SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Guardian writes:
The high court in New Zealand has ruled Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the United States to face a multitude of charges including money laundering and copyright breaches. US authorities had appealed for Dotcom's extradition to face 13 charges including allegations of conspiracy to commit racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud.
The German national, who has permanent residency in New Zealand, faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted in the US of piracy, which authorities say cost copyright owners hundreds of millions of dollars. It is nearly five years since Dotcom, a self-described "internet freedom fighter", was arrested in a dramatic police raid on his mansion near Auckland after the FBI shut down Megaupload's servers.
The ruling is confusing because the charges which allow for extradition are different between NZ and the US. From CNN:
Although the four men are accused by U.S. authorities of profiting from copyright infringement through the file-sharing website, the High Court acknowledged Monday that there's no relevant criminal offense under New Zealand's copyright law.
Instead, the court found that Dotcom and his associates were eligible for extradition under conspiracy to defraud and potentially other serious crimes.
Also at pcworld.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:27AM
This seems a very weird ruling. Copyright infringement is not criminal in New Zealand. How can systematically doing something non-criminal suddenly become criminal fraud? This seems to be a huge stretch by the court, and I have trouble imagining this holding up on the next level of appeal.
That said, Kim Dotcom is a jerk. He's depending on New Zealand to defend him, and yet he keep criticizing the country, its laws, its courts and its government. Granting the judges the best intentions in the world, Dotcom's behavior will still have a subliminal effect. Being human, they may see extradition as a glorious opportunity to be rid of the idiot. If Dotcom had a brain, he would wear a muzzle.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @10:27AM
> That said, Kim Dotcom is a jerk. He's depending on New Zealand to defend him, and yet he keep criticizing the country, its laws, its courts and its government.
That's not being a jerk. That's being real, unless you are living in the land of elves and faeries.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @10:38AM
unless you are living in the land of elves and faeries.
Leave the Irish out of this.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @04:10PM
"in the land of elves and faeries."
Their government sucks, too!!! Down with height and flight privilege! Dwarf lives matter!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 21 2017, @06:06PM
"Gollum!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by i286NiNJA on Tuesday February 21 2017, @05:34PM
Kim is a jerk. The reason they're riding him like this is because he's totally legitimately a criminal and they wanna set precedent.
Stop supporting kim and home that he gets hemmed up for his endless scams before they can successfully nab him on some piracy stuff.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Tuesday February 21 2017, @07:38PM
kim is a jerk...
you don't say, unlike, um, gee, i don't know, sayyyy, YOU ! ? ! ?
grow up (or shut up, bot), being a jerk is not a crime, per se, percy, and if'ns it 'twere, 90% of us would be in jail... (may be low-balling there)
beyond numerous legalistic issues (as many have mentioned, NZ has no criminal copyright angle, so they do some legal ledgerdesmain (sp?) and -presto-chango- fraud, money laundering, etc), mega/dotcom actually responded to all DMCA takedown requests...
now, i am *guessing* he and his company droids were not unaware of megaupload being used for (ooo, this is scary, kidz, avert your gaze !) piracy , but he is 'renting' lockers, not (supposedly) peeking in them, so what would he know ? ? ?
is ATT going to be taken down since they must *know* (even though they *should* not) that filthy pirate users are downloading their filthy pirate files all the time... why aren't ATT (verizon, sprint, etc) execs in chains, MAFIAA ? ? ?
THEY are the ULTIMATE pirate facilitators, and you KNOW we KNOW that they KNOW that is TRUE ! ! !
OFF with their heads ! ! !
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Tuesday February 21 2017, @12:14PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @11:47PM
As far as I know, being a jerk is not a crimimal offense in either the United States or New Zealand, and is not grounds for extradition.