Judge Rules Megaupload Raids ‘Illegal’

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Well things just got a whole lot more interesting. Obviously the authorities are appealing the ruling. Are we taking bets on how the appeal will go?

The American government’s bid to extradite copyright infringement king Kim Dotcom to the United States was dealt a body blow Thursday, when a New Zealand High Court judge ruled that the raids on Doctom’s home earlier this year were “illegal.” The decision may doom the entire prosecution of the founder of the file-sharing site Megaupload; New Zealand authorities are appealing.
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I don't care much for Kim Dotcom, but at least the New Zealanders are being sensible about this. I wonder if Dotcom will eventually get to the point where he can sue for damages.
 
Good for New Zealand to tell us (America) to go pound sand. What should've happened in the first place was a cooperation with the NZ government and not some strong arm/bully tactics.
 
Major_A said:
Good for New Zealand to tell us (America) to go pound sand. What should've happened in the first place was a cooperation with the NZ government and not some strong arm/bully tactics.
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Telling the US to pound sand is a little ridiculous and there was some cooperation. The problem was the US did not follow the proper channels which is why it was ruled against. Just as if you improperly raided a house in the US without the right search warrant. Doesn't make Kim DotCom any less guilty. However, this may allow DotCom to get his money back to spend on his defense.

The problem is that the RIAA and MPAA are so gungho on their mission and applying such pressure they are hurting themselves consistently more than they are helping their cause. And in the process they are hurting US law enforcement. It is sad to see law enforcement get such a bad rap because of political pressure from corrupt organizations like the RIAA/MPAA.
 
"Your honor, I object!"

"On what grounds?"

"This is devastating to my case!"

New Zealand at least has one judge who doesn't appreciate the US government's crusade to enforce and export corporate policy at the point of a gun barrel. I wish we had more American judges like that.
 
I'd love to see this guy go free. He's a dumbass douchebag, but just as a big F-U to the recording industries and tell them they don't have power in this shit anymore.

I agree that it makes the LE look bad, rather than the RIAA/MPAA.
 
Major_A said:
Good for New Zealand to tell us (America) to go pound sand. What should've happened in the first place was a cooperation with the NZ government and not some strong arm/bully tactics.
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Amen to that, but we elect Obamas/MittRomneys and the like to office, not Ron Pauls. So we have no one to blame but ourselves (collectively at least).
 
Ducman69 said:
Amen to that, but we elect Obamas/MittRomneys and the like to office, not Ron Pauls. So we have no one to blame but ourselves (collectively at least).
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All politicians have a price. Some just haven't been met yet.
 
NoOther said:
The problem is that the RIAA and MPAA are so gungho on their mission and applying such pressure they are hurting themselves consistently more than they are helping their cause. And in the process they are hurting US law enforcement. It is sad to see law enforcement get such a bad rap because of political pressure from corrupt organizations like the RIAA/MPAA.
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You lie in bed with a dog eventually you're going to get fleas. Completely their fault for not following the proper protocol for the country they are cooperating with. They do the same thing here and 99.9% of the time they create wiggle room to abuse the law when they want to. Obviously other countries think a little bit more of their citizens.
 
Glad to see the entertainment industry can't buy every country/judges.

Time for artists to wake up and kick the recording companies to the side and get their fair share.
 
These are pushed from the US because the money is in US based music and movies. If any other country was the homebase for those, they would do the exact same thing and probably a long time ago. It took them a while to get an administration with absolutely no shame in office.
 
avatardelta said:
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
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He's not in America LOL

Sides not sure about the NZ legal system. I know in the US your innocent till proven guilty by the State, even if you commit the crime in front of a crowd of people and tackled right on the spot... but hey your still innocent.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I don't care much for Kim Dotcom, but at least the New Zealanders are being sensible about this. I wonder if Dotcom will eventually get to the point where he can sue for damages.
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this. hes a douchebag but it seems that someone is willing to put the RIAA in check.
 
Anyone who thinks he's guilty in terms of the law is either ignorant or hasn't watched the NZ interview.

