

Kim Dotcom - _ikke_
http://kim.com/

======
digitalengineer
Regardless of what you might think of Kim, his personality, his wealth fact is
the US administration broke it's own (and international) law to take him out.
The administrations' style is one of intimidation and aggression. Laws are for
regular people it seems. Kim was left without access to his own funds / video-
footage / hardware so he would not be able to set up an effective defense.

This entire ordeal tells us more about the current administration than Kim.

~~~
lostlogin
Please don't spare the New Zealand government. It is shameful how far
politicians and police here went out of their way to try and impress.
Pathetic, weak and disgusting. We have laws too, and a fair few were broken by
NZ agencies.

~~~
beedogs
This seems to be the case for _any_ country when faced with US pressure over
copyright issues, whether it's agreeing to one-sided treaties which serve only
to protect US content owners, or working with US agencies to track down and
apprehend "criminal" infringers anywhere they happen to be in the world.

Everyone just does what America asks of them. It's shocking.

~~~
digitalengineer
Correct. Anyone remember the time the US drafted the "The Netherlands / The
Hague invasion plan"? Target of invasion? The International Criminal Court, if
America of US soldiers were ever brought before trial for war-crimes. Seems
International means non-us. Source:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-
Members%27_Pro...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-
Members%27_Protection_Act)

~~~
beedogs
Hell, they _overthrew_ the elected Prime Minister of Australia because he
abolished the military draft, pulled Australian troops out of Vietnam, and was
threatening to forbid the renewal of the lease for a US military base.

The right to self-determination is really only something America enjoys. When
it needs to, it imposes its will upon other countries, often in the most cruel
and twisted possible way.

~~~
wisty
Gough Whitlam was fired in 1975, as the US was pulling out anyway. He was
fired because the Senate had blocked supply, and he was trying to secure
alternative funding (which just isn't done). Kerr (the Governor General, who
was mostly a figurehead but is technically the acting head of state) and
Fraser (leader of the opposition) both suggested compromises. Whitlam thought
that he didn't need the Senate or GG's cooperation, and that the whole
"Westminister system" was a formality he could do without. So they sacked him.

tl;dr - there was a Constitutional crisis, with the House and Senate
disagreeing. The Prime Minister didn't want to negotiate, or call for a new
election, so he was removed.

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w1ntermute
No matter what people say about the legality/morality of his businesses, I
love this guy's oversized personality. He's one of those guys that keeps
things interesting on the internet.

~~~
nicholassmith
You need the characters to make it a richer story, he's definitely a
character.

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rbn
This guy is the biggest phoney ever. He made his fortune from piracy. I'm all
for freedom and justice but don't pretend you are some saint.

~~~
brador
Isn't taking from the rich and giving to the poor a key activity of a saint?

I may or may not agree with the guys views, or activities, but he _has_ helped
a lot of poor people consume a lot of media they would not otherwise have had
access to.

~~~
Jgrubb
With all respect,

a) I don't think that truly poor people have the means to be spending their
time "consuming media". That definitely falls at least close to "first world
problem".

b) Despite the RIAA, which is an organization that deserves every bit of the
scorn it gets, piracy mainly hurts artists, writers, and other "content
creators". Creatives like me and a lot of other people on here. The suits that
the RIAA really represents have plenty of other means to feed themselves.

I don't know how this guy made his money, but he ain't no saint.

~~~
drharris
This is an elitist view of the world. In what universe does a rich person
deserve to consume media at greater rates than poor people? Or because they're
poor, must they spend all 16 waking hours trying to work for food, no time to
consume such media? Or because they're poor, they shouldn't be able to afford
the arbitrarily-set prices of said media? Or because they're poor, we simply
don't care about what they can do or not do?

~~~
pyre
I think parent's point was that 'truly poor' people don't have time to consume
media because they are too busy working to keep their head above water.

I don't necessarily agree with the idea that only people in this state of
existence can be called 'poor.' I'd say that 'poor' is more general, and that
those people are at the extreme end of the 'poor' spectrum.

~~~
Jgrubb
That was my point, thank you.

My point was more that I don't know how you can call someone poor who can't
afford to buy the album or the book or the movie, but can somehow afford the
device that they can play it on. That doesn't sound like my idea of "poor", it
sounds more like "I don't feel like parting with my $15 right now".

------
mattparlane
The only reason he doesn't like copyright law is because it stands in the way
of him living the life he wants.

This guy absolutely disgusts me -- he doesn't give a shit about free speech,
he just wants to live in his enormous mansion and eat far too much food and
drive expensive cars and show off his trophy wife.

~~~
negativity
The only reason Hollywood loves copyright law is because it provides a way for
all of them to live the life they want.

These people absolutely disgust me -- they don't give a shit about their loyal
fans, they just want to live in their enormous mansions and eat far too much
food and drive expensive cars and show off their sham Hollywood tabloid
marriages.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Your enemy's enemy isn't necessarily your friend though. It's possible to have
issues with them both.

~~~
cema
Not a friend but an ally.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
I'd suggest that you need to work out whether you want an ally with that much
baggage and that many enemies.

People who are ideologically aligned to you you stand by, people who are co-
incidentally aligned to you you get to choose. In the case of Kim dotcom I
think I'd want to stand a long way away from the man - some of the current
stuff may be trumped up but the older stuff seems pretty nailed on.

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emmapersky
This is bizarre. Why is this aimed so squarely at "Mr President" - The Obama
Administration was anti SOPA, whereas the republican senate was behind it.
Sure, the reality is probably more subtle than this, but if you must pick a
single entity, the Republican Senate seems like a better target. Less sexy I
guess.

