Kim Dotcom

Kim Dotcom may be zany, but he also has some compelling facts on his side. In an interview with Ars Technica Thursday, the embattled Megaupload founder pointed to a leaked report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) showing that Megaupload was far from the worst offender when it came to hosting URLs that infringed upon copyrighted material. In fact, per the IFPI report, the number of infringing URLs hosted by Megaupload was positively dwarfed by file-sharing sites such as filesonic.com, which accounted for nearly half of all infringing URLs, and wupload.co.uk. More →

New Zealand district judge David Harvey has stepped down from his role presiding over accused piracy king Kim Dotcom’s extradition trial after stating publicly that the United Sates is the enemy. ”We have met the enemy and he is U.S.,” Harvey said during a discussion about trade talks with the U.S. The judge surrendered his role in the trial voluntarily according to The New Zealand Herald, and the case will now be heard by Judge Nevin Dawson. ”[Judge Harvey] recognises that remarks made in the context of a paper he delivered on copyright law at a recent internet conference could reflect on his impartiality and that the appropriate response is for him to step down from the case,” district court chief judge Jan-Marie Doogue said in a statement. Dotcom’s extradition hearing is set to begin in March next year. More →

Megaupload founder and accused piracy king Kim Dotcom has offered to forgo his delayed extradition trial and come to the U.S. to fight the charges against him and three others. Dotcom said on Twitter that the Department of Justice must meet certain ground rules first, however. “Hey DOJ, we will go to the US. No need for extradition,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site. “We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers & living expenses.” The offer comes a day after a New Zealand court delayed an extradition hearing until March due to ongoing legal hearings regarding the seizure of evidence from an illegal raid on Dotcom’s mansion. “We are not expecting to hear back regarding the offer and I remain committed to fighting extradition in New Zealand,” he added. Dotcom and three others — Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk — were charged with racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering, however they haven’t admitted to any wrongdoing. Despite the charges against him, Dotcom has vowed that Megaupload will return. More →

Kim Dotcom, the founder of defunct file hosting website Megaupload, will not see a judge regarding extradition until 2013, according to The New Zealand Heard. The alleged piracy king was expected to appear in court with his co-conspirators on August 6th in an extradition hearing scheduled to last three weeks. Discrepancies over the evidence used in the case have delayed the trial until March of next year, however. Megaupload was shut down in January by the U.S. government for violating piracy laws and Dotcom, along with three others, was charged with racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering. Despite the charges, Dotcom has vowed that Megaupload will return. More →

Sorry, Kim Dotcom — it seems you aren’t important enough to warrant Vice President Biden’s attention after all. The Daily Caller reports that both the United States government and the Motion Picture Association of America have denied Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s accusations that Biden had anything to do with the shutdown of Megaupload earlier this year. In a statement sent to the Caller, the MPAA said that while current MPAA lobbyist and former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd did meet with Biden in 2011 to discuss policy, the two men never talked about websites such as Megaupload that have drawn the ire of Hollywood for being dens of piracy. More →

The strange and amusing saga of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom took another interesting twist on Tuesday when Dotcom told TorrentFreak that none other than Vice President Joe Biden himself ordered the federal government to shut down his file-sharing site. Though no firm evidence of Vice President Biden’s involvement was presented, Dotcom does have a semi-plausible explanation for the veep’s interest in his site: Biden is good friends with former Senator Chris Dodd, who is now living out his glory years shilling for Hollywood’s anti-piracy efforts. More →

Megaupload’s founder scored a victory recently when the raid against his mansion was determined to be illegal, but suspected Internet piracy kingpin Kim Dotcom still faces an uphill battle. While the case against him has weakened, Dotcom is stilling fighting an extradition motion that could see him moved from New Zealand to the United States to face trial. If the extradition relies on the content obtained from the illegal raids on Dotcom’s mansion, however, prosecutors may run into more problems than once thought. More →

Justice Helen Winkelmann on Thursday ruled the warrants that allowed more than 90 New Zealand officers to raid Kim Dotcom’s home and other properties earlier this year were too broadly cast, The Guardian reported. The judge said the warrants were therefore invalid and lacked “adequate specificity as to the offense,” adding that it was “clear that the police, in executing the warrants, have exceeded what they could lawfully be authorised to do.” Winkelmann said police acted unlawfully by refusing to release material that was not relevant to the charges, and handing over cloned hard drives to the FBI was in breach of extradition legislation. The Megaupload founder released a statement praising the ruling. “We are very happy with today’s decision,” Dotcom said. “We are digesting and analysing Justice Winkelmann’s judgment and considering out next steps.” Winkelmann ordered both sides to appear in court on July 4th. More →

File-sharing giant Kim Dotcom was arrested in January when his mansion in Auckland, New Zealand was raided by authorities. His notorious file-sharing service Megaupload was shuttered the same day, and Dotcom was charged with money laundering, violating piracy laws, racketeering and a number of additional crimes. The flamboyant Internet millionaire immediately denied any wrongdoing. Dotcom, who was released on bail and faces serious charges, appears to be doing his best to make light of the situation with new Twitter and Instagram accounts. In typical Dotcom fashion, the larger-than-life playboy is using his new social media accounts to taunt authorities as he awaits trial. Noteworthy tweets include “Conspiracy to commit racketeering!” which appeared alongside an image of Dotcom and three colleagues holding tennis rackets at the Dotcom estate, and “Mathias’ first attempt at money laundering ” which was accompanied by an image of a man washing money in a bowl of soapy water. More →