Slashdot Mirror
Kim Dotcom Sues New Zealand For $6.8 Billion In Damages Over Erroneous Arrest (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing site Megaupload, is suing the New Zealand government for billions of dollars in damages over his arrest in 2012. The internet entrepreneur is fighting extradition to the U.S. to stand trial for copyright infringement and fraud. Mr Dotcom says an invalid arrest warrant negated all charges against him. He is seeking damages for destruction to his business and loss of reputation. Accountants calculate that the Megaupload group of companies would be worth $10 billion today, had it not been shut down during the raid. As he was a 68% shareholder in the business, Mr Dotcom has asked for damages going up to $6.8 billion. He is also considering taking similar action against the Hong Kong government. As stated in documents filed with the High Court, Mr Dotcom is also seeking damages for: all lost business opportunities since 2012, his legal costs, loss of investments he made to the mansion he was renting, his lost opportunity to purchase the mansion, and loss of reputation.
Yeah the Police didn't have a valid warrant, spied on him illegally and chucked his MittleEurope ass in pokey.
That's all fine 'cos they were doing the bidding of The Mouse and our Govt was only too keen to dry hump the US Govt's leg.
Got one of our previous Prime Minister's a number of golf games with ex-Pres. Obama though.
However I think his chance of getting through or not being deported are slim. Although he has seen off 2 PMs thus far maybe he will see off a third?
New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
I can't but wish him the best and hope he succeed. Not because of whom he is but to make sure government knows if it oversteps it's boundaries and relinquishes sovereignty to USA it would come with a high price. Hope they also jail every national traitor involved.
Okay, so you don't like him. Neither do I, for that matter.
But is that a reason to violate his rights like that? How'd you like it to have everything taken away from you just because some jerkface government took a disliking to you?
And that really is the problem. "We don't like you" is not supposed to be a valid reason for the law. No matter how loathsome the defendant.
AFAIK NZ does not have sovereign immunity , lots of people have successfully sued the government.
NZ only has ONE police force, funded from central government funds. There are no elected law enforcement agents , and the head of any government department is also not forced to resign with any change of government. To become a judge is actually quite difficult in NZ, and is generally outside the sphere of political interference.
NZ used to have access to the UK privy council for legal appeals, many cases were taken there against the government and rulings were made against the government.
For wrongful imprisonment it depends on if you are found innocent vs not guilty, and there is a formula used to work out the payment, though the government has to approve final settlement, however this too can be appealed through the courts.
If he can prove the losses, there is a good chance he could receive the compensation he asks for, however I suspect he is likely to get at most 10% of what he is asking for, though local Maori has successfully received compensation for over $1 Billion
Megaupload was a service (deliberately) overflowing with cracked copies of commercial software ranging in price from a few hundred Dollars to a few tens of thousands of Dollars - high end CAD software for example. THAT is largely what attracted millions of people to Megaupload - it was an online place where Kim Dotcom gave away thousands of software companies' products for free and people and also businesses in 196 countries could just "click and download for free". If you were to add together the monetary value of the software downloaded from Megaupload over the years and the financial damage caused, you might end up with far more than the "10 Billion Dollars" Kim claims Megaupload would have been worth today. Kim tried to make himself a billionaire businessmen by nonchalantly giving away other people's property without their permission. That does not excuse the nature of the police action against him, but I suspect that a strong message was intended to be sent to hundreds of other would-be-Kim-Dotcoms who wanted to hole themselves up in poorly governed countries with lax laws and build their very own "Megaupload". Kim Dotcom probably banked on the fact that if sued for piracy, he could claim "I just provide the servers - I'm not responsible for what people upload to them or download from them", and depending on the laws in New Zealand that might actually have worked for him. Kim was in New Zealand because there was no way his native Germany would have allowed the creation of something like Megaupload in the first place - German police would have shut the site down in weeks.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
I really, really hope he does win. The New Zealand Police rolled over like a pack of craven lickspittles when the US government called despite the case being terrible (as subsequent court rulings have shown).
The other thing that smells bad about the whole thing is the way they went in guns drawn as if he was some kind of threat. The police here do not routinely carry firearms, and that's the way we like it. If a couple of detectives had walked up to his front door and knocked, they would have achieved the same end.
I have often wondered why the video of the armed arrest was shown on the TV news the very night of the raid. Is it appropriate for the police to conduct trial by media?
Another Kiwi here in general agreement with you.
On one hand Dotcom's last business plan was literally to steal revenue from websites like mine - the websites that feed my children. For that I wish a slow painful punishment on him.
On the other hand I love my country and seeing our government and police roll over and behave like American thug cops was very disturbing.
I honestly can't decide which is worse - Dotcom winning or the American bullies winning. It's a no-win situation from my perspective.
his criminal activity
Please define his criminal activity that he has committed under NZ law.
While you're at it, mull over this hypothetical:
Homosexuality and the depiction of such is illegal in some countries. If someone performs in and distributes gay porn on the internet, should they be summarily extradited to one of those countries and suffer the consequences if that country demands it?
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Which buildings/vaults did Kim break in to? Do you have security footage? How many literal dollars, Kiwi or otherwise, did he make off with? Did one of those cool exploding dye packs color him neon pink?
FOR THE ONE THOUSANDTH TIME: Copyright infringement =/= Theft.
Finally someone gets it.
Just because a career criminal is in conflict with the US government he doesn't suddenly become a saint. When two bullies fight, the proper thing to do is not to root for one of them to win, but to hope they beat each other up badly. There can be two wrong sides to an argument.
You don't need to decide which is worse - they are both terrible assholes.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I honestly can't decide which is worse - Dotcom winning or the American bullies winning. It's a no-win situation from my perspective.
This isn't even in the same book. Kim should definitely win. The rule of law was abused and that should be corrected above all, even if a sleazebag like Kim walks away with lots of money. He'll lose it elsewhere soon enough or actually do something illegal, and then you can use rule of law as justified.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.