Now, he might have known about the piracy going on on his website, heck, he might have enjoyed it. But it is NOT illegal. He literally gave the RIAA/MPAA every means with which to combat it. He did everything he could to upkeep his file-sharing website without grossly taking away his users' rights.

If he doesn't win, it will mean that the RIAA/MPAA own the government and all they want is mass 'big-brother' censorship.

Hate this guy for being an overall douche, for being rich, but not for doing anything illegal, because then you side with the RIAA/MPAA.
 
Heh, so how long is it before the US government threatens to cut off all support with New Zealand?

The Pirate Bay trials in sweeden etc were forced by the US government threatening to cut off -ALL FREE TRADE- with sweeden unless they tried TPB owners, and we all know what a fucking sham that trial was

Then the wikileaks documents got released, and low and behold, the US was threatening the shit out of sweeden to arrest people that were not breaking the law.

Taking bets now, give it less then two months before New Zealand forces the judge to step down in the case, at which point I feverishly await the eventual Wikileaks dump where US threatened NZ's free trade
 
The US are tarnishing their reputation and hurting themselves in the long run just to keep some fucking slimeballs (RIAA/MPAA) rich and placing their interests above everyone else's, including its citizens.
 
Raudulfr said:
The US are tarnishing their reputation and hurting themselves in the long run just to keep some fucking slimeballs (RIAA/MPAA) rich and placing their interests above everyone else's, including its citizens.
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Among many other things to tarnish our reputation. :(

If he's guilty, it's going to be on a small technicality. They will get him on something... Although, I would like this case blow up and showcase the politicians that are taking the bribes ... I mean campaign donations.
 
Trackr said:
Anyone who thinks he's guilty in terms of the law is either ignorant or hasn't watched the NZ interview.

Now, he might have known about the piracy going on on his website, heck, he might have enjoyed it. But it is NOT illegal. He literally gave the RIAA/MPAA every means with which to combat it. He did everything he could to upkeep his file-sharing website without grossly taking away his users' rights.

If he doesn't win, it will mean that the RIAA/MPAA own the government and all they want is mass 'big-brother' censorship.

Hate this guy for being an overall douche, for being rich, but not for doing anything illegal, because then you side with the RIAA/MPAA.
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and here lies the heart of the problem, because we do not know if he followed the DMCA or not, you've got folks on the one hand saying yes he obeyed it, on the other you have folks saying he only removed the links, not the infringing files which aided the infringement by others since the files still existed on the servers.

I'm not a fan of DMCA and find it an extremely flawed system that allows companies to profit from piracy, but it's all we have and if he wasn't following it he should be exactly where he is.
 
LordCalin said:
and here lies the heart of the problem, because we do not know if he followed the DMCA or not, you've got folks on the one hand saying yes he obeyed it, on the other you have folks saying he only removed the links, not the infringing files which aided the infringement by others since the files still existed on the servers.

I'm not a fan of DMCA and find it an extremely flawed system that allows companies to profit from piracy, but it's all we have and if he wasn't following it he should be exactly where he is.
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It isn't illegal for him to store his customers data, it is illegal for him to spread that amongst people who are not authorized or licensed. By removing the links he prevents people from accessing the data who aren't the owners, and he keeps the customer happy by not throwing away his data.
 
Major_A said:
Good for New Zealand to tell us (America) to go pound sand. What should've happened in the first place was a cooperation with the NZ government and not some strong arm/bully tactics.
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A point worth mentioning is that the story states that the raids on his “home” were illegal. It is likely that the search warrant was only allowed to be use on the business. Therefore the raids on the server were probably accepted as legal. He might be able to sue them for the “home”, but I would expect that they would sue him back even more for the stuff that he did to them.:p
 
avatardelta said:
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
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My understanding is that: the Police/FBI operate on the presumption of guilt, and that the Courts/CPR operate on the presumption of innocents. This regardless as to whether one is actually guilty or innocent. Then, with each case, the Police/FBI would take into consideration the probability of a successful conviction if brought before the Courts/CPR. If they didn’t think that they could prove guilt, then they probably would not file it to the Courts.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I don't care much for Kim Dotcom, but at least the New Zealanders are being sensible about this. I wonder if Dotcom will eventually get to the point where he can sue for damages.
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As a kiwi, im pretty happy about the decision. The raid was over the top, and i had a feeling for a while now that they'd have messed up with the warrant, affter light was shed on how the whole thing was handled, including how long it was before the Prime Minister was warned about the raid being planned (he was given very little notice, yet itd been planned for a while)
 
