
Kim Dotcom Releases New Raid Footage Captured By In-House CCTV - Libertatea
http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-releases-new-raid-footage-captured-by-in-house-cctv-130613/
======
belorn
I remember reading somewhere that the policemen in the raid did not know what
were going on, or even who the target was. I wouldn't be surprised if they
thought they were taking down a terrorist cell, given that the personal used
was the counter-terrorism special tactics Group.

Reading the Wikipedia article about the task force, their job is in dealing
with high risk situations involving armed offenders and possible terrorism
related events. They also train with New Zealand Special Air Service
Commandos. In that context, the raid makes much more sense in how it was
conducted, with silencers, helicopters, dogs and 20-30+ personal. The real
question then comes to who in the command structure decided to use such group
for serving a warrant, and collecting evidence for an assisting copyright
infringement case. Given the nature of the crime, the low threat level
(admitted in court), this is rather uniquely in history. One might also wonder
how much influence the FBI had in the decision.

~~~
dangoldin
I obviously don't know much but it seems stupid to not tell your team who
they're going after. They would use that information to plan the breach and
I'd suspect a good squad leader would demand to know before going in.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
It’s obviously not true. How else would they know who to arrest? In that case,
Schmitz could’ve just walked off the compound.

~~~
dopamean
Having a photo and name of someone isn't the same as knowing who they are.

------
Peroni
Regardless of your stance on the entire Mega issue, no-one can deny that the
raid is simply terrifying.

Personally I have no clue how they justified such a heavily armed response
particularly considering the fact that Dotcom never posed a physical threat to
anyone let alone the fact that there were a number of children in the building
at the time.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
> no-one can deny that the raid is simply terrifying.

It looked pretty amateurish to me. They had trouble climbing a 3 foot high
gate, which after they had ‘scaled’ it, turns out was easily opened.

> such a heavily armed response

I counted 5 police officers who approached the house together, only one of
them was armed with a rifle. I saw no violence whatsoever, it was pretty laid-
back. At no point in the video did they point a gun at any of the suspects,
and they lowered their fire arms before they entered the building (highly
unusual if you think you’re in danger or if you want to intimidate someone).

> Dotcom never posed a physical threat to anyone

When you’re dealing with a rich suspect who loves expensive toys and has a
large staff, you have to be prepared for anything. In the US, they would’ve
sent an army to surround and comb through that enormous mansion. Given that
Dotcom is morbidly obese, I doubt the agents saw him as a physical threat,
it’s his staff and the presence of weapons they needed to worry about.

~~~
aranw
Wow you really have no idea do you?

Seriously just cause you live in the US and everything is over the top
including police force, that doesn't mean its the norm. I can ensure you
police force in the US and the use of guns is over the top and unjustified, so
was this in the case for Dotcom.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
I don’t live in the US. Even in the Netherlands, where I live, police raids
are a lot larger than just 5 agents and one rifle.

In your country, police officers don’t carry guns and tactical units are armed
with flowers?

~~~
codeulike
>In your country, police officers don’t carry guns?

Correct. UK.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
The norm is that police officers wear guns, the UK is an exception. But even
in the UK, police carry guns and rifles during raids – especially if they
suspect to be met with armed resistance (as was the case with Kim Schmitz).

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorised_Firearms_Officer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorised_Firearms_Officer)

~~~
codeulike
Not that much of an exception.

Countries where Police do not carry guns as part of normal duty:

UK

New Zealand

Japan

Norway

Iceland

Cook Islands

St. Helena

Falkland Islands

Pitcairn Island

sources:
[http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32618-c...](http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32618-countries-
with-unarmed-police/)
[http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/50601024](http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/50601024)

~~~
Peroni
Add Republic of Ireland to that list

~~~
Samuel_Michon
I find that interesting, as police officers in Northern Ireland (part of the
UK) _do_ carry firearms. I have to admit I know little about either Irelands,
perhaps the situation in the Republic of Ireland is a lot less volatile.

------
mjolk
What I find most offensive is that this level of police response is that it's
being used against someone that facilitated sharing of content between users
that would have never paid for it, yet, good luck getting a third of these
resources spent tracking down criminals that did things to hurt someone.
Apparently, it's more important to protect imagined profit than people.

------
magoon
What were they even looking for? It was a copyright infringement claim - no
reason for any of this.

Did they worry that Kimble had a Dr. Evil escape pod?

~~~
crb
Worse: "the FBI actually believed Dotcom had a Dr. Strangelove-style “doomsday
device” that was capable of wiping out all evidence of Internet piracy with
the flick of a switch." [http://bgr.com/2012/08/10/kim-dotcom-raid-fbi-feared-
doomsda...](http://bgr.com/2012/08/10/kim-dotcom-raid-fbi-feared-doomsday-
device/)

~~~
e40
That sounds like the type of thing people make up after the fact to justify
their actions.

~~~
arethuza
If someone can make that up you wonder why they don't just accuse him of being
in Al-Qaeda or having WMD and simply bomb him. Would save all the tedious
business of due process and evidence...

------
hereonbusiness
I guess the masterminds behind this whole fiasco wanted to impress their
friends from the US, but they tried too hard.

A behaviour one would expect from adolescents, not leaders.

------
alextingle
What on Earth did those police think they were doing? Playing Counter Strike??

------
ancarda
Interesting to see how big is house is. I wonder how much money Dotcom made
off MegaUpload.

~~~
crb
It was considered, at the time, the most expensive house in New Zealand.
However, he only rents it. He tried to buy it, but the New Zealand government
get involved in overseas investment deals/land purchase, and he was denied
permission to buy it because he was "not of good character".

It is known within NZ as "the Chrisco mansion", as it was built by the owners
of Chrisco - a Christmas hamper mail order company. People still get wealthy
the old-fashioned way down under.

~~~
dopamean
What on earth is a "Christmas hamper?"

~~~
scrabble
It's a lot of food that you pay for in installments throughout the year. They
deliver it at Christmas time so that you don't have to worry about laying out
a lot of additional money for food at Christmas.

Yes, it is groceries on layaway.

------
jack-r-abbit
Two things that made me laugh watching the video:

1) That some very official looking people are forced to address him as Mr.
Dotcom... which is on my list of the most ridiculous names a person could give
themselves.

2) The giant statue of a rino in his yard. Really? A Rino?

~~~
dopamean
From what I understand, he rented the house. The rhino is likely not his.

------
Apocryphon
I wonder if the endgame to Snowden's exile will be him being accepted into NZ,
and taking refuge at Kim Dotcom's estate.

------
Samuel_Michon
Can we all just ignore this attention-seeking thug, please?

His marketing team does its job well, but surely, HN users are smarter than to
fall for this rhetoric.

~~~
fsckin
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was
not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak
out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I
did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there
was no one left to speak for me.

~~~
nextw33k
You sir have just restored my faith in comment systems. Thank you for an
awesome reminder from history.

~~~
zalew
not the first nor the last time 'first they came' is used around here
[https://www.google.com/search?q="first+they+came"+site%3Anew...](https://www.google.com/search?q="first+they+came"+site%3Anews.ycombinator.com)

------
FreeInfo4All
Go Kim! Stick it to those dirty MAFIAA copyright gangsters! I hope Mega takes
off and helps us share even more culture.

Information wants to be free, man!

Except when it's _my_ information. Then it's just a terrible invasion of
privacy.

