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Encryption Keys For Kim Dotcom's Data Can't Be Given To FBI, Court Rules
the simurgh writes: As many who follow the Kim Dotcom saga know, New Zealand police seized his encrypted computer drives in 2012, copies of which were illegally passed to the FBI. Fast-forward to 2014: Dotcom wants access to the seized but encrypted content. A New Zealand judge has now ruled that even if the Megaupload founder supplies the passwords, the encryption keys cannot be forwarded to the FBI.
Because it is a test case for the limits of government search powers. What they are allow to do to him, they are allow to do to you.
To bad it's in New Zealand and hinges on the fact that they drives were never supposed to be given to the FBI in the first place.
No sir I dont like it.
There is nothing these governments "cannot" do.
I don't know who I dislike more in this case. Is there any way we can get Kim Dotcom and the FBI to go all Point Break on each other and get locked into a Patrick Swayze/Keanu Reeves death spiral except without the single parachute?
So that shining stars like yourself can provide us with such cutting witticisms as appending -tard to the ends of words. Top of the comedic drawer, old chap!
Because the FBI would get them, despite the court order. Courts have no power to enforce their rulings, and it is pretty plain to see that the current occupant of the Whitehouse doesn't give two shits about laws or court rulings.
Something seems really, really off kilter if so many of us see the federal government's law enforcement agencies as the enemy.
There are so many good things that they're supposedly in the business to do: go after child porn producers, rapists, murderers, (actual) terrorists, etc.
It's stunning that through their tactics (both in the courtrooms and out) and some of the unjust laws they have to enforce, they could actually be viewed as the enemy by a large portion of the public.
This doesn't feel remotely like a healthy democracy.
But hey, I'm just gonna leave this USB stick here on the table while I go pinch a loaf. Just be sure you don't look at the contents or anything while I am gone...
They'd claim they broke the encryption using some "Super Duper Top Secret Compute Cluster" and attempt to use it
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
I wouldn't count on it. That guy had more luck than is due, something's really odd here.
I've followed the whole "Kimmie saga" for a while now. That guy is not lucky, he's DAMN lucky. It's really reaching Rincewind-luck-levels. Every "ordinary" person would either be in jail for the foreseeable future and beyond or would've gotten a pair of fitting cement boots along with a free swimming lesson.
I don't have an explanation (that I could write down in a public place, at least), but I would NOT count on having the same amount of luck if I were in his boots.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
FTFY
That's chap-tard, you insensetive clod-tard.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
All US states other than Vermont run balanced budgets, so those same politicians could do the same when they move to Washington. Apparently, the voters don't really care aboyt that any more once governor gets elected president.
Interestingly, Vermont owes $13,000 per person, or $30,000 per family. It seems that either you keep the politicians on a short leash (49 state) or allow them to overspend and they'll put you $30,000 in the hole (Vermont).
A couple of states are debatable as to whether or not their budgets are exactly balanced. Either way, none of them borrowed hundreds of billions from social security, spent it, and then bragged that they "balanced" the budget by balancing their spending with borrowing.
It's called money. Money and resources buy you freedom. Freedom is not free. Often the price of acquiring money, resources, and subsequently freedom is your head. The Universe may be sufficiently chaotic to be impervious to analytical treatment, but nothing in the rules of physics suggests that there's a lack of consistent rules. There is no such thing as luck. If you insist on calling it "luck", you should at least realize that it applies equally to all.
Every "ordinary" person would either be in jail for the foreseeable future and beyond or would've gotten a pair of fitting cement boots along with a free swimming lesson.
Every "ordinary" person can't afford the right defense.
Not sure what Rincewind luck levels are, but I think I understand you to be saying he is Teela Brown lucky.
Yeah, if most people saw that law enforcement did a good job of "serve and protect", if you felt good about calling the local cop because he'd help you out, I'd say that would be a good thing.
Where I grew up, even the local pothead teenagers would talk to one cop, because he did a good job. If a (pothead) girl was having problems with some dudes harassing her, this officer would help her out- serve and protect - not bust her for the joint in her purse. I think that was good.
Of course that was a local cop, someone who lived in the neighborhood, someone who went to high school with the adults he pulled over. I don't have a similar experience with a federal agency. Maybe that's why the Constitution originally set it up where all cops were local cops.
The damage has already been done. It's ended his mirage and torn his family apart, frozen his assets and been gerally inconvenient, all without even trying him yet. This is purely to strike fear into anyone who might want to challenge copyright as the US sees it.
Every state is massively subsidized by the federal system, both with direct funds and with indirect benefit from things like military protection, interstate commerce, etc.
