Megaupload.com taken down by US government

[harrybarracuda]

Probably spent ages putting it up there first.

[PlanK]

The world's digital media has got excited over the latest visitor to Kim Dotcom's Auckland home - Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Dotcom, who is wanted by the United States over alleged criminal copyright violations, money laundering and wire fraud, is on bail at his luxury Albany mansion ahead of extradition hearings.
Wozniak was in New Zealand last month but it was only realised he visited Dotcom when the large German tweeted it, along with a photo.
Dotcom said Wozniak was a "great guy & supporter" who was helping users of MegaUpload get their files back.
Tech website CNET, who along with others was reporting the Wozniak-Dotcom meeting, said previous endorsements had come from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas.
Torrentfreak published the photo and commented that for a man who had his assets seized and his business shut down, Dotcom was doing alright for himself.
It said Dotcom was about to start MegaBox, a cloud-based music service he was working on before MegaUpload was shut down.
"In an unlikely twist, Dotcom's efforts have attracted the attention of Wozniak, who flew all the way to New Zealand to visit the MegaUpload founder," Torrentfreak reported.
"Dotcom, who was on house arrest at the time, told TorrentFreak that Wozniak was intent on helping MegaUpload users get their seized files back from the US Government."

[Little Chuchok]

Dotcom searches illegal: Judge

5:48 PM Thursday Jun 28, 2012

The High Court has ruled the police raid on internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom's Auckland mansion was illegal and the removal from New Zealand of cloned copies of hard drives seized was unlawful.

Justice Helen Winkelmann found the warrants used did not adequately describe the offences to which they were related.

"Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid.''

A spokesman for Dotcom's attorneys said Dotcom and his co-defendants were pleased.

"They are very happy with Justice Winkelmann's decision," wrote a representative for Simpson Grierson. "We are considering our clients' remedies as a result of the decision that the search warrants were unlawful and that the FBI sending the clones to the USA was also unlawful."

Police said they were considering the judgement and are in discussions with Crown Law to determine what further action might be required.

They would not make any comment until that process was complete.

Justice Winkelmann's judgement released a short time ago found the warrants were far too wide in terms of the scope of the search and the amount of items they gave police authority to seize.

"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 authorisation. The warrants could not authorise seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid.''

The cloning of Dotcom's hard drives by the FBI, who took the copied disks back to the US was also ruled as invalid because Dotcom had never given consent.

The court ordered an independent lawyer to review everything seized in the raid to determine what is relevant to the investigation and what is not.

Relevant material is to be released to US authorities and everything else is be returned to Dotcom "forthwith''.

The decision followed a hearing at the High Court in Auckland last month.

Kim Dotcom cried in court as his lawyer spoke of how he was ``ripped from his family'' during a dawn raid by police at the request of US authorities.

Dotcom, who was arrested alongside three associates, had argued for copies of the data on 135 computers and hard drives seized when police raided his $30 million home in Coatesville.

His lawyer Paul Davison QC said his client's rights had been "subverted'' after cloned copies of the hard drives were taken overseas by the FBI without his lawyers knowing.

Mr Davison told the court he wrote to Crown lawyers in February to ask that none of the data from Dotcom's computers leave New Zealand.

Mr Davison said Crown lawyers responded, saying: "The evidence is required in its original form to be sent to the US. That has not happened and will not happen without prior warning.''

He said he was told the FBI had been in New Zealand and made clones of the data on the computers and one copy would be made available to him.


Mr Davison said he had yet to receive that copy and was only told today that copies had been sent to the US.

"There has been no approval for removal.''

Mr Davison also said there had been an "excess of authority''.

"Here is an example of what I would submit at the most moderate was high-handed and at the worst misleading.''

He said the process was "off the rails'' and his client's rights had been "subverted''.

Dotcom wiped tears from his eyes and left court as Mr Davison said his client had been "ripped from his family'' and was now before the court asking for the legitimacy of the police actions to be looked at.

Justice Helen Winkelmann said she wanted an affidavit from Crown lawyers that would clarify whether or not the Solicitor General gave police permission to allow copies of the data on Dotcom's computers to be taken to the US.

Crown lawyer Mike Ruffin said the original police search warrant, signed by a district court judge, made it clear that the computers and hard drives would be taken to the US.

He said a proposal by Dotcom to have a judicial review of the information was "not practical because of the volume of the data''.

Mr Ruffin said copies of Dotcom's computers and hard drives could not be handed over because investigators were not yet able to determine what is relevant to the case and what is not.

Dotcom faces an extradition hearing in August which will determine whether or not he is to fly to the US to face charges including copyright infringement and wire fraud relating to the file-sharing website Megaupload.

Prosecutors allege a "mega conspiracy''; Dotcom denies the charges and says his website was legitimate.

[PlanK]

Megaupload founder and piracy accused Kim Dotcom has tweeted plans to launch a new online music venture.
The 38-year-old has also hinted at a sequel to the file-sharing site that led to online piracy charges.
Dotcom's original plans for the music service, called Megabox, were disrupted in January when police raided his Coatsville mansion and arrested him as part of a major US investigation into alleged copyright theft.
Dotcom, who is free on bail, said on Twitter that Megabox was back on track and would launch in 2012.
"Yes... Megabox is also coming this year," he tweeted to 110,000 followers.
In an earlier tweet he said: "I know what you are all waiting for. It's coming. This year. Promise. Bigger. Better. Faster. 100% Safe & Unstoppable."
Dotcom didn't specify a launch date or details of how the planned
Megabox music service would work.
He's due to face a court hearing in March next year which will determine if US authorities can extradite him and three co-accused on charges of money laundering, racketeering, fraud and online copyright theft.
He faces up to 20 years jail if convicted in a US court.
No bail conditions limited online activities or stopped him from launching new internet ventures, but any Megaupload revamp is likely to have stringent copyright protections to prevent legal issues.

[PlanK]

The Kim Dotcom extradition case could collapse after government spies were found to have illegally bugged the Megaupload millionaire.
The Government Communications Security Bureau unlawfully snooped on Dotcom and co-accused Bram van der Kolk, it emerged yesterday.
Prime Minister John Key said he was "quite shocked" by the revelation and has ordered a probe by an independent watchdog. But he has refused to take responsibility for what he said was "a mistake, an error".
It appears the blunder occurred because security services were unaware German Dotcom and his co-accused were New Zealand residents. The GCSB is only permitted to monitor foreign intelligence.
It throws into question the attempt to extradite Dotcom to the United States on anti-piracy charges.
No-one has been stood down over the mistake, which is understood to have happened on the watch of former director Sir Bruce Ferguson. Mystery surrounds who ordered the covert bugging.
Dotcom responded to the revelations by tweeting: "I'm now a real life James Bond villain in a real life political copyright thriller scripted by Hollywood and the White House." He called the GCSB "the NZ equivalent of the CIA".
Dotcom's US lawyer, Ira Rothken, yesterday said he would not pre-judge the investigation by Inspector-General Paul Neazor. But he was "interested" to know if US authorities were involved.