Canadian court refuses to let Feds snoop on Megaupload servers

Am i too simple to understand .....

If, as alleged,the $175m is the profit from criminal activities and most likely the bulk of that will end up in the hands of the lawyers,

are the lawyers thus not living on the proceeds of crime?

Seriously?

"1,000 servers based in the US were seized [...] 32 based in Canada may be crucial to proving the case against Megaupload."

That sounds like a gigantic fishing operation. Maybe some people at the FBI will be happy about this outcome: it's not that they have a weak case, it's just that all the crucial evidence is hidden on those darn Canadian servers ...

What's he done wrong that others haven't

The bit I don't understand is what he's done wrong that many other companies haven't. He basically provided a storage service for files. Yes, this was used by various people infringing copyright and he (despite his denials) knew full well this was the case. However, ISPs sell services to people in the full knowledge that some at least are infringing copyright. Indeed, if the ISPs looked at your browsing history, some of the culprits would be easily identifiable. Youtube also hosts lots of material that breaches copyright as well.

So, what's he done that other companies haven't, are still doing and are making good money out of? I don't deny that he may have provided a platform for illegal activities and even turned a blind eye to it, but plenty of others are as well and none are being persued with the same vengence as he is. I'm no fan of dotcom, as he appears to be a total w**ker. However, if being that is reason to arrest someone, prisons are going to be full.

If the law is to stand for anything, it has to apply, to everyone equally. If someone is persued for a particular infringement, you can't ignore the same infringement for others.

FBI's overreach

Nice to see the court's standing up to US bullying for once: the FBI's remit is the US and this kind of extraterritoriality is not good for anyone.

Whether or not Kim has been involved in illegal activities is not relevant. It's whether or not he broke Federal law in the US. For everything outside the US the FBI can only ask other countries to assist in its investigations.

What he's done wrong:

On the US side:

1: Isn't American.

2: Didn't grease the right palms

3: Setup his own music label and started poaching successful artists.

on the NZ side:

1: Is "foreign"

2: has a criminal record.

3: Is rich, flamboyant and annoying (a serious faux pas in NZ).

4: Believed that NZ was a safe haven, where he could pay politicians to keep out of trouble instead of a banana republic where his money would be accepted but he'd happily be thrown under a bus anyway.

The NZ government was seduced by the thought of seizing all his assets and cash(*)(**) thereby preventing him from mounting a competent legal defence and railroading him out of the country.

(*) Why put up with only getting eggs when you can have the golden goose instead?

(**)Seizure is the standard tactic in NZ - it forces people to rely on court-appointed defence lawyers who generally aren't much good and are under a lot of pressure not to mount a decent defence (it can be "career-limiting" to do so in NZ high profile cases with many such lawyers ending up working outside the country as they can no longer get employment in NZ). Dotcom is one of very few people who've been able to get assets released to cover his defence costs.

There have been a bunch of major miscarriages of justice in New Zealand over the years - to the point where they dumped the Privy Council as the highest court because it kept bringing down decisions excoriating NZ courts and policing. Things aren't helped by juries having the mentality "He's been charged therefore he's got to be guilty" and convicting people despite outrageously flimsy evidence(***) (Look up "noble cause corruption" - NZ policing has more than its fair share of Gene Hunts)

(***) In one murder case against someone who was a customer of mine the prosecution case hinged on an accusation that the guy drove a 180 mile round trip in peak traffic and killed his wife and kid all in less than 2 hours. When the police attempted to replicate the drive to prove their case they triggered more than a dozen 111 (999/911) calls from concerned motorists and still only managed to do it in 3 hours - this was presented as evidence in court and should have resulted in the collapse of the case. He was still found guilty and the Privy Council ripped the courts a new one when it got to them.

If the case goes on much longer, he should maybe change his name again - from Dotcom to SCO

Makes sense to me

Sounds like their service was being used by criminals and they should be held responsible just as other companies are. Use the mail service, phone, banks, financial systems or roadways for crime and those companies face similar action. It isn't just the crime that is illegal but anything to do with it.

Unless you are the government, then your crimes are OK.

Haven't had the opportunity to read the decision

(as it hasn't made it to the 'freely viewable' site)

I've been watching this cesspool of hypocrisy ooze it's way through the various court systems. If this was from the judge I believe it was from it will be a reasonably thought out decision. One of the few things I've seen here of late is that even the most brutally 'toe the line' judges in this province started to get kinda peeved with the enforcement arm after Fantino decided that Ontario was going to go 'back to the 50's'. I just hope that the 'review committee' selected includes someone with a brain cell or 6.