Breakwind, erm, I mean Brincewind was a character in Pratchett's Disc World novels.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Err um yes, I meant Rincewind.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
I was going to append another -tard to your -tard, but then I realized we'd be left with one of two possible meme outcomes. Xzibit or turtles, you pick.
Central Ohio Home Theater Installation - The Theater People
> "A New Zealand judge has now ruled that even if the Megaupload founder supplies the passwords, the encryption keys cannot be forwarded to the FBI."
Yeah. Like copies of the drives can't be forwarded... to... the FBI...
Wait.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
...but the can be passed to the NSA who can let the FBI query their databases...
Don't trust these fuckers...
>> Something seems really, really off kilter if so many of us see the federal government's law enforcement agencies as the enemy.
No. The constitution itself tells us so. The government is the enemy. We are the sovereigns.
JJ
Once the keys are on a government hard drive, a backup of that drive can be lost
( or deleted or sent to a crusher or otherwise become untraceable ). Then the FBI
will somehow manage to crack the encryption.
While it doesn't kill the US prosecution dead (these jackasses will pursue it until the day they die if you let them), it DOES take a gelding knife to it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Assuming his separation from his wife is not so that she wont go down with the ship and can retain assets etc afterwards...
I have no evidence for this but I did have to wonder when I heard the news. Also he is cheeky, dodgy and clever enough to do such a thing.
Well, if he's lucky then the executive board of Google must be "Uber lucky".
Illinois is pretty whacked out. The legislators admitted that their budget was unconstitutional, while they voted for it. At the same time, Illinois republicans proposed that they should not get paid until they pass a balanced budget, as certified by an independent third party. Here's hoping we never get any of those Illinois dems in the Whitehouse! Oh, crap.
There are only two countries involved: US and NZ. I don't think the US government is near balanced,
but try googling "New Zealand Budget Surplus". They are _really _ close.
I thought with all the NSA acquisitions that the US wouldn't need this information and they could just decrypt it using their own methods. Especially if they have had it in encrypted for for such a long time.
You are correct it is all money. I am/was part of this case with my involvement in a site called ninjavideo. We were the string they pulled to go after Kim Dotcom. Kim helped ICE go after us and then the evidence they got to go after us is what let them also go after him. I being poor had no money to launch a defense and I ended up doing a little 6 month sentence in federal prison and got 2 years of probation and I also now owe the MPAA 26k.
Kim in my opinion is a scumbag who will through anyone and everyone under the bus including tattling on his competitors to paypal to try and get paypal to cut off their funding.
wadswerth
A New Zealand judge has now ruled that even if the Megaupload founder supplies the passwords, the encryption keys cannot be forwarded to the FBI.
So what? A court ruled that the FBI that they could not take copies of the HD out of the country, a ruling that was promptly ignored. What makes you think the US government is going to honor this one?
I don't have an explanation (that I could write down in a public place, at least), but I would NOT count on having the same amount of luck if I were in his boots.
None of us know the whole story, and it's not likely that we ever will, unless he contracts some terminal illness and decides to write a telling memoir on his way out.
I'll agree that no one like you or me would ever have the same amount of "luck," primarily because it can't be luck. Kim has money and he has leverage. One doesn't always buy the other (to the chagrin of a litany of folks from George Jung to Bernie Madoff), but it seems clear that Kim has banked plenty of both. He's freely given out some of the juicy bits, like the MegaUpload accounts that were registered and used by USG and MAFIAA entities to engage in various copyright infringement. But he has more, and he's keeping it to himself.
The man may be a complete and total pompous douche canoe with a proven track record of dubious activity, but he isn't dumb by any stretch of the imagination.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
Luck?
He has broken no laws in New Zealand... the NZ Police and the GCSB overreached with their spying and the execution of the search warrant (the warrant was found to be not legal). The US tried to get him extradited, so the Judge asked to see some of the evidence... (presumption of innocence you know), and the US said 'were the US, we want him, hes guilty', so the Judge said prove it. Seeing as the extradition hearing still hasn't been heard in it's entirety, he's still here in NZ.
You can argue luck all you want, but what matters here is New Zealand law, and the opinion of the Judge (btw Kim Dot Com is a New Zealand resident, so is subject to all the rights that kiwi's have)
It's called money. Money and resources buy you freedom. Freedom is not free. Often the price of acquiring money, resources, and subsequently freedom is your head. The Universe may be sufficiently chaotic to be impervious to analytical treatment, but nothing in the rules of physics suggests that there's a lack of consistent rules. There is no such thing as luck. If you insist on calling it "luck", you should at least realize that it applies equally to all.
Han, is that you?
I don't know how you figure "demonstrably". Most state legislatures have no choice, they aren't allowed by state constitutions to spend money they don't have. The federal government is allowed to spend money they don't have. That's the difference. It's not EASY in each state, but it's REQUIRED in most states.
