TorrentFreak

Somewhat predictably this year’s Time 100 list features the usual political and technological giants such as Barack Obama and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. However, in a possible first, two giants with a shared name are currently dueling away in the top ten. While North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is in a healthy but dictatorial eighth place, Mega.co.nz’s Kim Dotcom is setting the pace for Internet freedom in third.

Between December 2011 and January 2012 the spies of New Zealand’s GCSB monitored Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and his associate Bram van der Kolk. Since both have New Zealand residency that surveillance was illegal and in February the High Court gave Dotcom permission to sue the government for damages over the affair. But when you [...]

In 2010, New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service were carrying out special checks on Kim Dotcom as part of his application to become an NZ resident. They turned up something unexpected. The FBI were investigating the Megaupload founder as part of a huge alleged criminal conspiracy. But mysteriously Dotcom was welcomed into New Zealand with open arms, something he now fears was a trap to make him more accessible to the United States.

Yet more embarrassing information on the Kim Dotcom spying fiasco has surfaced in New Zealand. Documents show that in December 2011 when the spying began, police already had information which stated that Dotcom – codenamed “Billy Big Steps” – was a NZ resident. As those deemed responsible are held accountable, the GCSB spy agency’s deputy director has become the first high-profile casualty, and the Prime Minister is warning of more “big changes” to come.

Kim Dotcom and his associates have chalked up another win in their New Zealand extradition battle. Last year High Court judge Justice Helen Winkelmann gave Dotcom permission to sue GCSB, the Kiwi spy agency, for illegally spying on him on behalf of the FBI. The ruling was challenged by the Attorney-General but today the Court of Appeal announced that compensation can indeed be sought from GCSB. The downside is that access to evidence will again be restricted.

Despite aggressive legal action in the United States, Kim Dotcom and his associates still have big dreams for their Mega machine. Eyeing an IPO within the next 18 months, the company is currently advertising for a New Zealand-based finance guru to join the team as the operation’s Chief Financial Officer. But alongside dreams of a stock exchange listing runs an extradition battle, which today sees the start of a two day secret session that not even Dotcom’s lawyers are permitted to attend.

Kim Dotcom and his associates have lost a key battle in their extradition fight against the United States. On two earlier occasions, including once in the High Court, Dotcom’s legal team successfully argued they were entitled to examine mountains of evidence held by U.S. authorities. But those rulings were overturned this morning when the Court of Appeal said that the U.S. would be allowed to present a summary case after all. Dotcom says he’ll take an appeal to the Supreme Court.