The final moves of the Kim Dotcom chess match is now on with the case in front of the Supreme Court.
If he fails here it’s Andrew Little’s call at the end of the day.
I have known Kim since his arrest so am passionate about this case and the ramifications and reverberations it actually represents.
Kim was illegally spied upon by the GCSB, he was set up by NZ immigration services so that he would enter the country in the first place, our security apparatus slavishly followed US agencies with a live feed to the NSA during the raid, the entire event was politically motivated after Corporate Hollywood threatened to with-hold donations to Obama’s Presidential bid if they didn’t make a symbolic gesture against internet piracy, and the case against him is so weak it looks like incredible over reach by our authorities and US authorities…
The A-list conspiracy: Did Hollywood tell Obama to take down internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom?
One of Dotcom’s lawyers, Robert Amsterdam, told The Independent that the criminal case against his client, which alleges that Dotcom used Megaupload as a front for a criminal enterprise that willingly shared and profited from millions of dollars’ worth of copyrighted material, is based on erroneous use of civil law and is rooted in the relationship between the upper reaches of the Democratic party and the film-making industry.
In particular, Amsterdam cites the friendship between Vice President Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and a former Senator.
According to Amsterdam and his co-counsel, the US Department of Justice is going to great lengths to prosecute, and thus appease the Hollywood lobby, using racketeering laws to bolster a weak case built on non-existent civil theories of ‘secondary copyright infringement’.
“Here you have, if you excuse me, computer geeks, and they’re being treated as if they’re the heads of the Gambino crime family,” he says.
Expanding on a white paper recently released via Dotcom’s website, Amsterdam points out that the raid on Dotcom’s mansion came on the same day as the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill designed to tackle online piracy, was shelved in US Congress after outcry from online giants such as Google and Facebook, which claimed it would curb online freedoms.
The day before, Dodd made comments implying that the MPAA would stop supporting President Obama if something was not done to tackle copyright infringement.
Dodd, a man Biden has described as one of his best friends, had told FOX News: “Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a cheque for you when you think your job is at risk, and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”
For Hollywood, a considerable amount of money is certainly at stake. The MPAA estimates that online piracy costs the US film industry around $20.5bn per year. Though critics say the true figure is in the hundreds of millions, it is still a significant loss for an industry that is already facing other funding pressures after the 2008 financial crisis.
Amsterdam argues that shutting down Megaupload, and the raid on Dotcom, was a “Plan B” to pushing through SOPA.
“I think, when the President of the Motion Picture Association, on 19 January says that if people basically don’t help him out, he’s not writing any cheques, and then on the 20 January [authorities] attack my client… and throw him in jail, there’s at least an inference there that at least requires an explanation.”
Amsterdam also points to White House logs, which show President Obama hosted Chris Dodd for a two-and-a-half hour private lunch meeting in the Oval Office on 9 December 2011, six weeks before the raid.
Though some would call this conspiratorial, and sceptics will point to the many other issues a former Senator and Hollywood bigwig would discuss at the White House, Amsterdam argues that Megaupload and its founder are likely to have cropped up.
“Starting off from all of the legal grounds that exist and moving to the political nature of the attack [we must ask] ‘was this discussed in the White House?’ and ‘who said what to whom?’,” he says.
Hollywood’s long-standing financial support for the Democrats is no secret. Amsterdam describes the relationship thus: “The MPAA is to the Democrats what the NRA is to the Republicans.”
One glitzy, celebrity-packed dinner organised by George Clooney raised $15m for Obama’s re-election campaign last year.
…this case has been an abomination of legal process, jurisdiction and injustice. You might not like Kim Dotcom, but the manner in which his rights have been breached and 70 odd armed paramilitary cops broke into his home and terrorised him and his family is as unacceptable as the abuses of power used in court against him.
This is not what our justice system should be used for, we are not a puppet for US interests, we should be a sovereign state with our own laws and judicial system that is beyond influence by America and their corporate overlords.
The Supreme Court must ask itself if US attempts to cement their jurisdiction into cyberspace trumps NZ law. This is a matter that cuts to the very heart of who ultimately rules Aotearoa.
