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Thread ID: 132205	2013-05-10 10:19:00	Kim Dot Com	mzee (3324)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1340595	2013-05-13 00:30:00	What law/laws did he break then? Because even the FBI/DOJ don't seem to know... Come on. You are implying that he's squeaky clean. This stuff isnt that hard to find "On 5 January 2012, indictments were filed in Virginia in the United States against Dotcom and other company executives with crimes related to online piracy, including racketeering, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering." www.justice.gov A wee bit of his history.... Quoteth from wikipedia , so allow for some inaccuracies As a teenager, Schmitz acquired a reputation in his native Germany after having claimed to have bypassed the security of NASA, the Pentagon and Citibank under the name of Kimble – based on the character of Dr Richard Kimble in the long-running television programme The Fugitive.[12] He also claimed to have hacked corporate PBX systems in the United States and said he was selling the access codes at $200 a pop, bragging that "every PBX is an open door to me."[29] In 1994, he was arrested by German police for trafficking in stolen phone calling card numbers. He was held in custody for a month, released and arrested again on additional hacking charges shortly afterwards. He was eventually convicted of 11 counts of computer fraud, 10 counts of data espionage, and an assortment of other charges. He received a two-year suspended sentence – because he was under age at the time the crimes were committed.[29] The judge in the case said the court viewed his actions as "youthful foolishness."[30] In 2001, Schmitz bought €375,000 worth of shares of the nearly bankrupt company LetsBuyIt.com and subsequently announced his intention to invest €50 million in the company.[31] The announcement caused the share value of LetsBuyIt.com to jump[32] and Schmitz cashed out, making a profit of €1.5 million. One commentator suggested that Schmitz may have been ignorant of the legal ramifications of what he had done, since insider trading was not made a crime in Germany until 1995,[29] and until 2002 prosecutors also had to prove the accused had criminal intent.[33] Schmitz moved to Thailand to avoid investigation[12] where he was subsequently arrested on behalf of German authorities.[30] In response, he allegedly pretended to kill himself online, posting a message on his website that from now on he wished to be known as "His Royal Highness King Kimble the First, Ruler of the Kimpire".[30] He was deported back to Germany where he pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and, after five months in jail awaiting trial, again received a suspended sentence (of 20 months).[33] After avoiding a prison sentence for a second time, he left Germany and moved to Hong Kong in late 2003.[12] Schmitz found Hong Kong to his liking and registered Kimpire Limited in December 2003, soon after moving there. He set up a network of interlinked companies, including Trendax which was claimed to be an artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund delivering an annual return of at least 25%.[34] However, Trendax was never registered with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and the company was legally not allowed to accept investments or to conduct trades.[18] Dotcom was subsequently convicted for failing to disclose his shareholding to the Securities and Futures Commission, and was fined 8000 Hong Kong dollars.[25]	1101 (13337)
1340596	2013-05-13 02:50:00	I was aware of his indiscretions even before the raid, and no I didn't imply he is "squeaky clean", but the truth of the matter is that if he black-and-white violated a US law then he would have been on the first bus to Virginia to satisfy our extradition treaty.	pablo d (15490)
1340597	2013-05-13 03:55:00	Well he certainly does sound like a dodgy character. The onus is still on the authorities to prove wrong doing before he's officially guilty of something though. The infamous raid on his property was the most over the top ridiculous thing I've ever seen. A plain clothes car and a quiet knock on the door unexpectedly would have done the job, it's not like there was or is any evidence to suggest anyone was in danger. As for everyone knowing what megaupload was for, I didn't even know it existed until it hit the news. An ongoing debate and a problem the copyright holders have been facing is whether people offering these type of services are breaking the law. They've resorted to charges like "facilitating copyright infringement" in some cases because they can't prove any actual infringement by these guys. The Pirate bay has to be the most blatant one around and it's still going after years of legal action against it. It's a bad precedent also, as others have mentioned if the people making the tools criminals use to break the law are held culpable for that use then a lot of companies are in deep trouble. A similar uproar happened way back when dual cassette decks that could copy tape to tape were released. Copyright holders argued their main purpose was for piracy and the manufacturers argued successfully that they had legitimate uses and that any criminal use of the device was not the manufacturers responsibility. I don't see how this is really much different. What gets me a bit annoyed is the real cuplrits are the ones who copy the media in the first place and release it onto torrents or file sharing sites but because tracking them down is apparently too difficult (or maybe it's just too widespread) the authorites go after the sharing sites instead of the originators of the illicit content. I've seen DVD screeners of movies (I won't say where) with the scrolling banner still in the video saying not for distribution or resale, you'd think the studios would be after whoever keeps releasing those.	dugimodo (138)
