Dotcom | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 03 Oct 2016 10:21:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Dotcom | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 MegaUpload is back, with MegaUpload 2 and Bitcache https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/megaupload-is-back-with-megaupload-2-and-bitcache/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/megaupload-is-back-with-megaupload-2-and-bitcache/#respond Mon, 03 Oct 2016 10:21:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=307702 Kim Dotcom has launched the pitch for his new file locker, MegaUpload 2.0 and Bitcoin micro-transaction system, Bitcache. Teaming up with BnkTotheFuture, investors and fans can now contribute Bitcoin towards the ventures, with the original MegaUpload and Mega founder looking for just shy of £4 million to proceed with their development. Inspired by the original …

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Kim Dotcom has launched the pitch for his new file locker, MegaUpload 2.0 and Bitcoin micro-transaction system, Bitcache. Teaming up with BnkTotheFuture, investors and fans can now contribute Bitcoin towards the ventures, with the original MegaUpload and Mega founder looking for just shy of £4 million to proceed with their development.

Inspired by the original MegaUpload and Mega file lockers that Dotcom has been involved with in the past, MegaUpload 2.0 will offer end to end encryption so files are obfuscated from everyone but the owner and recipient. Beyond that, users will not even be identified, so the site itself will not track their names, IP addresses or the files they upload, keeping everyone as anonymous as possible.

bitcache

This is only possible because MegaUpload 2.0 will not use traditional payment methods, instead it will use Bitcoin. That will form the backbone of the entire system too, since it will use Blockchain based storage, thereby making every transfer unique and allowing for Bitcoin micro-transactions in exchange for file transfers, as part of Bitcache.

It's not the easiest of systems to explain, but then something like this hasn't been done before, so there are no real allegories to draw for it. It could theoretically allow artists and corporate entities to use MegaUpload 2.0 to sell content through the service too.

Dotcom and BnktotheFuture are certainly confident in its potential and that seems to be justified. Though the announcement is only a few minutes old at the time of writing, it's already garnered £170,000 in investment funds.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPGdilknFbc']

Investors are being offered a total of five percent of the company for their near four million, with a total of £771,000 required before any money is officially earned by Dotcom's new organisation.

One aspect of this site that is different from what Dotcom has developed in the past though, is that he won't really be involved in it. He's acting more as an “evangelist,” helping to encourage its uptake and will no doubt benefit financially at some point down the line, but he won't own it. This is to prevent any negative connotations with his name from affecting the service and from his shaky legal status from negatively impacting its future.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This sounds like a pretty exciting idea, though we'll have to wait and see how popular it turns out to be. While Dotcom is right in that MegaUpload was an enormous entity, his successor projects like Mega, Baboom and the Internet Mana political party were far from as impactful. This certainly has potential, but time will tell how revolutionary it really is. 

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Remember, the mighty do fall: Yahoo sells to Verizon https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/remember-the-mighty-do-fall-yahoo-sells-to-verizon/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/remember-the-mighty-do-fall-yahoo-sells-to-verizon/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2016 15:11:37 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=300587 Yahoo is a name that many of you might not have heard for some time, but it was once one of the biggest players in the online world. But like many of those old guard, it too is now somewhat irrelevant, so it is perhaps fitting that this week it has become just another Verizon property, …

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Yahoo is a name that many of you might not have heard for some time, but it was once one of the biggest players in the online world. But like many of those old guard, it too is now somewhat irrelevant, so it is perhaps fitting that this week it has become just another Verizon property, selling for $5 billion; a fraction of what it was once worth.

At its peak, Yahoo was a company worth around $125 billion. To give you some context to that, it's more than twice Facebook's total equity and only a little less than that of Alphabet, the parent company of Google and its many subsidiaries. And now it's going to become just another feather in Verizon's cap.

At least it will be in good company though. The American telecom giant purchased another internet old-guard last year, in AOL. Together it and Yahoo will provide a core service for older internet users, who like somewhere familiar to read their news and check their email. It is likely that Yahoo's advertising technology and wealth of user data will be much more valuable to Verizon however.

yahoo

So what happened?

As the collated history of Yahoo reads in Forbes' in-depth break down, it just missed the mark too many times. Before the Dotcom Bubble burst in the early '00s, it spent $10 billion buying up Geocities and Broadcast.com, choosing to pass on opportunities to buy early versions of both Google and Facebook.

It tried to catch up with the social networking craze over a decade later by buying Tumblr, though three years on from that purchase, the site's value has ‘tumbled' many hundreds of millions.

Marissa Mayer's appointment in 2012 didn't help, with an aggressive purchasing strategy not going far enough to turn around the company's ailing fortunes. Never fear though, she stands to make tens of millions from the sale.

KitGuru Says: Are any of you sad to see Yahoo swallowed up? I've been impressed it still existed for at least a decade, so it's not hugely surprising that it's finally lost enough relevance to sell itself on.

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Chinese investors gain control of MEGA file locker https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/chinese-investors-gain-control-of-mega-file-locker/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/chinese-investors-gain-control-of-mega-file-locker/#respond Thu, 13 Aug 2015 09:34:10 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=263347 Following a new round of funding which saw the MEGA encrypted file locker service raise a further $7.5 million to aid continued operations, two Chinese investors have become the company's largest share holders, with only the original lead programmer retaining even a modest share of the company. The news prompted original company founder, Kim Dotcom, …

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Following a new round of funding which saw the MEGA encrypted file locker service raise a further $7.5 million to aid continued operations, two Chinese investors have become the company's largest share holders, with only the original lead programmer retaining even a modest share of the company. The news prompted original company founder, Kim Dotcom, to tweet out two simple worlds “#RIP MEGA.”