NZ law or American interests.
Kim has exposed mass surveillance lies and mass surveillance interests in his fight against America and John Key, he has done NZ an immense service in highlighting the threat of the deep state. He has earned our protection from America, we should refuse point blank in handing him over.
You are 1000% correct. NZ justice and government should hang their heads in shame.
It is an absolute breach of justice for a crime that is not even a criminal breach in NZ aka copywrite infringement has led to this absolute witch hunt.
If the US firms were so worried they could have used their own money and prosecuted Dotcom themselves, but they knew it was probably not going to work and they could be left with huge court costs themselves so they called in their political favours from their favourite pet politicians to ensure that the playing field was heavily skewed to pervert the course of justice and work outside of accepted norms. So many areas of illegal activity in this, the case should have been dropped years ago because it is clearly politically motivated and the recipients of this witch hunt are pulling the strings.
Illegal searches that are piped into the US to make individual donors more money sounds like some sort of corrupt politically motivated dictatorship, but sadly that is the state of NZ justice and our governments grovelling to any country (both China and the US) with human rights breaches and decency out of the window and making our laws bent, (and at the same time international ones) to fit their profit driven model of politics.
Weird too when pedophiles and drug smugglers get compassion here but apparently someone who has real skills and can actually make jobs and money in NZ in a non polluting way, are prosecuted for years and every string pulled to try to reel them in.
There are so many breaches of justice here, including that Sony refused to join the case because there was no case.
You Tube had already won a case under similar claims so if Dot com gets extradited it seems that US companies are allowed to have file sharing sites that breach copywrite, and funnel money overseas or whatever most of them do to keep their profits from being taxed in the US, but not companies that are not US owned and run???
Scary stuff and a lot more at stake for human rights and US being able to witch hunt on command around the world on behalf of private interests that donate to them, than Dotcom!
Seconded. 1000% correct.
+100 SAVENZ…well said !
Yeah Brill , SAVENZ !
A lot of memories relating to Mr Dotcom alright. And if the bloody Labour Party had not put all sorts of resources into Te Tai Tokerau, that other Labour electorate candidates were starved of, Hone and Laila Harre would likely have made it as MPs and recent political history would have been different. All the parliamentary parties actually, united against Internet Mana.
I still remember the apology from Key to Kim, and the famous “why are you turning red Prime Minister” gibe.
Still despite such “what ifs” State snooping was exposed, and Keys duplicity with Warners etc. will go down in ignominy. Future historians will be going WTF were New Zealanders thinking? over this corrupt chapter in NZ political history.
All the best to Kim in this, but sadly the NZ judicial system which I had thought was reasonably independent, has been obviously bent in his case. Orders from above must have prevailed with some of the decisions made against him. Andrew Little seems in thrall to the yanks at the moment so don’t expect any reprieve there either.
+100 re “if the bloody Labour Party had not put all sorts of resources into Te Tai Tokerau, that other Labour electorate candidates were starved of, Hone and Laila Harre would likely have made it as MPs and recent political history would have been different. All the parliamentary parties actually, united against Internet Mana.”
…the ganging up on Internet Mana was a disgrace …particularly by the so called Left….this was a genuine Left Party they ganged up on!
( on this issue the Greens abstained to their credit)
Not true, Russell Norman was livid with rage
…interesting ( say no more)
This is yet another demonstration of how lame majority of nz society has become over my 60+ years. So sad. key abuse of power and the shameless actions of judicial system was bad enough but it was the fat shaming and tall poppy attitude of many that spoke volumes of our culture. my god key even said Kim. only started internet party to try and get off charges ….that if he did nothing why not go to US !! And the vile slaves cry “yeah fat German how dare u exercise one of the tenets of a democracy and establish a political party !! We now betray comrades so they will keep us wafer
We need to keep DOTCOM here in NZ…he is brilliant….I would like to see him compete against Google with his concepts of privacy and webportal searches ( I would also like to see the innovative brilliant Internet/ Mana Party revived ….Laila Harre was brilliant and Hone Harawira)
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-11/google-tricks-how-supercharge-your-searches-and-become-instant-power-user
(Comment: “Considering how useless searchengines have become, i think we need webportals for the first time.. yeah dotcom tred to convince everyone webportal pages would be worth billions… now that promise might start looking almost true” )
…another reason why we need Dotcom and his anti censorship alternatives:
YouTube owned by Google is indulging in political censorship and crawling up to power…a threat to democracy
‘CrossTalk on online censorship: The raging purge?’
