Wilk

Mega, Megaupload and Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom spoke today at Unbound Digital about how he believes the political landscape is "heading into a dark time", not least because of "this empire, the US, causing issues around the world".

German-born Dotcom joined the conference via video link from his home in New Zealand, just days before a bail hearing that he believes is a ploy to capitalise on his diminishing funds and get him "locked up". When asked if he had a positive view of politics today, Dotcom cited the sweeping privacy issues uncovered by Edward Snowden, how this impacts human rights everywhere, and various US military campaigns as reasons for his bleak outlook. "I'm probably influenced by what's happened to me, so don't take my word for it... but the US is causing all these issues around the world. They went to Iraq to try to bring peace, now we have ISIS raging a terror state. Everything they touch turns into disaster.


It's a trend right now. Look at what is happening with our rights.

The US government is spying on every human being on the planet and breaching every human being's right to privacy. They are in breach of 50 percent of the international human rights charter."

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Dotcom obviously has plenty of reason to feel this way about the US, not withstanding the surveillance revelations. He has been a continuous target of US law suits and federal charges over the operation of massive file-sharing service Megaupload.

He has always maintained that Hong Kong-based Megaupload, which was shutdown by the US Department of Justice in 2012, was operating within the confines of the law. He reiterated this argument at Unbound Digital, saying: "No one ever thought for one minute that anyone would bring a criminal case against us. Our in-house legal council, and we had three teams, not once suggested any criminal risk at all. I wish I would have known there was any kind of risk, I probably would have done things differently."


Though he maintains this standpoint -- reiterating what Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak once said about the US charges, "When crimes occur through the mail, you don't shut the post office down" -- Dotcom admitted his "biggest regret" was not taking the threats over copyright seriously enough. "We thought because of court decisions, with Rapidshare and other sites winning in civil court proceedings, our sense was we were protected." He once again cited the historic Supreme Court ruling over a case where Sony was targeted by Hollywood for its production of what would go on to become VHS. The ruling found the technology had a dual use, i.e. it could be used for piracy or for legitimate purposes. Seeing as Megaupload, according to Dotcom, complied with 100 percent of takedown notices, it was doing everything it could to keep the dual use technology legal. "So to us, all of this is incredible -- that this is even possible," he said. "It's like with weapons of mass destruction,

'you're either with us, or against us', the US government is using that position."

He accused them of "lying out of their teeth", acting maliciously and including many inaccuracies in their indictment of him. "There are messages in there taken out of context, it's just so dirty now. I've lost my faith in law and the judicial system.

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Who pays, wins."


Dotcom argues he was an easy target for the US because of his "flamboyance" -- "if you travel round in superyachts named 'god' and 'stoned' and 'mafia', it's probably not the best way to keep a low profile" -- in addition to him being German. "Hollywood has something with German villains -- you know most Bond villains are German?" His recalled the drama of his arrest being "like a very scary scene out of a movie -- you would think a terrorist suspect was being hunted."

"All of that for copyright. It's always been a civil matter, not a criminal matter -- especially sites like mine where it's user generated. The US government had the idea they can charge me for the actions of users -- not that I committed piracy, but still hold me responsible for all the nasty things that you guys did."

Copyright issues like his used to be treated "as a parking ticket almost", he adds. "Now we know from Edward Snowden and the NSA leaks that there is a mass apparatus watching everything we do in the digital world, and the copyright lobby is trying to work with governments to protect their property in a very aggressive extremist fashion. It's all about shutting down websites and putting people in jail." "The US is getting away with more and more of these things, and I think that's a scary trend."

It's why Dotcom launched his own political party, the Internet Party, in March of this year, with its central agenda being internet freedoms and cheap connectivity for all New Zealanders. Admittedly, it's not fared all that well so far. The party didn't manage to get pact the five percent threshold of vote proportion, "but it was a start", he said. "I want to take it global and fight for internet freedom, fight back for our rights to not be undermined."

Although he didn't go into great detail and make excuses for that low vote, he does paint an image of himself as a man under siege in his own adopted country. He points to a New Zealand Herald article published this week, entitled "The fall of the house of Dotcom". In the article he is referred to as "a lonely man rattling round in his mansion", whose wife has left him and taken the children with her.

He contests: "I'm playing with my kids everyday. I'm a happy man despite all these things, because of my kids. If they were not around it would be much darker. I've been in this situation for almost three years and it's exhausting. I'm spending lots of resources and time and energy, and I think I'm being unfairly persecuted. Now I'm also surviving the media."


He says that since his Internet Party announcement, at which time he had some support in New Zealand, "politicians and the Prime Minister have been attacking me viciously, labelling me a Nazi and all kinds of things, like I've only started the political party to fight extradition, and I have ulterior motives. New Zealanders have unfortunately bought into that narrative. I am a pariah, and I might go to jail because of that."

Despite the largely negative message Dotcom was relaying, he did show some optimism for the way things are going. He believes technology will evolve to the point where government surveillance will be undone, with encryption being central to that. Bitcoin is "great", particularly innovations round the blockchain, he said. "It's just another example of how powerful the internet is and we have to protect such innovations."

Most of all, he is hopeful that one day, 50 or 100 years from now, the world will look back on his predicament, on the indictments, the shutdowns and blown-up charges, and "shake our heads" collectively. "Just as people were shaking their heads at the burning of books."