
Released footage of the police raid on the Kim Dotcom mansion - AhtiK
http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-What-really-happened-in-the-Dotcom-raid/tabid/367/articleID/264651/Default.aspx
======
redthrowaway
So, there's an overblown police operation, using two helicopters, 5 paddy
wagons, AR-15s, dogs, and a forceable takedown of a suspect deemed to be "low-
risk", to serve an illegal warrant by a unit that NZ Police _themselves_
describe [1] as "[providing] Police with the means of effectively and more
safely responding to and resolving situations in which there is an actual or
threatened use of firearms or other weapons against members of the public or
Police." All of this was done so that K.C "couldn't destroy evidence" that he
didn't have access to, in the first place.

Forgive me, but who the hell planned this? It sounds so incredibly American,
but I don't see why the NZPD would allow the FBI to dictate tactics like that.

[1] <http://www.police.govt.nz/service/aos/>

~~~
moe
As we know the entire thing was a staged PR-move, to show them filthy pirates
what they're getting themselves into ("We will track you down and get you
anywhere!").

The overblown Raid was likely part of the script - or it happened out of
anticipatory obedience.

Try to see the positive in it; old money in the media mafia is literally
kicking and screaming by now. They're in their death struggle.

After this public humiliation it seems unlikely they will be able to pull
similar nonsense at such a scale again. It must have cost them a fortune to
pull those strings, and not only are they running out of fortunes, but the
involved puppets will probably also ask double next time, due to the now
obvious risk that something might fling up and stick to their name.

~~~
narag
_After this public humiliation it seems unlikely they will be able to pull
similar nonsense at such a scale again._

They've destroyed Megaupload and got away with it. I' not sure I'd call the
result "public humiliation", at least not for them.

~~~
exDM69
> They've destroyed Megaupload and got away with it. I' not sure I'd call the
> result "public humiliation", at least not for them.

Megavideo was replaced by a dozen video streaming sites (many with Indian .in
domain names) within a week. Only ones who lost anything were the people using
it to store personal files.

~~~
indrax
Correct, the people who destroyed Megaupload have not lost anything.

------
exDM69
I find it a little scary that Hollywood can order armed men in helicopters to
raid a man's home, anywhere in the world.

~~~
alinajaf
IIRC _Accelerando_ (linked below) by HNs very own cstross postulated something
similar in 2005.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_(novel)>

~~~
AkThhhpppt
Yeah, but in that case the RIAA/MPAA had sold off the collections rights to
organised crime. This is the _cops_.

~~~
tankenmate
But if the "state"(s) co-ordinates a raid that rests on illegal arrest
warrants, is this not also organised crime?

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jstalin
Two helicopters, AR-15s, police vehicles, dogs, ninja-clad police, FLIR, and
beating him up all over...... _copyright infringement_. Does anyone else see a
problem here?

~~~
grecy
I think it shows an interesting trend in our society, maybe something that
will become more and more common.

We now value money immensely, and have a lot of laws in place to protect not
only the money we have, but the money we're trying to earn (see Apple v
Samsung).

Sooner or later, it could plausibly be a more serious offense to steal money,
or the means of making money, than murder or child abuse.

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mtgx
What if the guards started shooting at the police for tresspassing if they
couldn't identify them in the first second of seeing them? Why did they have
to use the helicopter?

~~~
jschuur
Unless you're a South American drug lord, I don't think that's how security
guards work. You don't get to just shoot wildly at anyone approaching, unless
you're being shot at.

If Kim had trigger happy guards like that, that alone would seem a little
suspicious. Who was he afraid of?

For that matter, this is a pretty paranoid panic button setup:

 _“I was on my bed, once the banging started, I pressed an alarm button that
is situated right at my bed which was installed in case of an emergency. When
I press that it automatically sends a signal to all security guards including
Mr [Wayne] Tempero’s room including SMSs to everybody informing them there is
an alert._

Perhaps that's just standard operating procedure for a multi-millionaire.

Full story in text: [http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-What-really-happened-in-the-
Dot...](http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-What-really-happened-in-the-Dotcom-
raid/tabid/817/articleID/264651/Default.aspx#ixzz22wnfnuMl)

~~~
derda
Alarm-Buttons and panic rooms are not so uncommon and often installed in
houses of much-more low-key persons then Kim Schmitz. A family friend
purchased a house (not a mansion, just a bigger house in a suburban
neighborhood) here in germany that was formally owned by a CEO of a mid-sized
tech company. And there is a panic button in every room, as well as a hidden
room. Why should such a system be uncommon in, from what I remember, the
biggest mansion in NZ? I guess it was already there when he bought the place.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
To be fair, his actual name is Kim Dotcom, as ridiculous as that is.

~~~
astrodust
I suspect he might change it again to spite his American tormentors. We might
see "Kim LOL USA SUX" or "Kim Vote-Pirate-Party" in the news.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Kim Nohollywood?

Kim Unamerican?

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RyanMcGreal
TV news in New Zealand spent a whole 10 minutes on the same story. That would
be an unprecedented level of detail on an American news program.