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This latest round of funding follows on from continued problems at the company, which saw its ability to process payments limited by Paypal and a failed reverse-takeover attempt to become listed on the NZ stock exchange. This forced the hand of the company's executives, who needed to generate capital to continue Mega's operation. This led to a divulging of almost all company shares.

Following on from this latest round of funding, Beijing based Li Zhi Min now owns 43 per cent of the company, after buying more than 300,000 shares at just over $13 (£5.50) in late July, adding to his already impressive collection of shares. A further 24 per cent is also now owned by Yang Jianhong, after buying some 228,000 shares for the same price on 6th August, according to the NZHerald.

A further 500,000 shares were sold for just $1.79 each the same day. Kim Dotcom did not see this as a good thing:

Despite Dotcom's bleak outlook on the file locker's future, current employees and investors are keen to paint a rosy picture.

“New and existing investors fully support Mega and this is very evident in the latest funding round,” chief executive Graham Gaylard said. “Mega now has over 22 million registered users and the rate of growth has now increased to over 1.5 million new users per month.”

He also denies, as Dotcom claims, that the company has been involved in a hostile takeover by investors, including William Chan, who was arrested for fraud back in 2014. Moving forward, Gaylard plans to list Mega publicly, though there will be a lot less capital generated from such a deal as would have happened in the past. When it was set to float earlier this year as part of the TRS takeover, it was valued at around $210 million.

Based on its recent share sales, Mega is now valued at $1.7 million (£720,000).

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: As usual, a Kim Dotcom founded property has had a turbulent life. It's a shame, as the aims of Mega seemed solid. Fortunately Dotcom plans to do it all again, this time with open source, not-for-profit ventures, which may make the file-locker immune from these sorts of problems. 

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Internet MANA party leader admits “mistake” over Dotcom https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/internet-mana-party-leader-admits-mistake-over-dotcom/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/internet-mana-party-leader-admits-mistake-over-dotcom/#respond Wed, 24 Sep 2014 08:30:10 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=213296 It's been a couple of days now since the Internet MANA party failed to gain a single seat in the New Zealand elections and party funder/founder Kim Dotcom claimed responsibility for it, apologising to supporters after the results came in. Now party leader Laila Harré has echoed this sentiment, suggesting also that other parties' attempts …

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It's been a couple of days now since the Internet MANA party failed to gain a single seat in the New Zealand elections and party funder/founder Kim Dotcom claimed responsibility for it, apologising to supporters after the results came in. Now party leader Laila Harré has echoed this sentiment, suggesting also that other parties' attempts to target Internet MANA led them to cannibalising their own support.

“We underestimated the aggressiveness that Internet MANA would be treated because of the aggressiveness of which Kim Dotcom has been treated by the right [wing],” said Harré in an interview with TVNZ, highlighting the campaign of spying and investigation that has surrounding Dotcom for the past two and a half years.

harre

Ultimately though, Harré said that she thought it was a mistake to have Kim Dotcom involved in such a “high profile,” role, leading up to the election. Dotcom himself hosted parties and conferences, like the Moment of Truth, which allowed whistle blowers Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, to speak their minds to New Zealanders from the confines of their residences abroad.

On the subject of the National Party and John Key being re-elected, Harré believes that the other parties could have done more and in-fact, may have harmed their own positions by targeting Dotcom and Internet MANA with negativity.

“I think that the Labour Party made an error from the start, rather than accept the reality of Internet Mana they brought into the right wing narrative about Internet Mana and they joined in the game.

“So by bashing us they actually bashed themselves,” she said.

Uncharacteristically for Dotcom, he's remained absent from social media since the election results came through and he issued his apology.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru Says: Clearly Dotcom and Internet MANA entered this one a bit too confidently, but it's surprising it didn't bring home more than 1.2 per cent of the vote, especially considering the MANA party alone normally brings in over five per cent. 

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Dotcom’s Internet MANA alliance fails to win seat https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcoms-internet-mana-alliance-fails-to-win-seat/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcoms-internet-mana-alliance-fails-to-win-seat/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2014 08:38:37 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=212849 Over the weekend votes were cast and counted in New Zealand's latest general election, following weeks and months of campaigning by all parties. Most notably in the tech press, Megaupload and Mega founder Kim Dotcom has appeared, alongside his Internet MANA party creation, with hopes to win one of its representatives a seat in parliament …

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Over the weekend votes were cast and counted in New Zealand's latest general election, following weeks and months of campaigning by all parties. Most notably in the tech press, Megaupload and Mega founder Kim Dotcom has appeared, alongside his Internet MANA party creation, with hopes to win one of its representatives a seat in parliament to help champion digital rights and freedoms. Unfortunately however, in the end the party simply didn't receive enough votes. On top of that, the National party won once again, so John Key, Dotcom's nemesis, continues to remain in power.

This is despite all the negative campaigning by the Internet MANA party against Key, pointing out in a “Moment of Truth,” event, the lies and corruption he, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange felt Key and his government were responsible for. Ultimately Key won convincingly, creating New Zealand's first majority government in nearly 20 years, for what will be his third term.

dotcom

Dotcom publicly addressed the news shortly after the votes were counted, praising the leadership of Internet MANA and all those involved. In short order however, he pinned the failings of the alliance on himself, suggesting that his “poisonous” influence on the party had caused it to miss its chances for a seat, something which he deeply apologised for.

“We lost tonight, but we did not lose because of our leadership – we had great leadership. We did not lose because of our campaign – we had a great campaign, and we did not lose because of our vision, because we had a great vision,” he said in a televised speech (via 3News). “But I have to admit that we lost because of me.”

However, he ended on a note of hope, stating that he believed that the Internet MANA campaign for a more open government – especially with regards to surveillance – had “opened the eyes of a lot of New Zealanders.” Ultimately he said that Internet MANA was a new, fresh faced party with lots of growing to do and that it would be better, once he was removed from it.

