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Judge Allows Kim Dotcom To Livestream Court Hearing (mashable.com)

Kim Dotcom has been granted the right to livestream his extradition appeal on YouTube. The appeal hearing began Monday, but will be livestreamed tomorrow because "the cameraman needs to set this up professionally and implement the judge's live streaming rules." tweets Kim Dotcom. Mashable reports: "The United States, which wants Dotcom extradited from New Zealand, is against the request. Dotcom says a livestream is the only way to ensure a fair hearing. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Dotcom and other Megaupload co-founders in hopes of taking them to court in America on charges of money-laundering, racketeering and copyright infringement. The charges stem from the operation of file-sharing website Megaupload, founded by Dotcom in 2005 and once the 13th most popular website on the internet. Users could upload movies, music and other content to the site and share with others, a practice the U.S. considers copyright infringement. The website reportedly made around $175 million before the FBI took it down in 2012. The U.S. says Megaupload cost copyright holders around $500 million, though Dotcom says it's not his fault users chose to upload the shared copyrighted material. Dotcom was arrested in 2012 after police raided his home, but was released on bail. A judge ruled in favor of his extradition to the U.S. in 2015, though Dotcom said at the time the judge was not interested in a fair hearing." Dotcom plans to revive Megaupload on January 20, 2017, urging people to "buy bitcoin while cheap," since he claims the launch will send the bitcoin price soaring way above its current $575 value. Every file transfer taking place over Megaupload "will be linked to a tiny Bitcoin micro transaction," Dotcom posted on Twitter.

4 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Not Selling stolen stuff by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This guy was selling stuff stolen from US companies, and he doesn't think he should have to answer charges in the US?

    Was he selling stolen things? Or did he make illegal copies and sell those?

    Did he actually copy and sell things? Or was it the users who sold the illegal copies?

    Did the users actually sell stolen copies? Or did they just give them away to others?

    Did he have a DMCA-style takedown process?

    What did he do different from DropBox and other online storage sites?

    Was he a US citizen, or ever been to the US? Did his company operate in the US?

    Were his crimes violent and criminal in nature, which would warrant extradition, or is this essentially a civil case?

  2. Re:18 U.S. Code S 2319 - Criminal infringement of by svanheulen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well to be fair, they're actually trying to charge him with "criminal secondary copyright infringement" which is not a real thing. Secondary infringement is a civil issue and has never been defined as criminal. https://torrentfreak.com/presi...

  3. Re:Selling stolen stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So are you saying he made his own version of the Double Dutch Irish Sandwich to pay as little tax as possible?

    Wake me when Apple and the rest are prevented from doing that by being raided.

  4. justice demands by jmcvetta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Justice demands that all trials be live streamed. The kangaroo courts cannot be trusted. All their actions must be subject to monitoring by the people.