Megaupload founder held in N. Zealand, home raided

[tabatha]

New Zealand police seized a treasure trove of luxury goods from the founder of file-sharing site Megaupload.com Friday as four suspected Internet pirates wanted in the United States appeared in court. Armed officers swooped on an Auckland mansion occupied by "Kim Dotcom", whose website was shut down by US authorities on Thursday accusing it of one of the largest cases of copyright theft ever.

The police seized luxury cars worth NZ$6.0 million ($4.8 million), including a 1959 pink Cadillac and a Rolls Royce Phantom, as well as "a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun".

NZ$11 million in cash held in New Zealand financial accounts was also frozen pending the outcome of legal proceedings, police said.

Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz, a 37-year-old German citizen with New Zealand and Hong Kong residency, was denied bail with three other men on Friday when they appeared in an Auckland district court, police said.

http://news.yahoo.com/file-sharing-shut-down-seven-indicted-us-012511395.html

[cstanleytech]

1. Question......were the servers in the US? Reason why is I went to check

them out and it has US law enforcement symbols all over it now claiming its been seized by an order from a US court and the FBI and other US agencies which is odd if its in another country.

[Ecumenist]

2. I noticed that too. My question as well.

[joshcryer]

6. That's a domain seizure you see, I have no idea to the extent they have siezed servers.

They were apparently all over the globe, so there's no way of knowing that, I don't think.

A domain seizure is simple, just go to the registrar, and file an injunction with a judge. They do it all the time for pedophile distributing sites.

[woolldog]

3. Between this and the continuation of the war on pot

Eric Holder is a pretty big fucking disappointment.

[cstanleytech]

4. You might wish to reconsider that.

The reason why I suggest that (and its only a suggestion) is that its the responsibility of the Attorney Generals to prosecute those who violate the laws and yes that means going after pot users and people who violate copyright law.
I'm not saying I agree with the laws though but until they are changed they are the law and we as a society have laws for a reason however that doesnt mean we cannot nor that we should not work to change the laws if we disagree with them.

[joshcryer]

5. I'd rather Holder go after big corporate cronys than grandma's whose grandkids...

...left their file sharing client open.

I'm not too worked up over this. If anything I'm more pissed off that I was so ignorant of Kim Dotcom's lavish lifestyle.