Kim Dotcom Demands Access To Seized Property To Defend Himself 236
redletterdave writes "On Wednesday, Kim 'Dotcom' Schmitz and his legal team visited the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand, to demand access to the data stored on his computers and hard drives that were confiscated during the police raid, and also requested a judicial review of the general legality of the search warrants police used to raid his mansion. Dotcom's lawyer, Paul Davison, argued that his client needs the data for a few reasons: To mount a 'proper defense' case, to fight possibly being extradited to the U.S., and also to show that 'excessive police action' was used during the raid. Dotcom could prove this in court because the entire raid was recorded by CCTV data, which is stored on Dotcom's confiscated computers. Even though the FBI demanded Dotcom turn over the passwords for Megaupload's encrypted data, he refuses to give up any passwords until he can regain access to his seized property."
Re:How does it taste? (Score:5, Informative)
When you steal 600 million you can give back 100 mill as a settlement and keep the rest.
Re:How does it taste? (Score:2, Informative)
Wikipedia:
"In January 2002, Dotcom was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, deported to Germany, and subsequently sentenced to a probationary sentence of one year and eight months, and a €100,000 fine, the largest insider-trading case in Germany at the time.[30] Dotcom also pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and received a two-year probation sentence"
Re:NZ Police has handed them over already (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Hypocritical much? (Score:5, Informative)
Usually people making copies for criminal investigations have immunity from that sort of copyright claim.
In US law it's worded like this:
Law Enforcement, Intelligence, and Other Government Activities. â" This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, information security, or intelligence activity of an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or a person acting pursuant to a contract with the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State. For purposes of this subsection, the term âoeinformation securityâ means activities carried out in order to identify and address the vulnerabilities of a government computer, computer system, or computer network.
Re:How does it taste? (Score:2, Informative)
Nope. Before:
"In 1998, Dotcom was convicted of computer fraud and handling stolen goods, and sentenced to two years of prison on probation.[20] According to a report by News & Record, he had traded stolen calling card numbers he bought from hackers in the United States.[21] "
He still likes easy money...
Re:Steve Jackson Games all over again (Score:3, Informative)
*If you can afford to lawyer up and get your shit back. Otherwise they'll gladly keep it until you drag them to court.
Re:Hypocritical much? (Score:5, Informative)
"High Court chief judge Helen Winkelmann has told the Attorney-General's lawyer, Mike Ruffin, he has until Monday to explain why FBI agents were allowed to take 135 cloned computer and data storage devices to the United States."
that's from an article dated 24th of may(today). it seems indeed the action wasn't legal.