While the Internet party is a relatively new entity, it had at least hoped to ride in on traditional support from the Maori MANA party, which has previously secured a single seat in government. However even Mana leader Hone Harawira failed to win his usual seat in Te Tai Tokerau, so neither party has a representative in John Key's new government.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I can't help but feel for Dotcom here. He made a bold move, but perhaps it was simply too late in the day to start a party, mere months before the election, and hope for it to gain enough traction. What do you guys think?

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Internet MANA in big final push before NZ election https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/internet-mana-in-big-final-push-before-nz-election/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/internet-mana-in-big-final-push-before-nz-election/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:08:02 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=212754 With the New Zealand national elections set to take place tomorrow, Kim Dotcom and Laila Harré's Internet MANA party has been firing off its last salvos to try and get people out to vote, including encouraging people to vote for someone other than the Internet MANA party if it means getting John Key out of …

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With the New Zealand national elections set to take place tomorrow, Kim Dotcom and Laila Harré's Internet MANA party has been firing off its last salvos to try and get people out to vote, including encouraging people to vote for someone other than the Internet MANA party if it means getting John Key out of office.

In one of her recent “Not the Six O' Clock News” segments, Harré, the current leader of Internet MANA was quoted as saying that she had used her party vote to help push Internet MANA towards a seat in parliament, and her personal vote for Paul Goldsmith in an effort to change the government.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziM0v1Z9JEk']

As much as Internet MANA wants to see its issues taken seriously, potentially even garnering enough of the vote to gain a seat in parliament now that it's teamed up with the Mauri MANA party, one of its key aims has been to get John Key, the current NZ PM, out of power.

Harré goes on and pulls no punches, citing “systemic corruption in our public sector, ” as a reason that if the current government is voted back in, it will be because of underhanded tactics and due to its instability, wouldn't last long. She also pledged, that unless a new government pushed for a Royal Commission to investigate the matter, she'd take it to International authorities herself.

Dotcom for his part in the matter has simply been promoting the party and not taking much in the way of swipes at individuals, or his old nemesis John Key. He has however been taking some direct quotes from the two key speakers at his “Moment of Truth” conference, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, citing their thoughts as prime examples of why it's time for a change in New Zealand politics.

momentsnowden

Other than that, he's essentially just urging people to get out and vote. The latest polls peg Internet Mana as on track to receive more than five per cent of the vote, which would give it at least one seat in parliament.

KitGuru Says: Regardless of the outcome of the election tomorrow, the Internet MANA is an impressive achievement not only in terms of its legitimate political gains, but also in the way it's marketed itself. The parties, social networking and consistent headlines have made it very easy to talk about, something that's often hard to do about traditional political entities. 

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Dotcom’s Internet Party closes on MANA deal, PM embarassed https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcoms-internet-party-closes-on-mana-deal-pm-embarassed/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcoms-internet-party-closes-on-mana-deal-pm-embarassed/#respond Thu, 22 May 2014 14:30:55 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=194580 As internet entrepeneur Kim Dotcom's Internet Party closes in on a deal with the local MANA party, headed by ex-Maori party leader, Hone Harawira, news has emerged that the Prime Minister John Key, who denies any involvement with his government's GCSB intelligence agency illegally spying on Kim Dotcom, actually had a secret meeting with the …

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As internet entrepeneur Kim Dotcom's Internet Party closes in on a deal with the local MANA party, headed by ex-Maori party leader, Hone Harawira, news has emerged that the Prime Minister John Key, who denies any involvement with his government's GCSB intelligence agency illegally spying on Kim Dotcom, actually had a secret meeting with the head of the organisation prior to the snooping.

John Key has had some shady dealings with the GCSB in the past, with speculation that childhood friend, Ian Fletcher, received the job as head of the organisation because of his previous affiliation with Key. Both men have always denied this and denied any sort of ongoing relationship, besides a professional one. However, that's being called into question once gain after it was found that both men met with the GCSB in a secretive meeting before the spying on Dotcom took place.

dotcomkid
Despite recently splitting from his wife, Dotcom's Twitter has recently been regularly updated with family-man images

They still deny any knowledge of it. For more information on it, watch the full report by 3News here.

While this news broke, Dotcom's Internet Party has been continuing its discussions with a more established party called MANA, which currently retains a single seat in parliament. Due to a crossover of many policies, it's thought that both parties will likely campaign together come the elections in September. However, Harawira, has said that the final decision will be made, only after the Internet Party has selected its leader. Since he is not a native of New Zealand, Dotcom cannot run for parliament there.

KitGuru Says: It's no surprise that high up politicians are mixed up with some shady dealings, but it's always disappointing. It will be interesting to see if Dotcom's party can change any of that come the end of this year. 

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Kim Dotcom’s ‘racist day’ shows free speech in action? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-racist-day-shows-free-speech-in-action/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-racist-day-shows-free-speech-in-action/#comments Wed, 14 May 2014 10:44:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=193203 Kim Dotcom has always been a big supporter of free speech. He's put forward this ideal with his services like MegaUpload and Mega, which allowed personal freedoms through sharing of information and ideas, but he doesn't just talk it up, he walks it as well, championing the idea behind closed doors by holding comedic ribbing …

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Kim Dotcom has always been a big supporter of free speech. He's put forward this ideal with his services like MegaUpload and Mega, which allowed personal freedoms through sharing of information and ideas, but he doesn't just talk it up, he walks it as well, championing the idea behind closed doors by holding comedic ribbing events, like a “racist day,” during the creation of his Good Times album.