It's actually pretty darn easy to NOT spend money that you don't hav. All it requires is inaction. Congress is normally pretty good at inaction, just not where spending is concerned.
Here's a real simple balanced budget:
Each department gets 3% more than they did last year.
Do that for a few years and the budget will balance. The year after that, the budget will be in black, meaning we can start getting rid of the debt load.
Getting rid of the debt has a positive feedback cycle. The more debt you pay off, the less interest you pay, leaving more money to pay the debt off even faster. Before long, the savings from not spending all your money paying interest start to make the rest of the budget a lot easier.
Read this raymorris (don't evade it a dozen times and downmod it like you did before) http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
APK
total pompous douche canoe
+1 Most Informative Swearing
Dotcom is pretty clever, but NZers are also stupidly naive. How do I know? I'm an NZer.
First thing Dotcom did when he came to NZ was get lots of influential NZers on his books. See the case of John Banks (former political party leader and mayor of Auckland). The guy isn't corrupt, he is just dumb. On arriving in NZ, Dotcom invites him to the mansion, picks him up in a helicopter, and offers some donations to the guy. Nothing illegal, except *someone* rigs the transaction by splitting a $100k donation into two $50k donations so they can be recorded as anonymous. Bingo. A representative of the country's democracy is now on Dotcom's ticket.
Dotcom is smart, but with NZers level naivety, Dotcom must think he is a kid in a candy shop. Despite basically being chased out of Germany for dishonesty offences, he has the NZ public eating out of his hands as the caped crusader for justice, and may even hold the balance of power in the next NZ elections (WTF). One can only guess who else Dotcom has on his books. Very sad indeed.
Probably why I live in London now.
Haha, Banks is as corrupt as they come; it's strange that he has any sympathisers at all but then again so did Hitler.
You also appear to be in the unfortunate circumstance to live in the police state the US has become. Kim DotCom lives in New Zealand, and has therefore a little more protection from laws regarding to due proces.
" has the NZ public eating out of his hands as the caped crusader for justice"
You have to admit the FBI is making this quite easy for him.
I suck cocks.
APK
P.S.=> And I like it!
Someone please put his balls in my mouth!!!
APK
P.S.=> Also a few cocks in my ass too.
Will you update the wikipedia page about ninjavideo? It's an interesting case and I would like to read more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NinjaVideo
Tessa Jowell and her husband David Mills are separated to save her political career. They can be seen walking around their local supermarket hand in hand. Lawyers know the law.
Will you update the wikipedia page about ninjavideo? It's an interesting case and I would like to read more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NinjaVideo
Wouldn't that be against wikipedia policy? I thought you weren't allowed to edit your own pages, for one. Secondly, wouldn't that also count as original material, which is also disallowed?
He could, however, put up a page (anywhere else) detailing his version of the events.
Once this has been done, anyone else (such as the person inquiring) can update the wikipedia article with a link to that page.
http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
Get a set of BALLS you little coward & face the music here http://it.slashdot.org/comment... where I made your "ne'er-do-well" nobody bigmouthed done zero in the art & science of computing LAME ASS look more stupid than you already are known to be, you wannabe... you've run from that before, same tactics as here now (downmods issued by either sockpuppets or logging out of your account & trolling by ac afterwards, but never EVER disproving my points, despite your "big talk" that's nothing but HOT AIR, you lame bastard... you make ME, laugh).
Time to show everyone on /., just how STUPID you are - & no downmods can hide that (I'll just get you to exhaust them, & come right back over the top of you again, as there are NO LIMITS for me, unlike most ac's).
APK
P.S.=> I am going to professionally destroy you, by letting YOU do it, to yourself... apk
I am a NZer also.
In my mind everyone involved was very naive.
- The majority NZers are political sheep. If it was not written verbatim in the corporate paper of their choice they don't think/believe it. Its a baaaaad way for a country to be.
- The police where exceptionally naive in calling out a swat raid on the heresay of the US authorities and the SIS.
- The SIS were naive to think they could away with this BS without fallout.
- The government was naive to let this all slip by them.
- Dotcom was naive to think NZ was a country he could be safe in.
And you are VERY naive to think London/UK is any better with regards to any of this...
It's not luck, it's justice. You may not like him, and may not approve of his business model, but it is all quite illegal.
The operating the USA did was an illegal seizure, based on no evidence, and the operation the NZ Police did was similarly illegal.
I would hope a court rules completely in his favor and furthermore that the US should pay damages to him.
This isn't anything to do with Kim himself, as I don't have an opinion on him. Simply that the US grossly overstepped there bounds and performed illegal acts in attempting to gather evidence on him.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.