Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand • Hacker News Board

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#161

Post by swozey » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:33 PM UTC

phyalow wrote: post #109

popcalc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. "Two weeks later on 20 January, Dotcom, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk were arrested in Coatesville, New Zealand by the New Zealand Police, in an armed raid on Dotcom's house involving 76 officers and two helicopters. Seized assets included eighteen luxury cars, large TVs, works of art and US$175 million in cash. Dotcom's bank accounts were frozen, denying him access to 64 bank accounts wor…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4TXAaqmj0E This video of Kim is a classic (I think it came out origianlly c. 2009). The last shot of his table with a stack of Gold Bars in the middle is very revealing (or maybe moreso is his Rolls Royce with the plate "GOD")....

I feel like I'm watching satire of what a 2000s mega rich nerd would be like but it's really him. He even has a basket/hanger on the wall for all of his ... canes. Didn't see the fedoras nearby, though.

"At only 1.5 years of age, (kims kid) is already at the top of most xbox leaderboards." What??

His bodyguards are picked out by a Kung Fu master?? This is so ridiculously cliche. Nobody serious about their security would hire Kung Fu martial artists to train their team. I train a bunch of martial arts (boxing, muay thai, bjj, hapkido) and I would never use something like kung fu in a tussle. I've got 16yo junior amateur boxers that could probably knock that kung fu master out in a single hit.

Gold bricks are here https://youtu.be/A4TXAaqmj0E?t=365

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#162

Post by tedivm » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:33 PM UTC

curiousObject wrote: post #120

Kim DC is not a likeable or admirable person, but this vindictive pursuit seems even worse. It appears very similar to the treatment of Ross Ulbricht, Assange, maybe even Snowden? These are the equivalent of white collar crimes (typical massive frauds from the finance sector, etc) but they are getting a blue collar punishment of decades in jail that a successful and persistent street drug dealer could receive, NOT th…

One of these things is not like the other. Ross Ulbricht was part of a murder for hire scheme, and was not a whistle blower or anything close to a reporter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht#Murder-for-hire_...

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#163

Post by dewey » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:33 PM UTC

cma wrote: post #135

donatj wrote: post #129

What exactly has Mega done that Dropbox hasn't? In my eyes they're basically the same product, the only difference being Mega's edgier tone.

Wasn't the allegation that Mega uploaded copywritten content to themselves to kick things off with something people wanted?

So (allegedly) like early Spotify

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#164

Post by moralestapia » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:33 PM UTC

phyalow wrote: post #92

moralestapia wrote: post #30

Sad news. I don't really know if there's more than the file sharing thing behind this, but the US is cracking down too hard on this guy. Seems unfair, tbh. The raid at his NZ home was already taking it too far, IMO. I do not think he's a criminal. A big (massive, maybe) fine should have been more than enough.

I disagree, he has engaged in a deliberate media/public personality building campaign over the last 12 years to make the public sympathetic to him and his plight. >>I do not think he's a criminal "He was arrested in 1994 for trafficking in stolen phone calling card numbers. He was convicted on eleven charges of computer fraud, ten charges of data espionage and various other charges in 1998 that he served a two-year s…

>I do not think he's a criminal.

I should have added "in the context of this lawsuit". An edit now would be disingenuous.

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#165

Post by moomin » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:33 PM UTC

curiousObject wrote: post #120

Kim DC is not a likeable or admirable person, but this vindictive pursuit seems even worse. It appears very similar to the treatment of Ross Ulbricht, Assange, maybe even Snowden? These are the equivalent of white collar crimes (typical massive frauds from the finance sector, etc) but they are getting a blue collar punishment of decades in jail that a successful and persistent street drug dealer could receive, NOT th…

I remain unconvinced that the relative punishments of the two categories is either pragmatic or fair, mind you.

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#166

Post by e40 » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:35 PM UTC

curiousObject wrote: post #120

Kim DC is not a likeable or admirable person, but this vindictive pursuit seems even worse. It appears very similar to the treatment of Ross Ulbricht, Assange, maybe even Snowden? These are the equivalent of white collar crimes (typical massive frauds from the finance sector, etc) but they are getting a blue collar punishment of decades in jail that a successful and persistent street drug dealer could receive, NOT th…

Bernie Madoff got real prison time for his white collar crimes.

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#167

Post by moralestapia » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:35 PM UTC

popcalc wrote: post #137

donatj wrote: post #129

What exactly has Mega done that Dropbox hasn't? In my eyes they're basically the same product, the only difference being Mega's edgier tone.

This is about Megaupload, completely different business.

Not completely different, actually, they're pretty much the same.

The only difference is the "we encrypt everything so we don't know what users upload" trick, which seems to have worked so far (and branding and stuff).

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#168

Post by ein0p » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:36 PM UTC

juujian wrote: post #128

You know how it is. You search someone's home, you set aside the evidence, and you promptly forget about it for 12 years. I dislike Kim Dotcom as much as the next gal or guy, maybe even more, but this is weird.

[flagged]

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#169

Post by earthnail » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:37 PM UTC

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #140

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without cutting in the existing rights holders properly. That's the killer, right there. "existing rights holders" is a big deal, and one that has been ignored by tech bros for a long time. As a [former] artist, and [former] musician, I can say that the tech industry has been cooking the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. The opportunity for individual financial and ego success is a huge driver for modern popular art…

Destroying commercial art culture really might not be a bad thing. The overwhelming majority of visual artists, writers and musicians don’t make money from their art, and would continue doing it even if the big corporate parasites went bankrupt.

I believe the implications are a bit different. It takes a lot of time to learn to make music. If you can’t make it as a famous artists (the odds of which are about as high as becoming a football star), you previously still had the option to use your music skills to make money with boring work: music for ads for example.

That’s going away. Now it’s becoming a lot more like professional sports: either you make it, or your hard earned skills are useless on the job market. It increases the risk significantly and will lead to less people pursuing a musician career.

I hope that my explanation is not perceived as judging in any way, but purely as an explanation.

Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand

#170

Post by bobajeff » Thu, Aug 15, 2024, 1:37 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #111

vessenes wrote: post #103

A fair amount of “this is fine, governments enforce IP laws and that’s a public good” vibes in here, which is all a very reasonable perspective. I’d argue Kim was too successful and too unlikeable at the end of the day, and that was probably his downfall. Toward the end, MEGA had transitioned to actually partnering with hip hop artists for distribution. The US has a long history of IP rights holders criminalizing new…

> without cutting in the existing rights holders properly. That's the killer, right there. "existing rights holders" is a big deal, and one that has been ignored by tech bros for a long time. As a [former] artist, and [former] musician, I can say that the tech industry has been cooking the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. The opportunity for individual financial and ego success is a huge driver for modern popular art…

>The opportunity for individual financial and ego success is a huge driver for modern popular art culture (for better and for worse). If we take that away, guess what happens? No one wants to do it, anymore.

I don't know about financial success but I think losing ego building as artist incentives might not be a bad thing. Maybe it's an unhealthy focus and probably shouldn't be supported.

Intuitively, I think those kind of drives will not go away no matter what support you give it. However, I can't believe that feeding that beast is not having an effect.