Dotcom Warrants Invalid

[jmcslob]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand judge has ruled that police warrants used to seize computer hard drives from Kim Dotcom's mansion weren't legally valid.

Police executed the search and seizure warrants during a January raid on Dotcom's home near Auckland.

Dotcom is the founder of Hong Kong-based file-sharing site Megaupload. He's accused by U.S. prosecutors of facilitating Internet piracy on a massive scale. Charged with racketeering and money laundering, he's fighting U.S. attempts to extradite him.

Justice Helen Winklemann ruled Thursday the warrants were overly broad and that New Zealand authorities also acted unlawfully by handing digital copies to the FBI.

Winkelmann has not yet decided upon any remedies. What impact her ruling, which is likely to be appealed, will have on the complex case will likely become clearer in coming weeks.

Article source

[Bundy]

This is going to get very expensive for the NZ police.....

Search warrants used when 70 police raided the New Zealand mansion of the suspected kingpin of an internet copyright theft ring were illegal, a court has ruled.

German national Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, was one of four men arrested in January as part of an investigation, led by the FBI, into his Megaupload.com website.

Prosecutors say Dotcom was the ringleader of a group which had netted $175 million since 2005 by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorisation.

Dotcom's lawyers say the company simply offered online storage.

New Zealand high court judge Justice Helen Winkelmann found the warrants used in the seizure of property from Dotcom's mansion near Auckland were illegal

Justice Winkelmann found the FBI's moves to copy data from Dotcom's computer and take it offshore were also unlawful.

"The warrants did not adequately describe the offences to which they related," she said in her ruling.

"Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid."

In response, New Zealand's police, in a statement, said they were considering the judgment and were in discussions with crown lawyers "to determine what further action might be required".

Police said no further comment would be made until that process was complete.

Dotcom is on bail in New Zealand.

US authorities are seeking to extradite him on charges of copyright theft and money laundering.

Officers cut Dotcom out of a safe room he had barricaded himself in within the sprawling mansion.

Millions of dollars in assets were seized or frozen including almost 20 luxury vehicles, dozens of computers and art works.

Source : Reuters

[jmcslob]

We both must have been reading the same story (from different sources) and had the same thought at the same time LOL

[FordGT90Concept]

Bet the FBI MPAA doesn't make that mistake again, unfortunately.

[mtosev]

lolz epic fail

[Bundy]

Originally Posted by FordGT90Concept

Bet the FBI MPAA doesn't make that mistake again, unfortunately.

The mistake was by the NZ police who acted illegally (as it currently stands). I expect they will throw a lot of legal resources into saving this situation but basically, the hunter has now become the hunted. They might now be liable to pay compensation to dotcom....he probably will expect a LOT of compensation.

As for the FBI, well I don't know why they got involved either.

Somehow, the law enforcement authorities (US and NZ) will need to explain why they sent a SWOT team around to Dotcoms house, arrested him and took all his stuff. He isn't OBL, he was a low life dodgy file sharing crook. Their reasons for acting in this way are curious and there is much more water to flow under this bridge. Time will tell (or wikileaks will release the cables lol).

[FordGT90Concept]

How much you wanna bet they acted without building a strong case because the FBI convinced them of "all they need to know." When the FBI calls you, you can't afford to ignore them.

FBI got involved because the MPAA called up their friends in the FBI (read: Chris Dodd contacted "old friends"), said "we put in all these requests to remove content from MegaUploads.com and they aren't removing the content," the FBI probably ran a quick experiment to test the theory that they are removing links instead of actually removing the content on their servers, then contacted the legal department in New Zealand, whom authorized an assault on the mansion. I wouldn't be surprised if some FBI liasons were with them to seize computer hardware for study in a New Zealand lab before turning them/data over to New Zealand police. I also wouldn't be surprised if the MPAA paid the FBI (read: contributed to some FBI charity) to get a hold of a copy of what they discovered so they can better prosecute cases in the USA.

This happens all the time all over the world and the FBI is always involved at the beheast of the MPAA.


The irony of all this? Dodd/MPAA is completely sheltered from all of this. It's still a HUGE win for them.

[Screaming Beaver]

I love how other countries allow the prosecution to appeal things that go against them, must be nice to do something illegal and still try and get away with it by going to another judge.