
Police have to return material to Dotcom - stfu
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/8742230/Police-have-to-return-material-to-Dotcom
======
fmstephe
As a New Zealander I was very disappointed that we appeared to be cooperating
with US legal requests with no consideration of whether those requests were
reasonable or even legal. I feel a cautious pride to see that there is an
effective pushback from our courts against what is an unjust extradition
attempt.

~~~
grecy
Hear, hear.

New Zealand has a strong history of standing up to the big bully, I sincerely
hope it continues.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%27s_nuclear-
free_zo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%27s_nuclear-
free_zone#Recent_developments)

~~~
aunty_helen
~Attempted inclusion of software patents at the request of MS + IBM ~3 Strikes
law prototyped by US for their consumption ~Royal Dutch Shell's anti-sea
protest law ~Skycity's law change (and block) for convention centre

These have all been in the last National Governments term yet you insist on
using an example from the 70's that shows how we stuck it to the man...

~~~
fmstephe
I agree that we don't have anything close to a perfect record. And when dotcom
was raided at gunpoint I really felt that this was it. Everything you wrote
above was now just the new normal, and we were just a passive conduit of
foreign and corporate interests. But this pushback seems quite real and give
some reassurance that some part of the NZ legal system is working in a way
that can make us feel (sometimes) proud.

------
tripzilch
"A judge has ordered the police _to sift through all digital material_ taken
illegally from Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and to return anything irrelevant
to their investigation--at their own cost."

ahahaha, have fun sifting through 25 petabytes of data!

As I've said before, I really wonder how much of that data really is
copyrighted content (of course, just about all data is copyrighted in a
manner, legally speaking, what I mean is stuff that the RIAA/MPAA have a
copyright claim to, who are behind this international shakedown). Perhaps
we'll find out, and if not I'd be very interested in the numbers because I
can't seem to find a way to make them add up to something in the ballpark of
25PB.

~~~
vidarh
Unless he had a full backup of MegaUpload at his house, it's not going to be
25 petabytes of data. MegaUpload was hosted in the US and any data stored with
their hosting service would presumably be outside of the scope of this case.

As far as I understand this ruling is about his personal data, confiscated
when they raided his house.

~~~
tripzilch
Hm, okay, that makes sense. Didn't realize this was only the data they
confiscated from his house.

------
joering2
> Police are expected to complete the request at their own cost.

This is NOT true, of course. It will be done at tax-payers expense. And Chief
of Police is probably happy -- next financial year most people will forget
about this raid and he has a good reason to ask for more money, because, you
know, capturing criminals gets more expensive...

Obnoxious.

~~~
mtgx
If anything, they should be punished for this move, and get a 5% cut in next
year's budget.

~~~
saalweachter
Eh, cutting the department's budget retributively is stupid.

The most appropriate and effective punishment is to find the people who are
most responsible and should have shut the whole thing down (eg, the Chief),
fire them, and pursue any appropriate civil or criminal charges against them.

If the grunts take a pay cut and the cars go an extra year before being
replaced, the Chief may still choose to do the same thing again. If you're the
Replacement Chief for the Chief who was sacked and sued, you might
reconsider...

~~~
apalmer
Would go further punishing the Police for this kinda thing would be bad
precedent. The police chief did nothing wrong as far as i understand, he got
all the right warrants, didn't use excessive force, didn't ignore protocol
etc.

The judicial branch may or may not have some responsibility, as its their job
to interpret the law and use some degree of judgement.

But ultimately this is the laws created by the legislative branch, and it
appears this is the executive branch pushing through some agenda at behest of
the US.

I do think the policeman has the responsibility for some level of personal
professional conduct, i on the other hand do not want the police to have the
full authority to chose to disregard the judicial and executive branches of
government because they dont agree with a law

~~~
saalweachter
Yeah, to some extent I'm speaking out my ass a bit since I don't know the full
details. If the judge issuing the warrants acted improperly, fire him. If the
judge shouldn't have issued the warrant, but the chief shouldn't have asked
for it, reprimand them both. If everyone acted legally but the laws are
stupid, fire the legislators and get new laws. You've got to find the right
point to apply your anger to effect appropriate change.

------
codex
This in no way vindicates Dotcom; the police simply seized all potential
evidence without sorting it first. Evidence deemed irrelevant to the case must
be returned; the rest will be kept.

------
mariuolo
Even if they returned his drives, how could he be sure the data is intact or
doesn't contain trojan horses of some kind?

It's the last piece of hardware I would want to connect to my system.

------
maeon3
It's because of stuff like this that Cloud Computing is not a very good
solution, because at the drop of a hat, some user, or someone could drop in a
picture of an underage girl showing some boob, or some folder of MP3 songs or
whatever, and then everyone starts shouting 'Oh god won't somebody think of
the children', and you come back to your data centers are in ruins, locks cut,
doors broken in, and all that is left is cat5 cables, and a 7 year legal
battle (from another legal system in a different country) ahead of you.

It's because of stories like this that I keep hidden secret offsite offline
backups, that only I know about and you would have to torture me to get that
info. That way when your entire business is squished from the judicial system
of a different country based on the behaviors of a person you don't even know,
at least you can salvage what you have and try to pivot and get your stolen
income streams back while you enter a 7 year legal battle where you win.

You have to plan for hurricanes knocking out your individual data centers, and
you have to plan for legal hurricanes that knock out ALL your data centers.
It's part of the new world. You have to be able to replicate, or else the
mafia don walks into your shop, and you have to do everything they say.

With prior preparation, you can tell the don you are not interested in his
insurance, and then buckle down for the legal/illegal hurricane coming your
way.

~~~
Adirael
I keep local backups of everything. The HP Microserver I bought is very handy
for stuff like that. If anything happens to my servers (ALL of them) being
back online will be a matter of hours/days and not years.

~~~
easytiger
What is the noise output of one of those?

~~~
Adirael
HP claims 22dB. I saw a blog post that swapped the fan and added a variable
resistor to achieve 6dB. The one I got at the office is barely noticeable
(it's at my feet).

On a home setting a closet would be a good place to hide it and shield any
sound from the hard driver or fans.

------
ttrreeww
So.. does that mean megaupload is coming back with data in tact? I got some...
hmm... data I wish to retrieve :)

------
jorgeleo
Police have to return material..

<sarcasm>aaawwwwww</sarcasm>