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/461654-youtube-online-censorship-freedom/
“Recent high-level controversies surrounding YouTube clearly demonstrate the online universe and freedom of speech are not on the same page. The platform says it wants to ban extremism. It is probably fair to say that most would agree on this. The problem is how YouTube defines this concept.”
CrossTalking with Mitch Feierstein, Julio Rivera, and Jennifer Breedon.”
(We NEED New Zealander Mr. DOTCOM)
Let us all remember under which regime this travesty and abomination occurred – the Key government.
This act of civil disorder was signed off at the top – JK himself!
Where is he now? Not held to account, that we are certain of.
I certainly hope the Supreme Court uses its powers correctly and puts a stop to the madness.
Failing that, Andrew Little needs to cut the cord on this ridiculous three-ring circus and allow Kim to get on with his life as a proud citizen of NZ, which he has always been.
His presence here is welcomed – he has done nothing but good for this country.
I don’t understand how KD can be extradited when the case against him is a CIVIL case, not a criminal one
I could understand if the charges against him were for drugs, human trafficking, murder, or being a Republican voter
But so called copyright infringement?? Thats a civil matter according to my limited knowledge of legal issues
It should be up to US plaintiffs to bring a case against KD in our our courts, under our own laws
Otherwise whats next, extradition of activists for parking infringements??
exactly MJOLNIR, the charges were bogus as copywriter was not a criminal charge and the other stuff added retrospectively to make something stick should be thrown out, because the police used illegal means to mount the 70 armed invaders search in the first place and therefore allowing the case to go ahead is saying that illegal fishing trips in NZ is ok. Who knows what sort of evidence could be tampered with (Arthur Allen Thomas),as well as using illegal methods to catch so called criminals sounds kinda illegal!
The FBI put up a bunch of bogus “money laundering” charges for exactly that reason (i.e. those would be reason for extradition). Needless to say, they presented no evidence whatsoever for these accusations, claiming that doing so would potentially diminish their case in the US. Because they presented no actual evidence, Kim can’t defend against it. This is what a Kangaroo court looks like. The New Zealand Justice Minister should hang his head in deep, deep shame.
Hmmm… perhaps the FBI should do an investigation into the REAL tax haven built up under Johnny Queasy Keysey… something that even the IMF sternly mentioned directly to his (Keys) govt.
Better yet, – perhaps Hollywood and the Motion Picture Industry crowd could make an action film about a corrupt politician and Prime Minister of a small country nestled in the South Pacific and his surreptitious encouraging of the development of a South Seas Tax Haven…
I’m sure it would be a World wide Blockbuster .
They could get someone like Tom Hanks to portray the PM , which would release him from being forever type cast as Forrest Gump. I’m sure Mr Hanks would relish the chance.
So there you go, Hollywood, – do something useful for a change and make a buck out of a story based on a real situation and a true person – our former PM.
And leave Kim Dotcom alone .
“If he fails here it’s Andrew Little’s call at the end of the day.”
Oh gawd: I don’t any longer have faith that Andrew Little will have an outbreak of courage over this issue, and refuse to extradite Dotcom. So. Here’s hoping that the Supreme Court finds for him.
If Biden was involved in this, it is a dead set certainty that all sorts of corrupt practices were going on.
Old Joe would have been clipping the Hollywood tickets every way he could, the only question is how many starlets were made available to him along with the brown paper bags.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived is an article from “The Hill” about Joe and his son’s adventures in the Ukraine.
The story goes that Oblamblam; king of the due process-free execution of alleged murderers and their entire families, appointed Biden as the go-to person for Whitehouse contact with Ukraine.
Next thing Biden’s son Hunter has hung out his louche ivy league lawyer shingle in Kiev using his Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, front company.
