Kim Dotcom publishes white paper on Megaupload case

Kim Dotcom, the internet mogul behind Megaupload, Mega and the ongoing extradition trial between himself and several government authorities, has today published a white paper on his official site, explaining everything that led up to this point and how authorities conspired against him and his company.

Written by Dotcom‘s lawyers from the UK and US, Robert Amsterdam and Ira Rothken, it's a pretty hefty document. Weighing in at nearly 50 A4 pages, with lots of citations, it'll take a while before all the information is gleaned from it, but let's see what we can find out from a whistle stop tour of its main points. 

The first eye grabber is that the entire piece is titled, “The Unites States vs You (and Kim Dotcom) showing that Dotcom is still keen to be seen as someone fighting not for himself, but for internet and real world freedoms. Whether you believe Dotcom is as selfless as he occasionally portrays himself to be, he has still been illegally spied upon, illegally arrested and could potentially be extradited to stand trial in a country that his company had no official base in. 

The USA vs You. A point the report's authors are keen to emphasise. 

The language within the white paper gets quite heavy handed at points, describing the case against Megaupload as “littered with due process violations and prosecutorial abuse.” It goes on to say that “Hollywood has exerted a corrupting influence in Washington,” and suggests that we are on a “slippery slope”, that threatens to stifle innovation and constitutional principles like free speech and due process. 

Further on in the document, the finger pointing subsides and more raw figures and laws are cited. Such as the fact that without a congressional order, US federal law cannot be applied extra-territorially. On top of that, the white paper points out that in recent court cases, like the Viacom trial on 18th April this year, the court ruled that Youtube wasn't responsible for its users' content, as long as it could prove it was unaware of infringement. In the same way, Megaupload should be federally protected. 

It's also suggested by the report's authors, that Dotcom and Megaupload were used as a scapegoat, at a time when there were far more valid targets to go after. Rapidshare is cited, as a similarly popular website, but one that made files far easier for non members to find, by listing them within search engines like Google. In comparison, Megaupload supplied error pages if those without the direct link attempted to gain access to a file.

KitGuru Says: The document is quite scathing in its look into US and NZ authority actions and makes bold claims. It's a pretty interesting read. If you want to get a headstart on more detailed rundowns by tech publications the world over, here's the white paper in full. 

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