Parmenides said:
RIAA/MPAA haven't been paying up to New Zealand?
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oh they paid up... our copyright law recently introduced means the bill payer is responsible for the account for copyright infringement... 3 complaints and you go infront of a tribunal. but YOU have to prove you didnt download X files (which i believe is impossible). A fully correctly completed complaint form, is deemed PROOF that the offense occured

Like i said, i dont think i can prove i DIDNT download a Justin Bieber song 5 minutes ago, or yesterday, or last week... could you?
 
BloodDonor said:
oh they paid up... our copyright law recently introduced means the bill payer is responsible for the account for copyright infringement... 3 complaints and you go infront of a tribunal. but YOU have to prove you didnt download X files (which i believe is impossible). A fully correctly completed complaint form, is deemed PROOF that the offense occured

Like i said, i dont think i can prove i DIDNT download a Justin Bieber song 5 minutes ago, or yesterday, or last week... could you?
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Ouch! That's pretty awful. >.< I'd probably get rid of all my Wi-Fi stuff and run cables everywhere just to keep people from stealing access.

You could just buy Justin's CDs and bring them along to prove you didn't need to download his music. :D
 
SkribbelKat said:
Ouch! That's pretty awful. >.< I'd probably get rid of all my Wi-Fi stuff and run cables everywhere just to keep people from stealing access.

You could just buy Justin's CDs and bring them along to prove you didn't need to download his music. :D
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lol, buy his CD's? i may be able to get them for 50c sometime to use as a coaster... but, ive yet to meet anyone in IT who can prove that you DIDNT download a file, when you DIDNT download a file... seems to be pretty impossible, especially for Joe Average
 
BettiePage said:
He's not in America LOL

Sides not sure about the NZ legal system. I know in the US your innocent till proven guilty by the State, even if you commit the crime in front of a crowd of people and tackled right on the spot... but hey your still innocent.
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Yes it's innocent till proven guilty here too. We got it off the British legal system the same as the USA did, along with Jury trials.
 
BloodDonor said:
lol, buy his CD's? i may be able to get them for 50c sometime to use as a coaster... but, ive yet to meet anyone in IT who can prove that you DIDNT download a file, when you DIDNT download a file... seems to be pretty impossible, especially for Joe Average
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Yes, why not buy them?

I don't know how anyone can prove that unless the ISP keeps deep enough logs and can be forced to provide evidence. I'm guessing that's pretty unlikely though. :( Meh, it looks like those sinister RIAA/MPAA people are everywhere.
 
Ducman69 said:
Amen to that, but we elect Obamas/MittRomneys and the like to office, not Ron Pauls. So we have no one to blame but ourselves (collectively at least).
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Ron Paul is every bit as much of a disingenuous fuck as the next politician. Don't pretend he's any better than those you condemn because you've yet to take the blinders off when it comes to him.
 
cageymaru said:
...Obviously other countries think a little bit more of their citizens.
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I remember when America was the good guy, not the Facist place we live in now.

(Italian dude Il Duce re-coined the term "Facism" as "Government by corporation...")

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.
Benito Mussolini
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America ia a fucked up place, now.

We have a military base dedicated to torturing people.

We kill people(, even sometimes American citizens), by remote control, every day.

I guess dude should feel lucky they didn't just install a virus on his system/servers, wipe everything, and blow him and his employees away with a drone attack(s).
 
DrBorg said:
America ia a fucked up place, now.
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h1cPF.jpg
 
We tend to give money to charity far more than other countries. We also steal your most educated. Wait, what is this thread about?
 
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