At a time when large numbers of people are criticised and attacked for what they say in the privacy of their own home and news reports about language aren't even allowed to mention the words they're discussing, Dotcom and friends had a much more open way of talking during the creation of his recent album. Picking up a tradition from his multi-cultural and multi-national producers, who have built up a raport that involves a lot of trash talking, Dotcom created a “racist day,” where gollywogs were left around the studio and racist barbs were thrown back and forth with abandon.

The idea comes from wanting to blow off steam in an environment where long work hours are common place and the lack of sunlight can drive people a little stir-crazy. Taking it to a racial level is seen as a natural progression and by many, to be the epitome of poor taste – making it all the more funny when people are allowed to make jokes about it with impunity.

dotcomgamer

Of course none of it is malicious, which is what Dotcom and others are keen to make people understand. In the context of what they were doing, being mean to one another was hilarious and something enjoyed by everyone: “There was never any personal offence meant nor taken. It actually went to show that race wasn't an issue for any of us,” Dotcom said in a statement.

Roundhead Studios' sound engineer, Neil Baldock, said that: “Everyone in the studio would rib each other on subjects normally considered taboo. These were never personal attacks and there was no malice. It was all closed-door fun.

“Whatever minority group or nationality might have been in the room was fair game and everyone dished it out equally,” he said. “Nobody got offended. They got me for being white and freckled. Kim didn't actually know about it, but was in the studio one day and joined in. He copped it over his weight.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is a great example of context being so important with language. Printed out of context, with no word given to the intention of the “racist” jokes that no doubt flew around that day, would sound horrific. But among friends, when it's a joke, with the intention being to make someone laugh, it doesn't matter what you say. 

That's why zero tolerance policies on language are so dangerous. That's why you can't “ban” words. If a recording of this session had appeared with no explanation, people would be calling for Dotcom's head. 

[Cheers Stuff]

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Dotcom: you can’t fix piracy with a slegehammer https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcom-you-cant-fix-piracy-with-a-slegehammer/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcom-you-cant-fix-piracy-with-a-slegehammer/#respond Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:31:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=182688 Kim Dotcom made headlines again last week with the news that Popcorn Time, the real end game for online movie piracy, was taken down from his Mega file locker service. According to his own statements, he had no idea about it until after the fact and we still don't know who pushed for its removal, …

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Kim Dotcom made headlines again last week with the news that Popcorn Time, the real end game for online movie piracy, was taken down from his Mega file locker service. According to his own statements, he had no idea about it until after the fact and we still don't know who pushed for its removal, but it's got Dotcom talking about piracy again and one thing he's keen to say, is that Popcorn Time, as illegal as it is/was, works better than any legal alternative.

When TorrentFreak got ahold of him to ask him about the Popcorn Time takedown, Dotcom admitted he'd only just gotten up, so wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about. While it's nobody's business when the man gets out of bed, his lack of knowledge of Mega's comings and goings makes sense, since he resigned from the company last year in order to focus more on the development of his music service Baboom and his fledgling political group, The Internet Party.

popcorntime
Popcorn Time is currently the Netflix we all want, especially in the UK where new movies are restricted by a News Corp monopoly

On the subject of the software itself though, Dotcom had a lot more to say: “Popcorn Time and countless similar applications show where the road ends for Hollywood. Ultimately it’s a cat-and-mouse game Hollywood can’t win by force but only with smarter Internet offerings.”

He went on to say the movie studios needed to catch up, as the next stage of development will be smart TV integrated torrent streaming, encrypted internets which can't be taken down and much more uncooperative site owners.

“Combine that with apps and sites that provide a no-takedown one-click high-speed content experience and Hollywood’s nightmare is complete,” he said, going on to suggest that the MPAA and others would have to do things very differently if they hoped to remain relevant.

“Piracy is bigger than ever, despite overreaching law enforcement action & efforts by the MPAA and Chris Dodd to buy aggressive copyright laws and treaties. Hollywood made a mistake when they hired a powerful former Senator to run the MPAA in an attempt to fix their Internet problems with a sledgehammer,” he said.

Moving forward, Dotcom suggested that movie studios and Hollywood in general embrace internet streaming, downloads and all sorts of media interaction that contemporary viewers are making use of and create appealing services that are comparable to the illegal alternatives. He'd even help them build it if they'd ask.

KitGuru Says: While I get the feelings things will get worse before they get better, I do agree with Dotcom: the best way to combat piracy is to offer a better alternative, that's all piracy does in the first place anyway. 

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Kim Dotcom’s lawyers take Lawfuel Lawyers of the year https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-lawyers-take-lawfuel-lawyers-of-the-year/ Fri, 13 Dec 2013 11:26:40 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=167322 While it sounds like a punchline for a joke about the worst person alive, Lawfuel has announced its winner of Lawyer of the Year, granting it not to an individual but to the entire legal team of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. While there's a lot of people working in the background, the team captains are …

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While it sounds like a punchline for a joke about the worst person alive, Lawfuel has announced its winner of Lawyer of the Year, granting it not to an individual but to the entire legal team of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom.

While there's a lot of people working in the background, the team captains are Queen's counsel Paul Davidson, litigator William Akel and commercial Lawyer Greg Towers. While Ira Rothken, who runs the US branch of Dotcom's legal team has perhaps had a bit more publicity than these, Lawfuel believes they form the backbone of his legal counsel and therefore deserve the accolades.

Part of the reason they've been given the honour is because of the sheer scale of the case. While it boils down to one man's extradition trial, there's so many elements to it. There's whole discussions on copyright and trademark law that have been sparked by this case, as well as privacy and personal liability. International law has come into it, as has the US' leaning on foreign nations and susceptibility to lobbying from the media corporations of the world.

turdsandwhich
Last year's winners…

On top of that, there's the fact that the New Zealand government and its intelligence agency the GCSB acted illegally by raiding his home under an invalid warrant and completed months of illegal surveillance, which resulted in the Prime Minister attempting to legalise the practice instead of clamping down on his watchdogs.