Rosemont took on a bunch of corporate clients, one of which was called Burisma Holdings. Burisma even put young Hunter Biden on their board for which he picked up a lazy US$166,000 a month.
Ukrainians became upset at the corruption that is inevitably associated with crony capitalism, so then Prez Poroshenko appointed a prosecutor to run an independent anti-corruption investigation unit.
Very quickly it became apparent that Burisma was at the center of many of the corruption allegations.
Next think Biden senior, as US vice president/Ukraine pointman (plus father of the bagman) is in Kiev leaning on Poroshenko by telling him that this prosecutor must be dismissed before DC can approve a US $1 Billion loan guarantee. The Ukraine government tried to hold out because they knew their future with the voters depended on getting a handle on the rampant corruption which had taken off post USSR.
Eventually they caved in, Hunter scuttled away, and then the US sent in shit stirrers and snipers ( see https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/06/02/snipers-at-ukraines-maidan-confess-to-shooting-both-sides-in-italian-report-ignored-by-msm/ ) to crank up a color revolution/fascist coup, allegedly in order to get rid of corruption heheh.
Of course Ukrainian corruption has got so much worse since the US put the nazis into power.
Anyway the facts of Biden’s malfeasance are outlined in the Hill story linked to above. (first link)
ps if Biden jags the nomination, Trump will do him over even worse than Clinton – if the dems are serious about winning they have to ditch the corrupt old hacks.
DEBSISDEAD -yep Joe Biden in hock to his Hollywood puppet masters… then they wonder why ‘Drain the Swamp’ resonated with so many people in the US.
When the US starts to micro manage little countries to hunt someone down by using the NZ police and use an illegal warrant to do it, on behalf of some Hollywood executives who are too cheap to pay their own lawyers, on top of no US action on Hollywoods many tax avoidances and growing influence and monopoly behaviour around the world, as well as income avoidance to their directors and probably many others like actors (aka Peter Jackson lawsuit), something is very wrong and ordinary people know it!
there needs to be a real justice accounting here… the Labour Coalition needs to do it and expose the John Key National government
…least we forget!
Don’t bother reading the mainstream media sum ups on Dotcom. Funny they forget to mention all the illegal behaviour of authorities from the police to FBI, to NZ government to GCSB that has created this case out of thin air or looked at the parallels of when rich steal from the poor it is not an offence that justice pursues but when the rich steal from someone richer or more powerful, then it’s a whole different story.
This is a case where one of the most powerful and richest companies in the world Google via You Tube is allowed to file share but someone who is deemed to be non US and an easy target is pursued with government illegal means for years (with NZ taxpayers fitting the bill) for a simple copywriter case that Hollywood would be taking themselves but know without illegal from the below agencies, means they would lose.
The case so far from wiki..
Illegal warrants knowingly used, not allowing the seizure to be challenged and illegal extradited data to the US
“On 28 June 2012, High Court of New Zealand Justice Helen Winkelmann found that the warrants used to seize Dotcom’s property were illegal because they were too broad. “These categories of items were defined in such a way that they would inevitably capture within them both relevant and irrelevant material. The police acted on this authorization. The warrants could not authorize seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid.”[61] News emerged later that the Crown knew it was using the wrong order while the raid was in progress and Dotcom should have been given the chance to challenge the seizure.[62] The Crown also revealed that police had handed seized hard drives to FBI staff who copied them at the police crime lab in South Auckland and sent the copies back to the US.[62] Justice Winkelmann ruled that the handing of hard drives seized by New Zealand police in the raid to the FBI was in breach of extradition legislation, and the FBI’s removal from New Zealand of cloned data from them was unlawful.[61]”
Illegal spying on Dotcom
“On 24 September 2012, Mr Key revealed that, at the request of the police, the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) had spied on Dotcom, illegally helping police to locate him and monitor his communications in the weeks prior to the raid on his house.[76] The GCSB are not allowed to spy on New Zealand citizens or permanent residents; Dotcom, though not a citizen, had been granted permanent residency. Three days later, the Prime Minister John Key apologized for the illegal spying. “I apologize to Mr Dotcom. I apologize to New Zealanders because every New Zealander… is entitled to be protected from the law when it comes to the GCSB Government Communications Security Bureau, and we failed to provide that appropriate protection for him.”[77]”
In December 2012, Chief High Court judge Helen Winkelmann ordered the GCSB to “confirm all entities” to which it gave information sourced through its illegal spying. This opened the door for Dotcom to sue for damages – against the spy agency and the police.[78] The Crown appealed but in March 2013, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision.[79][80]
Damages for unreasonable use of force.
