
NZ court rules Megaupload warrant legal, dealing blow to Dotcom - petethomas
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/19/us-newzealand-megaupload-warrant-idUSBREA1I02F20140219
======
icu
There are a lot of political things going on in the background with this case.

1\. New Zealand (NZ) desperately wants closer economic ties to the US but is
constrained by public sentiment

Because New Zealand is primarily a low value added commodity export based
economy the NZ Government and NZ businesses highly covet lower trade barriers.
However NZ's anti-nuke stance and lack of military spend means that NZ will
never get free trade agreement. Therefore anything else the NZ Government can
do to appease US counterparts wins NZ small favors. This is why NZ is very
much in bed with US spooks and basically has a US intelligence facility in
Waihopai.

I firmly believe that this was a primary reason for the NZ Government's
willingness to let their US Government counterparts to run the operation on
Kim Dotcom.

2\. NZ has been trying to woo the US film and TV industry

The NZ Government has been doing its best to entice the US film and TV
industry even before the success of The Lord of the Rings (circa 1995 with
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys).

I'm of the opinion that the heavy handed nature of the raid on Kim Dotcom was
to send a message the NZ Government takes the rights of film and TV studios
seriously.

That said, I think the NZ Government didn't properly gauge how far public
opinion would swing against them for being so heavy handed against Kim Dotcom.
Kiwis love an underdog and when the local TV media showed video footage of the
raid on Kim Dotcom complete with helicopters and SUVs it certainly looked like
an absurd Hollywood action movie. Also the use of the Government
Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) to spy on Kim Dotcom unnerved many
Kiwi's sense of privacy.

After this recent ruling I'm not sure how this whole saga will play out. I
imagine that with with his personal freedom at stake, Kim Dotcom will keep
pressing his case through to the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

~~~
omh
_However NZ 's anti-nuke stance and lack of military spend means that NZ will
never get free trade agreement_

Is this an official policy? Why is nuclear such a big deal, and how does the
military factor in? Is it just that those are the major things the US would
like to sell to NZ?

~~~
xlevus
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%27s_nuclear-
free_z...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%27s_nuclear-free_zone)

Yep, it's the law. Much to the chagrin of the US.

Their Military has no Nuclear weapons, and the population is pretty strongly
opposed to anything nuclear, instead favouring 'green' technology.

I'd go as far to say, as it's now so entrenched in NZ's identity, if any
government that tried to repeal it, it would be an act of political suicide.

~~~
omh
Sorry, my reply was badly phrased. I understand NZ's anti-nuclear stance, I
was just wondering why the US think that's so important for free trade
agreements.

~~~
icu
Hi, I just answered your question above.

------
DerpDerpDerp
> However, the appeals court upheld an earlier ruling that prosecutors had not
> been authorized to send clones of seized electronic evidence to the United
> States.

> A New Zealand government enquiry in 2012 found the nation's secretive spy
> agency acted unlawfully by giving information on Dotcom to U.S. authorities
> before the 2012 raid.

Does anyone know if anybody actually got in trouble for this?

~~~
rangibaby
Of course not, Kim Dotcom is the criminal here! How dare you imply that the
law applies to everyone! ;-)

------
junto
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when the US government started calling
the NZ government and making promises (and threats) to make sure this
happened.

It would be naive to think otherwise. The USG is amazingly patient. Kimble has
been on their radar for a long time. Now they really want him, and I would be
very very surprised if they don't get him eventually.

Somehow I really think he has a small chance to stick it to the man, so I kind
want to root for him, even though he's more than likely a tool.

~~~
ChuckFrank
Actually, Kim Dotcom is not a tool. He's very well spoken, intelligent and
surprisingly compelling individual.

Here's the Campbell Live interview -

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMcvYhQwAC8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMcvYhQwAC8)

~~~
brazzy
He's a crook who'll do and say just about anything for his personal enrichment
and self-aggrandization.

------
meepmorp
I see a lot of folks suggesting that the ruling is somehow evidence of
intergovernmental pressure or elsewise improper.

Is that just based on how you'd like the case to have turned out, or is there
some greater level of familiarity with the laws and jurisprudence of NZ than
I'd have expected at HN? Is it possible that the warrant was ok and that the
initial ruling was in error?

At any rate, according to the article there seems to be another court which
can hear an appeal, so it may not be entirely decided yet.

------
rainmaking
Time to retaliate by taking Libertarian activism up a notch.

Here's an example how: Stores in a Berlin tourist neighborhood began opening
on Sunday all at once. The council let them because it would be too
embarrassing to fine them all.

They found a niche where the law says government has power, but Realpolitik
says it does not.

I swear I'm going to find as many of those as I can in my everyday life, and I
will use them.

Who's with me?????

~~~
polymatter
Taking on the local council over stupid historical-accident religon-based laws
that actively damage a major local industry during difficult economic times is
one thing. Taking on your national government, and directly challenging the
authority and interests of the US at the same time, is quite another.

I'm not trying to be defeatist, but you'd need massive civil disobedience
Ukraine-style before NZ decides to soften its stance on "piracy" (or more
properly, copyright infringement).

~~~
rainmaking
I believe your assessment is correct.

Massive civil disobedience is to the local council as hitting a home run on
national television is to batting practice.

------
yeukhon
I used to use megaupload when I was much younger. It was fast, reliable and
easy to use, compared to other ones (4shared, RapidShare for example). MU had
probably the best bandwidth for upload and download.

As I got older, I can afford something. I went ahead and got a Netflix account
to celebrate my first internship (yeah, literally, I thought that was the best
way to celebrate...). But a lot of great movies are missing from Netflix and I
didn't feel like renting one from Amazon Videos or Youtube store. $3.99,
$5.99? Meh. Only a few times because I was desperate to see watch them.

From time to time, I was hoping MU was still alive. I would find a link
easily. Putlocker took the lead after MU went down. That's probably the most
popular domain to view illegal contents.

I prefer to have high-quality video. As I grow older, I am side with the music
and film industry. I want to pay. I still go to theater for awesome films. I
don't know if people have studied how bundle HBO, movie on demand into cable
TV ever helped subscribers to reduce the incentive to download illegal
contents. My guess is some good percentage of individuals probably feel less
motivated to get illegal contents if they could just find them from their on-
demand channel.

I know making a film or making a music album is a big investment. But
ultimately, owning a DVD is going to sound old and useless in a decade.
Everyone wants instant play, or digital copy on their device. I am glad the
music industry is becoming more open to streaming service (thanks to iPod and
iTunes - though Apple wasn't really the first one to do that, but Apple
_pushed_ it). I can listen to free legal, high quality music on Spotify,
8track, soundcloud, pandora. I am just waiting for the film and tv industry to
become more open :) I really hope that one day, I can turn on my computer, and
select a movie I want to see and I get to see it.

Last, I still like going to movie theater. I don't mind if new movies won't be
available right away on Netflix until the new movies are away from theater.

------
tjaerv
A government court ruled in favor of the government? You don't say?

