Kim Dotcom Resigns From Mega To Fight Extradition, Run For Office

rjmarvin writes "The Internet mogul and founder of the infamous file sharing and storage service confirmed he has stepped down as director to fight his U.S. extradition case, develop Megabox — his revolutionary music platform — oh, and to start his own political party and run for office in New Zealand's elections next year. What about the cutting-edge encrypted email service he promised? Well that's Chief Executive Vikram Kumar and new Director Bonnie Lam's problem now. Dotcom will have his hands full trying to 'get New Zealanders a new submarine cable, fair Internet pricing & no more data caps...'"

Comments

Gee, he's got my vote

[Anonymous Coward]

A conviceted fraudster for an MP? I thought they were at least supposed to *start* honest.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[MickyTheIdiot]

per-scandaled. It's the new way to do business.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[Hatta]

The politician you know is a felon is more honest than the one who claims not to be.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[Charliemopps]

I think, given the current state of the law, we are all felons.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[interkin3tic]

Also, the "crime" matters a great deal. Is it a voting scam, bribery, or genocide? Then that's a bad choice. Is the "fraud" that he ignored draconian copyright laws written by the MAFIAA? Hey, that ain't no crime in my book. Even if he is kind of a douche, which I don't think he actually is, I'd vote for him.

He should campaign as the Robin Hood of intellectual property laws.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[Tyler Eaves]

He's a real criminal. Many criminal charges including credit card theft, pump and dump stock schemes, and investment fraud.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[rahvin112]

Mod parent up. Just because you support his claims against the music industry doesn't mean Kim isn't a giant jackoff.

The guy has run the gambit of fraudulent business enterprises, hence the reason he hasn't been to his home country (Germany) in years and the name change (break the association with his criminal past).

He got lucky with Mega, otherwise he'd probably still be stealing old ladies checkbooks.

Re:Gee, he's got my vote

[rogoshen1]

PRE-scandaled? that's brilliant, a politician going into an election in such a state removes the element of surprise -- or "the devil you know.." i like it.

Not good enough

[Richy_T]

Cutting-edge, encrypted email should be an RFC, not a service.

Re:Not good enough

[BitZtream]

Uhm, why cutting edge? Theres nothing wrong with 20 year old encrypted email

Re:Not good enough

[Richy_T]

There's a fair bit wrong actually.

More than anyone presently alive (or comatose)

[ackthpt]

Kim Dotcom reminds me of Bill the Cat >ACK<

Why are we still hearing about this?

[kriston]

Why are we still hearing about this? There has been nothing notable about this attention-thirsty individual in a long time, notwithstanding "Mega" and its allegedly real users.

Re:Why are we still hearing about this?

[kriston]

As you, since you note my low UID, would have noted, I have a very low opinion and an even dimmer view of services that try to earn money by promoting, either directly or indirectly, the act of illegally distributing copyrighted content, contraband, stolen secrets, and the abuse of intellectual property. From Napster, Gnutella, Limewire, BitTorrent, and "MegaUpload/Mega," my views are consistent (NB I do not hold an opinion of WikiLeaks for personal reasons). Not all information "wants to be free" and it's for very good reasons. I don't expect everyone to understand those reasons.

Furthermore, "Kim Dotcom" is not a US citizen, so I have no real stake in what happens to him and am mystified by how much attention he gets for nothing that could be considered notable. He's not in any way even remotely comparable to Sean Fanning, Kevin Mitnick, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, nor Chelsea Manning.

Thank you for questioning my views because you noted my low UID. It helps me recenter my expectations of what to expect from rank and file trollers on Slashdot and the reasons why it's such a ponderous service.

Interesting individual

[sl4shd0rk]

The guy certainly has a knack for getting people riled up. Thing is though, when you mouth builds a bridge your ass can't cross people get sick of hearing you spew. Maybe this guy is genuinely going to change things for the better and maybe not. Time will tell.

Re:Surprised?

[interkin3tic]

So, you're criticizing Assange and (sigh) dotcom for being attention whores? For not being saints?

I literally just shit my pants so much that my whole colon came out and shot through the wall in shock. And then the rest of my internal organs followed when I realized that might mean that people who are less than perfect could potentially be elected into office.

I mean, my God, they might sully the good name of elected officials! They might make decisions which are not necessarily in the best interests of everyone! They might have sex while in office with people who are not their spouses and in positions which are not missionary! They might make headlines for things which are not "Kim Dotcom and Julian Assange quietly achieve world peace and nuclear fusion." There might be annoying headlines about things they do! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!

Not so funny when you live here...

[madmarcel]

Laugh and joke all you want...

The way the political system works here (NZ) it is actually entirely possible for him to become an MP.
We have a small population and the minimum threshold (under MMP) for a party to get seats in parliament is quite low.

It is unlikely he'll get there, but it is not impossible.