In November 2017, Dotcom and his former wife Mona accepted a confidential settlement from the police over the raid. The settlement came after a damages claim was filed with the High Court over the “unreasonable” use of force when the anti-terrorism Special Tactics Group raided his mansion in January 2012. Settlements have already been reached between police and Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann who were also arrested. The New Zealand Herald reported that their settlements were six-figure sums and “it is likely Dotcom would seek more as the main target in the raid”. Commenting on the settlement, Dotcom said: “We were shocked at the uncharacteristic handling of my arrest for a non-violent Internet copyright infringement charge brought by the United States, which is not even a crime in New Zealand”.[70]
It would be nice to see those responsible for these illegal activities (i.e the Police, GCSB, FBI, NZ Government (at that time), John Key et al) actually held PERSONALLY responsible for their law-breaking and morally corrupt actions. The trouble as it stands, and is evident with Kim and the others receiving settlements is that this money has come from NZ taxpayers. It has not affected the above mentioned law-breakers. They should either be doing time, or the money should come from their own pockets. They move on with their lives and their wealth with no penalty at all. Meanwhile you and I pick up the tab for their incompetence, arrogance and criminal behavior.
The people who should be paying for the legal costs are Hollywood, but they instead pay off politicians in the US (hence why it was live streamed to the FBI) to make ordinary people like Kiwis, pay their costs for them instead of pay our teachers, and our government seems only too willing to break our own laws and do illegal activity to bring a case!
Hollywood even rip off their own people, actors and directors and anyone else affected by their practises which enriches them while underpaying others, aka Peter Jackson
“In his lawsuit, Mr. Jackson claimed that New Line committed fraud in its handling of the revenues generated by 2001’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” and as a result, he was underpaid by millions.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/business/media/the-lawsuit-of-the-rings.html
I’d like to see 70 armed defenders going into the Hollywood studios with ‘illegal’ open search warrants to uncover more of the Hollywood tax avoidance and extradition to bring a case to pay their taxes to many governments from overseas and anyone else they ripped off to make themselves richer and above the law.
Media and entertainment giant Walt Disney (DIS) didn’t need to wish upon a star to reduce its tax burden, thanks to an aggressive yet legal tax-avoidance strategy based in the landlocked European country of Luxembourg
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/06/13/open-letter-to-kim-dotcom-2/
Twenty Century Fox
“In fact, News Corp. operates a total of 136 subsidiaries in nations identified as international tax havens by the Government Accountability Office — jurisdictions where wealthy Americans and corporations can stash money to avoid paying U.S. taxes. One of those subsidiaries, Twentieth Century Fox Films, S.A., is located in Panama.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rupert-murdoch-corporate-tax-panama-trade-deal_n_1018600
Warner Bros. Faces Tax Fraud Investigation for ‘Sully’ Airplane Costs (EXCLUSIVE)
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/warner-bros-faces-tax-fraud-131542374.html
And don’t forget The 2010 law, passed at Warner Bros.’ insistence, bars unionization of the NZ film industry.
Repealed now, but it seems that the NZ government is very happy to piss on the little guy to suck up to Hollywood…. and probably only repealed because Labour has links to the unions, not because it was the right thing to do.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/new-zealand-poised-repeal-anti-union-hobbit-law-1052848
I think its about time The Standard covered this again in depth as well… why the silence?
I’m sure there’s a few analytical and ethical writers with something to say about this appalling state of affairs that happened under John Keys tenure over there , so lets have it !
Dont always agree with you Martyn but you have hit the nail squarely on the head in my opinion. No we should not be handing our people over to the US.
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