The Dotcom case has elements that effect us all and the legal team has had to keep on top of this. They've been fighting his corner since the original arrest almost two years ago, much of that time without payment since Dotcom's many millions were frozen as part of the money laundering investigation against him.

KitGuru Says: Combined with Dotcom's Robin Hood, folk hero antics, it looks like he'll be ok in the long run, but that was no small feat – even if it does look like he was innocent, the forces arrayed against him have seemed insurmountable at times. 

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New Zealand MP resigns over anonymous Dotcom donation https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/new-zealand-mp-resigns-over-anonymous-dotcom-donation/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/new-zealand-mp-resigns-over-anonymous-dotcom-donation/#respond Wed, 16 Oct 2013 10:28:59 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=157867 Kim Dotcom is a wrecking ball to the New Zealand political system's house of cards. He's not only exposed illegal practices by the county's top spy agency, the GCSB, but has embarrassed top politicians for their complicity with US PRISM programs and selective law making and has now caused a government minister to step down …

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Kim Dotcom is a wrecking ball to the New Zealand political system's house of cards. He's not only exposed illegal practices by the county's top spy agency, the GCSB, but has embarrassed top politicians for their complicity with US PRISM programs and selective law making and has now caused a government minister to step down in the wake of a donation given by the Megaupload founder.

Admittedly this is all the fault of the minister in question. Dotcom actually made a donation to the man back in 2010 when he was running for mayor of Auckland. The problem arose however, when minister John Banks, decided that a donation from Kim Dotcom wouldn't do him any favours, so he persuaded the internet mogul to split his $50,000 AUS donation into two, $25,000 payments, thereby keeping the donations anonymous.

Despite claiming innocence of these allegations, Banks has now resigned – though will somehow retain his seat in parliament to make sure the prime minister's majority is preserved – while the case runs its course, most likely to keep this as under the rug as possible.

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Dotcom with flowers. Because why not.

Dotcom is more than happy to talk about the donation scandal however, as he feels slighted by the politician over his unwillingness to accept a donation at face value: “I was offended, I don’t mind if people know,” Dotcom told the court (via Bloomberg) . Banks told him, “Kim, if I help you in the future it’s better no one knows about your donation.”

While this somewhat implies that Dotcom was negotiating some sort of future favour with Banks, or at least that the politician assumed that any donation would mean that he would owe that person something, either way he's denying it ever happened, suggesting that he doesn't remember the helicopter ride where the conversation supposedly took place.

Dotcom has made a habit of showing up New Zealand politicians, famously facing down the prime minister John Key over the GCSB's illegal actions and asking him “why are you turning red prime-minister?” In what was a scintillating battle of wits, the prime minister responded, “why are you sweating?”

KitGuru Says: Whether you agree with Dotcom's policies, his politics or his way of doing things, you have to admit it's funny to see all the trouble he causes for an established political system. With his extradition hearing looming however, things could get even more interesting over the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled. 

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NSA’s PRISM surveillance may extend to New Zealand too https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/nsas-prism-surveillance-may-extend-to-new-zealand-too/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/nsas-prism-surveillance-may-extend-to-new-zealand-too/#comments Wed, 09 Oct 2013 10:28:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=156954 While companies like Lavabit have fearless leaders that are willing to shutdown their long term businesses to protect their customers, governments seem less and less willing to do the right thing for their people. According to a few New Zealand journalists, the Dotcom spying case involved not only the country's own spy agency, but NSA …

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While companies like Lavabit have fearless leaders that are willing to shutdown their long term businesses to protect their customers, governments seem less and less willing to do the right thing for their people. According to a few New Zealand journalists, the Dotcom spying case involved not only the country's own spy agency, but NSA agents, PRISM internet surveillance and what is described as “Hollywood copyright extremists.” Prime Minister John Key not only allowed this to take place, but when it was discovered, he simply changed the law to make it legal.

Speaking with The Guardian, Nicky Hager revealed that when the NZ spy agency, GCSB, illegally surveyed Dotcom's email and other digital communications, it sent a request through to the NSA which monitored him for them. This suggests that the US government's snooping extends into New Zealand and potentially other countries as well.

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Dotcom, preparing for his extradition trial.

Another NZ journalist, Martyn Bradbury, describes what America is doing as akin to colonial expansion, where the government is trying to stake a claim on the entire world's digital home.

“The US government’s attack against Megaupload bears all the hallmarks of a political prosecution in favour of Hollywood copyright extremists,” he said. “The US used its influence with New Zealand to unleash a military style raid on Dotcom's family, to spy on him, and to remove his data from New Zealand without authorisation – all of which has been found to be illegal.

“Megaupload and Kim Dotcom are today’s targets, but the US crosshairs can just as easily be trained on anybody globally who dares challenge or inconvenience a special interest that holds sway in Washington, and the US – with its notoriously insatiable appetite for demonstrating political and global power – seems all too willing to cooperate.”

Whenever PRISM and government spying come up however, there's always a few people saying: “I'm not doing anything illegal, so why should I care?” The answer?  Two very big reasons.

1: It's not very effective. The head of the NSA recently revealed that his organisation had fudged the numbers on how many terror plots had been prevented by PRISM spying. Instead of the 40 + instances originally discussed, it was more like one or two. Considering the sacrifices made by the people of the world for this sort of scheme to take place, it's not worth the trade off.

