31–40 of 63 posts
Be aware that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz is missing the bits about how he ran some piracy and carding BBSs back in the days and then tried to sneak his way out of trouble by telling the law all about the users. I would not be surprised if Megaupload kept logs of everything for this purpose as well.
That's very interesting. Do you have any sources to back this up?
Given his past and the megaupload business model, you have to fuck up pretty badly to turn Kim into this much of a hero. If Hollywood had chased a civil case against him, they would have almost certainly won it and shut down his business, which would have then paved the way for them to pursue a criminal investigation (although I am far from convinced that he has done anything explicitly illegal as opposed to merely u…
I'm a pretty savvy internet user, and I'll confess to having used Mega for the odd video when nothing else was working, but I've never heard much about Kim before this case. Now he's a folk hero. Considering the weakness of Mega's position, this case couldn't have gone much worse for the copyright industry.
He's a hero because he let people warez and they lost their favorite source for warez when his system was shut down. Everything else -- the FBI fuckups, the legitimate users losing data, and so on -- is a secondary justification for supporting a warez site. Those issues can be opposed on their own without making the warezer-in-chief into a hero.
I could not have cared less about the man until I read about how little due process had been involved leading up to the raid on his home. There is something fundamentally wrong when one of the most powerful countries in the world can't use due process to arrest someone violating a copyright law.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a pretty savvy internet user, and I'll confess to having used Mega for the odd video when nothing else was working, but I've never heard much about Kim before this case. Now he's a folk hero. Considering the weakness of Mega's position, this case couldn't have gone much worse for the copyright industry.
People from Germany have heard a lot from him and we can't understand why anybody would think he is a hero or some innocent victim.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What he does is probably illegal, according to copyright laws My understanding is that what some of the users were doing was possibly illegal under US law, but probably unlawful most everywhere else, and that what he was doing was possibly unlawful but not illegal pretty much everywhere, including in the US. Knowingly facilitating copyright infringement is a charge that can be leveled at every industry that provides…
That's too simplistic. Lets take the example of a gun. The gun industry makes a product that can be used for intentional harm or for protection. One company sells a 35mm handgun to the general public and another sells assault rifles to the general public. A reasonable person knows an assault rifle is not for protection (and don't get pedantic and say "well depends where you live", etc. because you know what I mean).…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a pretty savvy internet user, and I'll confess to having used Mega for the odd video when nothing else was working, but I've never heard much about Kim before this case. Now he's a folk hero. Considering the weakness of Mega's position, this case couldn't have gone much worse for the copyright industry.
People from Germany have heard a lot from him and we can't understand why anybody would think he is a hero or some innocent victim.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He has played the media at least as well as his lawyers have done in court, but you also have to factor in that people are pretty fucking tired of the copyright industry being so heavy handed. Breaking copyright is so normal, at least among those younger than 40 that almost any reponse would be seen as too heavy handed. Choppers and armed police, however are completely of the scale.
>Choppers and armed police, however are completely of the scale. But wasn't that NZ's decision. I think a good deal of people believe it was US troops.
But US troops on foreign soil is properly over what they would accept.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Choppers and armed police, however are completely of the scale. But wasn't that NZ's decision. I think a good deal of people believe it was US troops.
I don't really see NZ being cast as villians here. At most as the people oppressed by the US (who are the real villans). But US troops on foreign soil is properly over what they would accept.
Be aware that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz is missing the bits about how he ran some piracy and carding BBSs back in the days and then tried to sneak his way out of trouble by telling the law all about the users. I would not be surprised if Megaupload kept logs of everything for this purpose as well.
Not only did he try to sneak his way out of trouble, he actually tried to make a profit by selling his insider information.
The obituary to Gravenreuth (the lawyer he teamed up with) by gulli.com[1] has some information about what Schmitz' was up to in the 90s.
[1] http://www.gulli.com/news/12565-nachruf-guenter-freiherr-von... (German)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a pretty savvy internet user, and I'll confess to having used Mega for the odd video when nothing else was working, but I've never heard much about Kim before this case. Now he's a folk hero. Considering the weakness of Mega's position, this case couldn't have gone much worse for the copyright industry.
People from Germany have heard a lot from him and we can't understand why anybody would think he is a hero or some innocent victim.
K.C's appeal comes from the fact that he quite rightly criticizes the incompetent and heavy-handed actions of some very unlikeable people - DC insiders and lobbyists. His portrayal of events is, if perhaps exaggerated, certainly plausible and more possessing of verisimilitude than the official party line.
As with Assange his appeal comes, not from a reasoned appraisal of the totality of his person, but rather from a shared dislike of his powerful enemies.