Kim Dotcom raid was illegal, New Zealand judge rules

New Zealand's high court today ruled that a raid on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's Auckland mansion was illegal. From the Guardian:

Justice Helen Winkelmann said the warrants used when more than 90 New Zealand officers stormed the Megaupload founder's home and other properties in January were too broadly cast, "lacking adequate specificity as to the offence". "The search and seizure was therefore illegal," she ruled, adding that it was "clear that the police, in executing the warrants, have exceeded what they could lawfully be authorised to do".

The 56-page judgment is here (PDF), and may complicate future hearings on extradition to the US. The case has been described by some observers as a Homeland Security case, initiated under pressure from the MPAA.

Winkelmann said police had acted unlawfully by refusing to release material that was not relevant to the charges, and that their provision to the FBI of cloned hard drives seized in the raid was in breach of extradition legislation. Among the seized items that police have refused to release is video footage captured by Dotcom's surveillance cameras of the raid on the mansion.

IMAGE: By Aurich Lawson, for Sean Gallagher's January article at Ars Technica about Kim Dotcom. Worth re-reading today. (via).

More: Sydney Morning Herald, New Zealand Herald.

More good news: Dotcom has a new pal! Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. In an interview with the Associated Press, Woz said, "It's just kind of ridiculous what they did to his life. An awful lot of Kiwis support him. The U.S. government is on thin ground."

• [Matthew Stone]

  Kim Dotcom is a jerk, honestly, and if we were in the same room, I think his inflated ego would shove me out the door if it didn’t smother me first, but the people who put him out of business are far worse, so it’s a strange bedfellows situation for me.  Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend, I guess.

  For better or for worse, I think Dotcom is going to emerge from this as a hero, assuming he isn’t already considered one.

  • [Mantissa128]

    The nice thing about our legal system is that it really does try to be blind to such things. We should all be treated equally under the law, no matter how obnoxious we may be.

    And now, the compensation and ritual pointing of fingers.

  • [ultranaut]

    How sad is it that our pigs can out-pig a self-designed pig? Dotcom is not a naturally sympathetic media concept, and yet somehow the FBI managed to pull it off. Didn’t they learn shit from Richard Jewell?!

  • [Nathan Hornby]

    Just because you dislike someone you’ve never even met doesn’t justify the unwarranted and illegal search of their home. One doesn’t cancel out the other.

• [Ender Wiggin]

  He is.  also, before making your decision i suggest googling “swimming with kim”  or looking up the accounts of his pool party with random twitter fans.  I mean, it’s kind of awesome.  And he once reset the cahncellor of germany’s credit score to make a point, how can you not love that?    

  The guys an uber geek, a giant, massively succesful, nerdboy,  doing about what most of us would if we were in his place,  i can only assume the kneejerk hate is jealousy.  

• [iamlegion]

  The distinct impression I’ve gotten is that Kimble has never, in his entire adult life, ever, been involved with any enterprise that wasn’t basically fraudulent…
  http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/kimble/

  • [That_Anonymous_Coward]

    And what about a DoJ lawyer who used to work for the BSA who invented laws to pursue a case to benefit certain cartels he is beholden to instead of his office and responsibility to uphold Justice?

    • [iamlegion]

       Immaterial. Simply being targeted by a gang of thugs like the MPAA doesn’t magically make Kimble any kind of hero – I’m fine with the ruling, but he’s not the type of person anyone should emulate or respect.

      • [That_Anonymous_Coward]

        He should be afforded the same rights as anyone else, that is what the law is about.  It is not supposed to matter who you are or what your accused of there is supposed to be a level playing field.
        The fact a DoJ lawyer is twisting the law, screwing citizens, and wasting money on a vendetta from his former employers really is NOT immaterial.  When the highest law enforcement in the land is cheating, someone needs to do something.

        Dotcom may not be the best poster child ever, but all I can find are people saying he’s fat he deserves it, he did something bad once he deserves it, he is an asshole he deserves it.  The implication people can’t seem to understand is – today fuck Dotcom, next week they take your rights and make up laws to pursue you.  They hide evidence, they break the law, they pretend they haven’t done anything wrong… and there will still be someone saying you deserved it.

        We are a society that prides our selves on all men are created equal, fair treatment by the law, and a bunch of other lies we blindly embrace, and this is a test of if that is just talk or if we mean it.

  • [Shashwath T.R.]

    So it’s two sides standing waist deep in mud, and flinging it at each other…

    Doesn’t make me very sympathetic to the MPAA…

    The enemy of my enemy is only my enemy’s enemy, but sometimes a strategic alliance can help; using Kimble as a strategic front against MPAA’s misuse of law enforcement (US law enforcement, that is) is probably good strategy.

    (note: the “my” in the above is merely quoting – I’m in not really taking sides in this. I’m just pointing out a strategic idea)

    • [iamlegion]

       The enemy of my enemy is only my enemy’s enemy,
      Absolutely. This.

• [OtherMichael]

  That graphic has more lens-flare’s than a Rob Liefeld cover.

  Granted, it’s intentionally over-the-top. Every time I see it, I keep hoping that Kim actually made it himself, but the facts haven’t changed yet.

  In time….

• [gigasquid]

  Kim Dotcom is a rich but rather stupid man. That does not excuse our New Zealand police for pis*ing in the pockets of their US counterparts and trampling all over Kim D’s legal rights.

  As a New Zealander I’m embarrassed that the majority of our police could not find their bum with both hands on a sunny day.

  • [Michael Smith]

    Its a characteristic of our part of the world. An American says hop, we jump.

    • [Nathan Hornby]

      And yet we all hate them, and have no dying need to trade with them. What do we even need them for?

      • [Michael Smith]

        Because of the notion that if they go, we all go.

        • [Nathan Hornby]

          I’m not sure why that would be the case though, honestly the whole relationship confuses me.
          I’m talking politically of course; I’m not going off on some anti American tirade.

• [DigiDog]

  Here in New Zealand most people hadn’t heard of Dotcom till this FBI-inspired stupidity conned our naive Police force into conducting an ill-advised and seriously misguided terrorist raid on the man and his family.  What we’ve learned about Kim Dotcom since the January raid has turned him into somewhat of a folk hero in these parts. While he’s large and wealthy, he’s actually not a bad bloke… and we kiwis like that.

  The large scale incompetence shown by the FBI and the NZ Police suggests that there should be enormous compensation to pay for illegally shutting down a $1b company – and who’s going to pay that? Our little country can’t afford it… so will the US Government step up to the plate? Or maybe the RIAA (who were driving this fiasco) should put their hands in their pockets and come to the party. But I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

  • [Michael Smith]

    so will the US Government step up to the plate?

    You don’t want that. The FBI will gladly pay for ongoing images of megaupload servers.

• [George Michaelson]

  btw, none of this is going to bring people’s lost bits back from the computers siezed in the USA. not *directly* at least. indirectly, it might build a case, but I suspect there are a range of options onshore for the FBI to “not do that” ™ including the “I dont want to, so I wont, and you cant sue me, so what do I care” one. EFF aside of course..

• [Palomino]

  New Zealand  + Raid + file hosting/sharing  site + extradition + Unites States + Homeland Security + MPAA + FBI 

  It just doesn’t add up, or  it’s a pitch for a terrible  Hollywood movie. 

• [toyg]

  “The U.S. government is on thin ground.”

  Ground? Who needs ground? Team America World Police doesn’t need any ground; legally speaking,  they bomb your business into the middle ages FROM SPACE. 
  “Mafia State” doesn’t even start to describe current US policies on copyright.