2: The government can decide what's illegal. You might not be doing anything wrong now, but what if Hollywood decides to lobby governments to shut down your business like they did to Dotcom? What if something you currently do that's legal, something that's important to you, is made illegal? Surveillance like this also makes civil disobedience impossible, because law breaking is theoretically (not in practice, did you see point 1?) impossible. How will unjust laws be protested if they can't even be talked about through email without a heavily armed special police unit raiding your house?

KitGuru: Whether you look at it from an efficiency angle, a civil rights angle or as a protester, these sorts of government surveillance schemes are not worth the trade off. I know the concept of terrorism is scary, but we're all much more likely to die from a lightning strike, or while you're doing DIY than from some extremist idiot blowing themselves up. The world is never going to be a perfectly safe place but that's ok. We just have to do our best and try and improve the world as we go. Going all 1984 isn't going to solve anything but increase paranoia, reduce people's ability to think and discuss things freely and cost billions of [money] that nobody ever has. 

[Thanks The Guardian]

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Kim Dotcom set to launch NZ political party https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-set-to-launch-nz-political-party/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-set-to-launch-nz-political-party/#respond Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:56:07 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=150684 Megaupload and MEGA founder, Kim Dotcom, has announced his intention to launch a new political party that will contest elections next year in New Zealand, with plans to improve the country's IT infrastructure, internet access and download allowances. The party is set to begin operation on the 20th January, 2014, on the two year anniversary …

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Megaupload and MEGA founder, Kim Dotcom, has announced his intention to launch a new political party that will contest elections next year in New Zealand, with plans to improve the country's IT infrastructure, internet access and download allowances.

The party is set to begin operation on the 20th January, 2014, on the two year anniversary of Kim Dotcom's arrest at his mansion home. It's also one day before his 40th birthday.

The announcement came from what Dotcom describes in a tongue in-cheek fashion as a “whistleblower,” also suggesting that the plans for the party were in the early stages of development.

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I'd still vote for the Governator over Dotcom though…

However, speaking with TorrentFreak, Dotcom denied that he would be competing to become Prime Minister.

“I’m not a citizen of New Zealand and therefore I can’t be elected into Parliament myself but I can be the president of a new party,” Dotcom explained. Though he did say he was currently in the early stages of meeting potential candidates for Prime Minister.

On top of this, he announced some of his party's policies via Twitter: “After the 2014 election I will get New Zealanders a new submarine cable, fair Internet pricing & no more data caps.”

Current NZ Prime Minister John Key commented on the news, suggesting that it should be called the “No Hope Party.”

KitGuru Says: Here Mr Key, let me get that for you: [rimshot].

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Dotcom’s Mega launches mobile app for Android https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/apps-software/jon-martindale/dotcoms-mega-launches-mobile-app-for-android/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/apps-software/jon-martindale/dotcoms-mega-launches-mobile-app-for-android/#comments Fri, 05 Jul 2013 11:38:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=141008 PRISM, Tempora and other government spying schemes might be scaring the pants off of a lot of average citizens, but not Kim Dotcom. He's enjoying increased revenue from his encrypted data backup service, MEGA, which has now announced the release of a mobile app, letting you backup on the go. Downloadable now from the Google …

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PRISM, Tempora and other government spying schemes might be scaring the pants off of a lot of average citizens, but not Kim Dotcom. He's enjoying increased revenue from his encrypted data backup service, MEGA, which has now announced the release of a mobile app, letting you backup on the go.

Downloadable now from the Google Play store, the new Mega app features the following:

  • Browse your MEGA cloud storage account
  • Fast upload and downloads on the move
  • Camera sync: automatically upload photos and videos to the MEGA cloud
  • Export and send file and folder links
  • Image thumbnails
  • Create, delete, rename and move files and folders

The app works on smartphones and on tablets, as long as they're running Android.

mega

Reviews for the app so far are pretty good, with most saying it's nice or has a lot of potential. As with most reviewers though, the lowest ratings tend to be from people who haven't been able to get the app working for some reason, or don't quite understand how to use it and are taking it out on the app itself.

KitGuru Says: With all the recent revelations about government snooping, have you guys taken any measures to secure your data a bit more?

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Kim Dotcom releases new video of police raid https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-releases-new-video-of-police-raid/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/kim-dotcom-releases-new-video-of-police-raid/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:06:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=138475 Kim Dotcom has released a new video of the raid on his home from early last year, made up of footage from police cameras and CCTV on his property, showing much more detailed imagery of heavily armed officers with dog teams and assault rifles The video begins with a breakdown of events leading up to …

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Kim Dotcom has released a new video of the raid on his home from early last year, made up of footage from police cameras and CCTV on his property, showing much more detailed imagery of heavily armed officers with dog teams and assault rifles

The video begins with a breakdown of events leading up to the raid, including the public's humiliation of media lobbyists, by their rejection of the SOPA and PIPA bills. As the video's text describes it, with the failure of those bills, the MPAA threatened to cut off funding to president Obama's re-election campaign. The video then claims that in a response to that potential loss of funds, Obama shut down Megaupload to try and appease media industry supporters.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmObwguVmEI'] Warning: There is some NSFW language in the background music. 

From there we see police rolling up to the Dotcom mansion, with heavy armament, but little in the way of body armour (one officer is even wearing a baseball cap), suggesting not much resistance was expected. After handcuffing seemingly cooperative security staff and other members of Dotcom's residential team – followed by audio that Dotcom had been found and understood the warrant for his arrest – we see the police begin seizing all of the internet mogul's cars.

As this footage concludes, we're shown news footage explaining how the warrants used for Dotcom's arrest and the seizure of his personal property, were illegal under New Zealand law. We then hear about physical punishment given to Dotcom during his arrest, followed by Prime Minister John Key, apologising for illegal surveillance of the Megaupload founder.

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Jeans? Check. Baseball cap? Check. Trainers? Check. Assault rifle? Check. 

