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Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

reuters.com

11–20 of 143 posts

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#11

I always wanted to know how is the damage done determined ? "U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material." Distributing copyrighted stuff is illegal, period. But the way those calculations are made worries me. Do they start fr…

They're completely made up. There is no practical way to measure the amount of revenue lost by copyright infringement, and big numbers sound good and drive fear and outrage.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#12
post #10
post #2

Awarded NZ$60,000 for “loss of dignity and injury to feelings” haha

A police raid is no laughing matter. People die all the time, so it's fortunate nobody got hurt. Ordinarily for white collar crime, you'd expect a knock on the door and to be handed a summons, not full terrorism mode. You'd also expect your government to follow its due process, again not denying rights in full terrorism mode. Oligarchy at work.

That's not actually what this court case is about. This case was about the government refusing to give Kim Dotcom information they held about him.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#13
post #10
post #2

Awarded NZ$60,000 for “loss of dignity and injury to feelings” haha

A police raid is no laughing matter. People die all the time, so it's fortunate nobody got hurt. Ordinarily for white collar crime, you'd expect a knock on the door and to be handed a summons, not full terrorism mode. You'd also expect your government to follow its due process, again not denying rights in full terrorism mode. Oligarchy at work.

   A police raid is no laughing matter. People die all the time, so it's fortunate nobody got hurt.
Not in New Zealand, they don't. Although Hollywood did put pressure on the NZ government to do a full tactical raid on this guys house.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#15

I always wanted to know how is the damage done determined ? "U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material." Distributing copyrighted stuff is illegal, period. But the way those calculations are made worries me. Do they start fr…

I suspect they use the same logic that police media relations tend to use in reporting "street value", etc. Something like assume the highest possible revenue outcome, then round up. If it doesn't immediately fail the giggle test, that's your number.

We saw the same thing with music downloads, the assumption that every one represented the loss of a full priced album purchase or whatever.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#16
post #2

Awarded NZ$60,000 for “loss of dignity and injury to feelings” haha

Why the laugh? The State caused him injury. Would it be better to leave the injustice alone? Just say sorry? If this were a civil case he'd certainly be awarded monetary damages.

Not op, but I do agree there is something hilariously ironic about that verdict, given the circumstances. In a “haha serves you right” kind of way.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#17

I always wanted to know how is the damage done determined ? "U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material." Distributing copyrighted stuff is illegal, period. But the way those calculations are made worries me. Do they start fr…

> Isn't that a false dichotomy?

It is, and it's been pointed out from the dawn of computer piracy. But the world runs on greed, not on logic.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#18

I always wanted to know how is the damage done determined ? "U.S. authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material." Distributing copyrighted stuff is illegal, period. But the way those calculations are made worries me. Do they start fr…

Rob Reid did a funny 5min TED Talk on this called the 8 Billion dollar iPod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZadCj8O1-0

He used the same premise when he wrote the comedy sci-fi book Year Zero, the story of naive aliens accidentally pirating all of Earths music and the legal consequences thereof, i.e. owning the citizens of Earth literally all the money in the universe leading to the ruination of their delightfully hedonistic utopia. A quick and hilarious read.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#19
post #14
post #2

Awarded NZ$60,000 for “loss of dignity and injury to feelings” haha

I assume you're laughing because the sum was so small. It should have been at least 100x larger, in the millions.

Agreed. The time he’s lost through this attrition is criminal. International Government seizure is ridiculous.

Re: Kim Dotcom wins battle in ongoing fight against U.S. extradition

#20
post #2

Awarded NZ$60,000 for “loss of dignity and injury to feelings” haha

Why the laugh? The State caused him injury. Would it be better to leave the injustice alone? Just say sorry? If this were a civil case he'd certainly be awarded monetary damages.

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