1340598	2013-05-13 04:23:00	so now he sounds dodgy, but, but :( Lets keep covering his fat kraut arse for him.	Zippity (58)
1340599	2013-05-13 04:40:00	Let me re-phrase It was common knowledge, among those who use such sites, just what Megaupload was mostly used for. Even the most basic basic search of file names on his site would be a giveaway (try this on some of the similar sites still up, its obvious) He would have known what his site was being used for & he made money from it. After the Raid, a few similar sites were shut down by the owners, others made it very hard for there sites to continue to be used for piracy. It still goes on, youtube is full of piracy (wheres the raid) . Similar sites still out there. That doesnt mean dotcom wasnt without guilt . "conspiring to commit copyright infringement" theres your law hes allegedly broken. I have read rumours that this was encouraged through payments to uploaders (can someone confirm/deny?) Lets not pretend megaupload wasnt a site used mainly for piracy. Lets not pretend he didnt know, he's far more savvy than me & I knew what was going on. Lets not pretend he didnt profit from hosting a site used for mainly piracy & did little to stop it If you know you rental house is being used to make P, then you are not without guilt & will loose your house If you knowingly let a drunk drive your car , you can be charged If you know your warehouse is full of stolen goods, you're an accomplice even though you had nothing to do with it.	1101 (13337)
1340600	2013-05-13 04:49:00	KDC was exonerated in Germany by the courts of any wrong doing. That is certainly not my understanding of the situation nor of anyone else with the ability to read and comprehend what is written.	CliveM (6007)
1340601	2013-05-13 05:08:00	Let me re-phrase "conspiring to commit copyright infringement" theres your law hes allegedly broken. I have read rumours that this was encouraged through payments to uploaders (can someone confirm/deny?) Lets not pretend megaupload wasnt a site used mainly for piracy. Lets not pretend he didnt know, he's far more savvy than me & I knew what was going on. Lets not pretend he didnt profit from hosting a site used for mainly piracy & did little to stop it If you know you rental house is being used to make P, then you are not without guilt & will loose your house If you knowingly let a drunk drive your car , you can be charged If you know your warehouse is full of stolen goods, you're an accomplice even though you had nothing to do with it. Secondary copyright infringement (i.e. allowing Megaupload to be used for infringing copyright) is not a criminal offence in the US. And I don't think you can qualify the "a site used mainly for piracy" statement.	pablo d (15490)
1340602	2013-05-13 05:53:00	Yeah they have the DMCA to cover their ass from that kind of things. Same as YouTube.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1340603	2013-05-13 07:35:00	Oh come on. Everyone knew exactly what Megaupload was used for. He knew exactly what it was used for. I knew exactly what it was used for. We do need to stop acting like hes the peoples savior or some sort of Robin Hood. Was there a massive over-reaction by gung-ho NZ authorities : yes . But that still doesnt make his dealings OK. If you dont actually do the piracy but have a site that is part of the piracy process, then you are just as guilty . Sort of like driving the getaway car to a bank robbery. But as mentioned, youtube is rife with piracy, movies, TV programs, Full Music albums. Cant see anyone gunning after Google with the same vigor, and they have done far worse (if I tried what google has done I'd be arrested) Don't waste your time bud. This is what we NZ's are, we abhor violence, racism and crime unless we benefit from it and KDC has loads of money and NZ benefits from it. Here: www.stuff.co.nz Of course we can argue Jesus died of cold and not on a cross... if he ever died of something.	Sanco (683)
1340604	2013-05-14 20:30:00	If you think being spied on at home, being invaded like an actual criminal in the league of terrorists, locked up while the 'authorities' try find something on you so they can take you to another country and then try to lock you up is ok, then you truly are an ass clown. Do you criminalize a postie who delivers a package that may contain something illegal that Joe Bloggs posted, or do you find Joe Bloggs? Because car bombers use cars, do you criminalize the car manufacture? Even if it's a ford?? Whether you like the guy (KDC) or not, some real dumb stuff has happened, our guv needs a good kick in the goolies, if they had any, and the U.S needs to lay off the straws they are clutching.	rob_on_guitar (4196)
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