Then there's a movie edited ending, using Dotcom's usual humorous style – though it does take away from the video's message a little.

Dotcom's twitter has also been very active in the past few hours, following the release of the video, explaining why such force was used.

“The FBI told NZ police that I had a doomsday device to delete all Megaupload servers (total nonsense). That's why they used helicopters.” This was followed by, “They used a pic of me clay shooting at a holiday resort to justify the raid. I was considered a threat to the lives of police officers.”

KitGuru Says: While we can't validate any of these tweeted claims by Dotcom, it does seem a little over the top considering the mass of force used in the raid on his home. Dogs were used, despite this being an arrest of a tech nerd – there was no chance of explosives on the property, though perhaps they were hoping for drugs to be found to compound the charges against Dotcom. We also saw multiple police vans, with heavily armed, but low armoured police officers, suggesting that it was more a show of force than a response to a legitimate threat. 

What do you guys think of the raid? We know it was conducted using illegal warrants, but do you think the police went in too hard? 

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Kim Dotcom’s Mega hit by DDOS attack https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-mega-hit-by-ddos-attack/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/kim-dotcoms-mega-hit-by-ddos-attack/#respond Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:25:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=137503 Kim Dotcom's file locker website, Mega.co.nz, was hit earlier this morning by a denial of service (DoS) attack and no one has yet to claim responsibility. Perhaps more surprisingly though, internet mogul Kim Dotcom, has yet to point the finger or even mention the attack on his oft-used Twitter account According to one NZ publication, …

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Kim Dotcom's file locker website, Mega.co.nz, was hit earlier this morning by a denial of service (DoS) attack and no one has yet to claim responsibility. Perhaps more surprisingly though, internet mogul Kim Dotcom, has yet to point the finger or even mention the attack on his oft-used Twitter account

According to one NZ publication, the DDOS attack lasted about two and a half hours. However there are conflicting reports on this, as the newly appointed CEO of Mega, Vikram Kumar, told NBR that it was only for an hour or so. The attack was countered by Mega staff – to some extent – but it's said that the DDOSers halted activity on their own. This prompted some commenters to suggest that this was merely a test run and that the main attack wouldn't be far down the line.

Apparently the attack wasn't even too significant, with most API users unaffected.

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He's also been playing a lot of COD

Dotcom however is staying quiet on the subject, announcing various unrelated things on Twitter, like the fact that he might have a URL shortening site in the works, as well as the fact that Mega now distributes more data than the entire country of New Zealand.

KitGuru Says: Dotcom has a few internet friends, but many big name enemies. Who do you guys think might be behind the probing attack?

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Mega launches event notifications and zipped downloads https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/mega-launches-event-notifications-and-zipped-downloads/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/mega-launches-event-notifications-and-zipped-downloads/#respond Mon, 20 May 2013 12:11:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=135272 Kim Dotcom's cloud based file locker, Mega, has launched a new feature called Event Notifications, which informs you of all “relevant activities” of your cloud partners, meaning you can keep an eye on what everyone's doing when they access your files and folders. On top of that, you can also download files in a zipped …

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Kim Dotcom's cloud based file locker, Mega, has launched a new feature called Event Notifications, which informs you of all “relevant activities” of your cloud partners, meaning you can keep an eye on what everyone's doing when they access your files and folders. On top of that, you can also download files in a zipped format, leading to faster acquisition of files and neater download packs.

“MEGA no longer leaves you in the dark about what is happening inside your shared folders,” reads the press release on the site's blog. Every user now has an “event notification timeline,” which shows you, how and when which folders were replaced, moved, accessed and every other conceivable way people can interact with them.

The Zip file support will be a nice addition for some and its application is apparently pretty simple: just select “download as ZIP” from the file context menu. There are a couple of caveats to the feature though: No ZIP64 support yet, so all files must be under 4GB and Windows 7 doesn't support foreign characters in the file names.

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Zipped downloads… nice. Source: Wikipedia

In other updates, file transfers can now be halted and resumed, and you can modify the settings of batch file uploads and downloads.

KitGuru Says: Good to see Mega continuing to evolve, though how non-partisan Dotcom can appear as the owner when he demanded 3D printed gun blueprints be removed, is hard to tell.

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Authorities don’t owe Dotcom anything, claims crown layers https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/authorities-dont-owe-dotcom-anything-claims-crown-layers/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/authorities-dont-owe-dotcom-anything-claims-crown-layers/#respond Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:26:44 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=132004 Federal lawyers have defended the police's and GCSB's illegal raid on Dotcom's home, suggesting that despite the fact that warrants were invalid, Dotcom is owed nothing by the police and that unauthorised copies of Dotcom's electronics were covered under the Search and Surveillance Act. Off the bat this is obviously erroneous, as the Search and Surveillance …

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Federal lawyers have defended the police's and GCSB's illegal raid on Dotcom's home, suggesting that despite the fact that warrants were invalid, Dotcom is owed nothing by the police and that unauthorised copies of Dotcom's electronics were covered under the Search and Surveillance Act.

Off the bat this is obviously erroneous, as the Search and Surveillance Act didn't come in to play until April 2012 and therefore is not applicable to the Dotcom raid which occurred in January 2012. The act makes it possible for police to raid a property suspected of certain specific illegal activities without a warrant.

The other argument being put forward by Crown Lawyers, is that despite the paperwork being incorrect, the raid was conducted within the usual parameters of a valid warrant and therefore Dotcom's experience wasn't any different. The argument from the other side of the fence is that Dotcom shouldn't have been arrested in the first  place, without the proper paperwork.

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Dotcom's mansion was raided last January, with helicopters and multiple teams of heavily armed special tactics officers.