~~~
roc
*for any news story not involving a pretty young white woman.

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runn1ng
The site is still overloaded, link to the video itself:

[http://flash.mediaworks.co.nz/tv3/streams/_definst_/News/201...](http://flash.mediaworks.co.nz/tv3/streams/_definst_/News/20120808/cl_thetape_080812_700k.mp4)

edit: OK, it works now, but well, you can have it as mp4 :)

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antsam
Kim seems a bit douchey at times but all the man power they put into this raid
seemed a bit overkill.

~~~
CodeCube
Without commenting on whether Kim is in the right or the wrong ... this whole
thing was pretty disgusting. For a case where there are no drugs, no murders,
nobody hurt, to storm in with weapons and detain women and children is pretty
despicable. Completely unwarranted.

~~~
antsam
Well, he was really good at "Call of Duty" apparently. Maybe they were
concerned about his "mad skillz?"

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taude
So did they get Bin Laden or what?

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metatronscube
Was the C-130 Gunship on standby circling overhead or something? Why were so
many 'assets' thrown into a raid? Who sanctioned this? I would be looking for
resignations and full hearing/inquiries into total miss allocation of
resources.

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danielschonfeld
I for one think this whole raid was made so that the media, and people around
the world are distracted and ask the wrong questions while the real issue at
hand is silently taken care of.

There was probably a file, or a bunch of damaging data to the US government
that has found it's way to megaupload.com and had to be eliminated without a
trace so that it doesn't resurface at an inconvenient moment.

The raid, the illegal warrants, the choppers and swat teams are all just a big
show that will have people talking for years now while the FBI/CIA secretly
got what they needed behind the scenes.

Speaking of.... why is the FBI the one giving directions to NZPD... isn't this
supposed to be a CIA operation if it's outside US borders?

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swang
He was, "low risk" but the police carried AR-15s and handguns, brought along
with 2 helicopter units and apparently copyright infringement sniffing dogs.
What a gross waste of police, as well as taxpayer money.

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TazeTSchnitzel
Reminds me of this (acted) video, which is currently front-page on the pirate
bay: <http://www.political-prostitution.com/>

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chris_wot
I can't believe they brought assault rifles to a raid for _copyright
infringement_? What next - bazookas for shop lifters?!?!

There was definitely political pressure from someone on this one - and I would
definitely point the finger to someone within the United States.

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wtvanhest
The real question is, why release the footage now?

One likely reason is that they are loosing this case in the court of public
opinion and this video may have been thought to make him out to look like "the
bad guy".

~~~
beedogs
It's so over-the-top though it seems to have had the opposite effect. The
intro to the video indicates the footage came from a source within NZ law
enforcement; perhaps he had a change of heart and felt the video needed to be
seen.

~~~
wtvanhest
They may not have understood what effect it would have.

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clientbiller
Wonder if the recorded video was saved to megaupload... :)

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adrianbye
why did kim go to the red room alone, presumably leaving his wife and kids to
be handled by the intruders?

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
It doesn't sound like they were in the same room as him at the time (it seemed
like they were on the other side of the house or something), and given the
intruders, I'm not sure what else he could have done.

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lurkersmirker
a/v 6/5, no sample wtf?

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gitarr
This is a disgrace for New Zealand and as a European this whole ordeal has
warned me plenty to not do any business there ever.

The US who were obviously the ones in charge of NZ police and general "law"
enforcement are another story. The world police has done their will again.
Without thinking, without logic, without sense, but Hollywood money behind
them.

~~~
vosper
The way this has been handled has been disgraceful, but this is a ridiculous
reaction. I am a New Zealander (now in SF) so I'm biased, but New Zealand is a
peaceful country [1], frequently rated as one of the least corrupt [2], with
excellent freedom of press [3], and is relatively easy place to do business
[4].

You could certainly do a lot worse.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index> [2]
<http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/> [3] <http://en.rsf.org/press-
freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html> [4]
[http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/new-
zeala...](http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/new-zealand/)

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dsolomon
The raid was written by Michael Bay.

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runn1ng
Well. To play the devil's advocate - when you listen to what Kim Dotcom says,
it sounds like he has hell of a security on his place. In that light, the
operation was not that overblown - especially when the officers couldn't know
the exact details of his security.

~~~
parfe
The night drop was not as smooth as planned. The 101st missed the drop zone
and found themselves scattered over most of the back yard. Small units formed
and conducted raids, where possible, taking the shed and guest house, but the
primary objective remained unaccomplished.

The transports dropped the first wave within sight of the massive compound but
the gate loomed shut. The airdrop obviously failed to open a safe passage.

Multiple twisted ankles resulted in 50% casualties but a squad of men reached
the gate. A brave private, barely old enough to shave, rang the buzzer and
asked "Hey mate, would you mind opening the gate? We have a warrant."

Truly, New Zealand's greatest generation.

~~~
chris_wot
Not to mention, it took them 15 minutes to actually find Dotcom.

