MegaUpload: founder released, banned from accessing the Internet

MegaUpload founder, Kim Dotcom, has been bailed by New Zealand courts. The United States request for extradition will be assessed on the 20th of August.

Kim Schmitz, alias Kim Dotcom and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, has finally been freed on bail. Of German origins, the founder of MegaUpload was arrested on the 20th of January in his oversized mansion in New Zealand following an American warrant and police raid involving 70 officers.

The man has been accused of being at the head of MegaUpload which benefitted from massive copyright violation by copying and distributing protected films and music. The business generated more than 175 million dollars in illegal profits and caused more than a half a billion dollars in losses for copyright holders.

Unlike the three other MegaUpload managers arrested in New Zealand, Kim Dotcom hadn’t yet been released on bail, with courts believing that he was a high level flight risk due to his numerous identities and the fact he held three passports in different names.

The New Zealand courts have finally shown clemency to the 28 year old. Freed on bail, he says that he is relieved that he can go home to his family: his three children and pregnant wife.

Judge Nevin Dawson believes that it is "highly unlikely" that Kim Dotcom will have access to finances that have not yet been seized. He will therefore not be able to leave the country


Under direct surveillance
Kim Dotcom will have to live in his house at Coatesville with a few conditions: no Internet access (a measure that is often taken for arrested hackers), no helicopter is allowed when travelling and banned from going more than 80 km from home except for a medical emergency. He will also have to signal all movements to the police.

Kim Dotcom’s lawyers believe that the fact that he is not allowed Internet access is "unrealistic", pointing out that the international character of the affair means that he will have to be in contact with lawyers in the United States to prepare for his defence. "It’s like saying that he isn’t allowed access to a telephone. This is a fundamental method of communication".

It is only in August that Kim Dotcom will find out whether the United States extradition request will be validated, where he risks up to 50 years in prison. Attorneys preparing the charges recently added additional charges to the file, while the defence is trying to demonstrate that MegaUpload was nothing more than a hosting service.

Kim Dotcom’s stay in prison certainly hasn’t altered his sense of humour. He has declared that the way police treated him felt like an episode of American Idol.