land. Where ever dwarves settled dial tone was sure to follow. But their skill was even greater with jewels and crystals, from which they built magical devices of geranium and silicon to carry voices and information in the aether. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the. fun of it, not to speak of the most marvelous and magical toys [...] and the toy-market of Dale was the wonder of the North."
But of all the wonders of that age the most precious was perhaps the least visible, hidden deep under the Mountain itself. "Discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, now they mined and they tunneled and they made huger halls and greater workshops." The Mountain they had built is actually many mountains and there is one in your own city. I refer to the telecommunications exchange points of Tier 1 and Tier 2 networks such as MAE-EAST and MAE-WEST, where rivers of voice and data converge into brilliant points of light, then spread out again.
The dwarves had not valued privacy per se, they had just built it for maximum throughput with minimum delay. Their vision was broad and down-to-earth and the data it carried was of practical use for the greatest number. "We use our own devices and just enough magic to make them go. Devices such as the palantir are of no interest to us, the Elves of Valinor can keep their silly patents. The palantir does work for distance communication but it is incredibly expensive and uses a lot of bandwidth. It is also dangerous. If you wish to talk to family and friend, or close a simple deal, why would you wish to link minds, wrestle in thought or lock souls with the other party? The dwarves deliver only voices and runes and stay clear of elvish mind-fuck. Besides, the palantir uses a proprietary network and has no user-servicable parts. Like the Blackberry."
But the dwarves' cleverness though inspired by wisdom was also their folly. While great wealth flowed through their network they were driven to perfect it, and that meant concentrating the flows of many through but a few interconnect points.
"Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons burrow themselves into networks to steal information you know, wherever they can find it; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically forever, unless they are outed by Congressional hearing), and --- if you would believe them --- they do it for only noble purposes and never enjoy a brass ring of it. Indeed they hardly know a good bit of information from a bad, though they usually have a good notion of the current market value; so despite noble aims of vigilant protection, their omnificent awareness inevitably leads to dull and stupid ends that rend the fabric of society. Insider trading, scheming false flag operations and a 'selective failure' to divulge clear warning of terrorism if it would serve their own ends, a dragon is easily turned to the dark side by its very nature." As the dwarves tell it we would be better off without these dragons altogether, and if yo
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
How can you have the new McAfee when you still have the old one? One of these posers has to go.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
"in an 20 min interview with the Australian public television," So do they all just huddle around the one television? Must get crowded.
Did you ever hear of wikileaks??? Do you know what they did to the US state dept?
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