~~~
emmapersky
I'm even more confused having spent 20 minutes consuming the bizarro content
on this site.

This appears to be an anti-obama website though he isn't making it directly
clear. Sure, we should question our elected officials, and hold them against
the standards on which they were elected (Change in Obama's case), and that's
what he seems to be doing in the first section.

I'm just not sure why he is taking some of the goodwill he might have built up
and directing it at Obama. I might be wrong, but I suspect he would be much
worse off under a Romney Administration.

~~~
wildgift
Logic and politics don't often go together, at least on the surface. Behind
the scenes, there's a logic.

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rsingla
I'm not sure this ought to be on HN. To me, it just seems like a guy's
throwing a hissy fit. Publicly.

~~~
michaelkscott
Well, you can always use your flagging powers.

~~~
dangrossman
He, and most other HN users, have no flag button. That has a high karma
threshold.

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Nux
Meh, can't see his new site. What's wrong with latest Firefox ESR? The website
doesn't look like too advanced (from what I can see in Opera), just a bunch of
embeds. He should declare war on retarded web designers as well.

<http://img.nux.ro/3jF-kim.com.png>

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jagermo
the worst thing about this whole megaupload fubar is that Mr Schmitz gets
airtime again. I had hoped that he would have disappeared for good. He was an
annoying fake back when he only operated in Germany and didn't get any better
over the years.

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ari_elle
All that i can say to this post is "?"

~~~
Zombieball
Not sure who Kim Dotcom is?

~~~
ari_elle
Not sure why an entry called "Kim Dotcom" linking to kim.com - a site that
most that are interested in the Megaupload case already know and have visited
numerous time - has to be on this site.

Nothing even has changed - i found no new information about anything on his
site except maybe a new video (and i wasn't on it for at least a few weeks).

 _So i don't get it. I am surprised by the number of comments and up-votes for
this imo completely worthless HN entry_

~~~
hermanhermitage
Worthless? Matters of international law are at stake.

I've sat and watched USA ring fence "illegal" online gambling, in a massive
display of protectionism.

I've sat and watched Guantanamo bay.

I've sat and watched the Weapons of Mass Destruction debacle.

I've sat and watch Disney steal from the public domain and ring fence.

I've sat and watched USA Juries corruptly favour USA companies in patent
trials.

Enough is enough.

~~~
fusiongyro
All of that can be true, and this site still be worthless self-promotion.

~~~
hermanhermitage
I followed and watched the youtube video links and gleaned a greater
understanding than I had before.

I dont doubt the site is in Kim's 'enlightened self interest' as Aldous Huxley
or Alexis de Tocqueville would say.

But I found it useful to absorb the information and ruminate.

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enr
those three letter .com addresses are sexy.

~~~
creativityhurts
I wonder how much he paid for that.

~~~
true_religion
Considering the page is 'powered' by Instra.com, a domain sales site, I bet
you he paid $0 for it and has an arrangement to use it in exchange for the
publicity that it will give them.

~~~
nikcub
From his profile in Wired this month[0]:

> The rights to the Kim.com domain cost a small fortune, but it was worth it.

[0] <http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/ff-kim-dotcom/all/>

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marban
not as jaw-dropping as the good old kimble.org but still. anyone who remembers
it?

~~~
terhechte
Yeah, I remember it. Back then I was impressed. I knew Flash, but he really
put it to the job. Though that impression didn't last long I've to admit.

------
augusto_hp
I miss GlaDOS, anyone else?

------
antsam
Kim needs to put out an album already.

~~~
ari_elle
Yeah, because it's exactly the

-) create a simple beat with maybe a slight variation when the chorus comes up, which takes 1 minute with todays software

-) fix missing singing talent through studio production / auto-tune / hearing exact singing line in headphones / professional software

-) don't think complicated: 4/4, some simple musical hooklines, lyrics about some stupid ass shit

popchart garbage that most of the world listens to. Kim's music videos are
exactly the prove (if we would need any :/) that today's music is solely about
producing, not about self expression, nice rhythmical designs, creativity or
art in general...

~~~
antsam
I wish I could have marked my comment as sarcasm. (Kim is a terrible singer
and approaching Trump levels of annoying)

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kahawe
This is just like his old kimble.org page... big words and I promise you:
nothing remotely justifying it actually behind it. He has been trolling JUST
like this in the 90s and looks like he is using his current publicity to do
the same now.

In the end it is ALL about making money for him and it always has been. He has
been doing the same "business" back in the 90s and famously turned over former
associates to the police to cut deals.

------
witoldc
I remember the first time I learned of Kim - 10+ years ago.

From the early days, his questionable 'projects', his legal troubles back
home, his money making schemes, him defrauding people on BMW M5 forums, etc.
Then I didn't hear about him for 10 years.

When his name came out during the Megaupload uproar, I immediately remembered
his name and his antics and without knowing anything about Megaupload I knew
he was guilty as sin just based on his record.

~~~
neotek
>without knowing anything about Megaupload I knew he was guilty as sin just
based on his record.

What a frightening way to think.

~~~
mpclark
With respect, not at all. Just like it is said that insanity is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting different results, continually giving
this guy the benefit of the doubt is naive.

~~~
neotek
Actually, it's the basis of every just legal system in the world. You don't
try a man on his past convictions, you try him on the evidence.

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ecliptic
I think Kim knows he is a joke, too bad HN readers don't.

------
ryanpers
MY NEW HERO

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mhd
Quite fitting, he seems to have an ego that would require Roland Emmerichs'
most widescreen lens setup.