This is all part of a “remedies hearing,” that will see a High Court judge rule later this year whether Dotcom is owed any recompense by the police forces and if any of his property should be returned to him. Dotcom's lawyers are requesting all of it – the cars, money and electronic equipment, that included several cloned hard drives.

Further claims of compensation by Dotcom will come at a later hearing.

KitGuru Says: You can argue over whether Dotcom is a folk hero or not, but some injustice was done to him in this whole debacle and it's nice to see so much of it coming to light through these hearings.

[Thanks Stuff.nz]

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US authorities win appeal in Dotcom extradition case https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-authorities-win-appeal-in-dotcom-extradition-case/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-authorities-win-appeal-in-dotcom-extradition-case/#respond Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:33:08 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=126812 Throughout the extradition war between Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and the US authorities attempting to send him to their homeland for a full criminal trial, one of the battlegrounds has been whether Dotcom's legal team should be given access to all the evidence against their client, or simply be given a summary. While initially a …

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Throughout the extradition war between Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and the US authorities attempting to send him to their homeland for a full criminal trial, one of the battlegrounds has been whether Dotcom's legal team should be given access to all the evidence against their client, or simply be given a summary. While initially a judge awarded the defence the right to see all of it, an accepted appeal by the prosecution in the New Zealand High Court has seen that ruling overturned.

The argument from the judge was that because this was an extradition trial, not a criminal trial, it did not merit the same considerations with regards to evidence. Of course Dotcom's team disagrees and plans to take things one step higher, to the Supreme Court.

Part of the reason it's thought so important that Dotcom's team gains access to evidence against him, is that not only so they can prepare his defence correctly, but that it would allow them to see if any illegal measures were taken by the US and NZ governments in his arrest. It's been suggested that not only were illegal warrants used in the raid on Dotcom's home, but that illegal surveillance was also carried out for months beforehand.

Of course Dotcom haas already taken to Twitter to discuss the matter:

Some offered their condolonsces, while others asked how they could support him:

Dotcom's final extradition hearing is expected to take place in August this year, over a year and a half since his original arrest.

KitGuru Says: I'm no Dotcom fanboy, but I don't think he should be held responsible for his user's actions. I also think his legal team should be allowed to look at the evidence for his extradition, since it could have such huge bearing if illegal activity did take place.

[Cheers TorrentFreak]

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Dotcom muses of Megaupload class action lawsuit https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcom-muses-of-megaupload-class-action-lawsuit/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/dotcom-muses-of-megaupload-class-action-lawsuit/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:31:38 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=123428 Kim Dotcom has been hitting Twitter again over the past 24 hours, though not to discuss the rampant success or security concerns over the recently launched file locker successor, Mega, but the potential for a class action lawsuit from himself, his staff and Megaupload users against the US government. Back in early 2012, Kim Dotcom …

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Kim Dotcom has been hitting Twitter again over the past 24 hours, though not to discuss the rampant success or security concerns over the recently launched file locker successor, Mega, but the potential for a class action lawsuit from himself, his staff and Megaupload users against the US government.

Back in early 2012, Kim Dotcom had his mansion raided, his assets seized and he was imprisoned with charges of copyright infringement, fruad and money laundering. However the users of the site were also hit, as their personal data was seized by US authorities when Megaupload servers were taken as evidence against the site's owner. To date, they still haven't had it back. While undoubtedly there are some pirated movies to be found, there is also likely to be a lot of personal photos as well as business related documents that the US has refused to hand over.

With this in mind, Dotcom believes it wouldn't take much to rally support around a single cause – getting the information back and getting compensation for the initial seizure.

The tweet that began the discussion was the following:

It was then followed up several hours later by a second that stated:

That's a sizable number from a country that didn't have even close to the majority of Megaupload users. That said, even the million discussed by Dotcom is paltry, since the site was averaging 50 million unique users every single day.

Currently only a single user is suing the US government. If he were joined by a million or more others, that would be a much more significant threat to the current US position on Megaupload and its founder.

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think on this? Should Megaupload users sue and if so, what do you think a fair outcome would be?

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US refutes Dotcom entrapment claims https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-refutes-dotcom-entrapment-claims/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/us-refutes-dotcom-entrapment-claims/#respond Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:39:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=121983 Kim Dotcom has been very vocal about his opinions of the US government and the way it treated him during his investigation, arrest and the shuttering of his file locker website, Megaupload – often suggesting that he was used to entrap himself through cooperation. US authorities are of course keen to refute these claims. According …

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Kim Dotcom has been very vocal about his opinions of the US government and the way it treated him during his investigation, arrest and the shuttering of his file locker website, Megaupload – often suggesting that he was used to entrap himself through cooperation. US authorities are of course keen to refute these claims.

According to the Wired breakdown, this all centres around a core few members that were using Megaupload to operate their own file sharing business through Ninjavideo. Treated like the ISP of these individuals, Megaupload was asked to hand over information on them and to remain quiet about it. This is despite the fact that the investigation into Megaupload was already under way and that eventually the movies shared by the Ninjas, were then used in Dotcom's court case to implicate him and his fellow defendants.

Dotcom
Despite being arrested over a year ago, Dotcom's extradition trial has still yet to take place

Dotcom's legal defence team claims that Megaupload was asked by us authorities to retain the files. The opposition camp says it did no such thing. “Megaupload's allegations are baseless, as even a cursory review of Megaupload's pleading and the search warrant materials at issue disproves the allegation that the government misled the court as part of a conspiracy to entrap Megaupload,” the government stated.

Dotcom and his attorney's maintain that it was their job to maintain “the status quo” until further instruction was received from the government.

KitGuru Says: Considering the way this investigation seems to have been handled, I wouldn't be surprised if Megaupload had deleted the files, if Dotcom and others would then have been indicted for destruction of evidence.

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