Kim Dotcom Court Case Begins In New Zealand

Will he or won’t he? The trial which will establish whether or not Kim Dotcom should be extradited from New Zealand to the United States of America began in Auckland today.

Dotcom is one of the most controversial tech figures in the world. If he is extradited, he faces criminal charges in the US for making money from the piracy of copyright material – both film and music.

The US Government claim that Dotcom – also known variously as Kim Schmitz; as Kimble; and as Kim Tim Jim Vestor – along with others involved in his business empire, made US$175million from the file-sharing site Megaupload and its sister sites. The inter-linked sites were shut down by the US Department of Justice, who also successfully froze in the region of US$40 million in assets owned by Dotcom, that are held in a Hong Kong bank.

Dotcom is a flamboyant character and he arrived to the court in Auckland in typically ostentatious style, driving a Mercedes G55 V8 Kompressor. The same car – which boasts the number plate KIM.COM – was seized some time ago by New Zealand police, but later returned to its owner.

While the proceedings began on a relatively dull note, with the first day being taken up with legal arguments, Dotcom himself lightened proceedings unintentionally by sitting in his own, apparently ergonomically designed, chair. Without being unkind, he is a man whose health might benefit from losing a few pounds.

It has been predicted that the current hearing will take weeks. Even then, the outcome is likely to be inconclusive, in that either party can appeal the decision. Dotcom has himself presented the case as being about internet freedom versus censorship. US Government officials are not the only ones who disagree.

Musicians and royalty collection agencies, like the PRS in the UK and IMRO in Ireland, are almost uniformly in agreement that the activities of Megaupload were inimical to their interests – and that the money the sites were earning involved a form of theft.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, Dotcom has been opposing the decision to freeze his assets, which was taken in January 2012. While the judge in this case sided with the internet entrepreneur, the assets remain under lock and key.

According to Wikipedia, Dotcom was imprisoned in 1994 for computer fraud and espionage. He was also given a suspended prison sentence in 2003 for insider trading and embezzlement.

In 2014, Dotcom released an EDM album Good Times, which was largely written and produced by him. It peaked at No.8 in the New Zealand charts.

"I never lived there/ I never traveled there/ I had no company there/ But all I worked for now belongs to the U.S.," Dotcom tweeted back in March.

Today he was in even more ebullient tweeting form, revelling in the fact that a U.S. law professor had argued that the case against him is a flimsy one.

Dotcom tweeted: "Must read: Harvard Prof. Lessig believes that there is no basis in U.S. criminal law for extraditing Dotcom. http://www.computerworld.com/article/2985019/internet/kim-dotcoms-extradition-hearing-begins.html …"

The case is a fascinating one, and there is a lot at stake. Watch this space...

.