Jul 10
Legal proceedings against Kim Dotcom aren’t going so well for the US authorities. First a New Zealand court ruled that the Megaupload seizures were illegal, and now Dotcom’s extradition hearing has been pushed back to March 2013. More »
Jul 06
Though torrenting files has been around forever, there has always been a relatively high barrier of entry that kept normal people from diving in. Not anymore. BitTorrent just announced Torque, a new JavaScript interface that’ll let you download BitTorrent files right from your browser. It’s going to be so easy now. More »
Jul 06
Back in May, the judge presiding over the extradition case between Kim Dotcom and the US government ruled that Dotcom was allowed access to the files and information that the FBI held on him. Lawyers from both sides met yesterday to argue exactly what would be handed over, the result being a 40-page document compiled from 22 million emails obtained by the FBI.
The document is a summary of all the information intercepted the FBI put into 40 pages, something that Dotcom’s lawyers argues has been cherry picked. They believe that the FBI hasn’t fairly picked from the wealth of information, and won’t be able to build its defense and argue its case effectively as a result. Paul Davison, head of Dotcom’s legal team, doesn’t see why the FBI can’t deliver all the information when everything is stored electronically.
Dotcom, meanwhile, believes it’s a deliberate attempt by the government to stall the case: “Everyone can see there is a strategy of delay on the part of the US Government and the Crown.” The FBI argues that Dotcom isn’t being tried in New Zealand, and doesn’t need to see all of the information as a result. The organization says that there’s a standard that needs to be met before all information can be disclosed, and that Dotcom’s case doesn’t meet that standard.
[via Stuff NZ]
FBI rations Dotcom Megaupload evidence access is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 28
The massive US copyright infringement case against Megaupload founder Kim DotCom has found itself in choppy waters, after courts found search warrants used to seize data were invalid. In addition to New Zealand police acting without due process in their evidence collection, the New Zealand Herald reports, Justice Helen Winkelmann also decided that the FBI’s cloning of the confiscated hard-drives was invalid, as DotCom had not given his own consent to the process.
According to Winkelmann, the initial raid on DotCom’s property – which saw not only multiple computers and external drives grabbed, but a cavalcade of luxury cars and motorcycles – was far too broad in the net it cast. The warrants the police used “fell well short” of describing the offenses DotCom was to be charged with; “they were general warrants” Winkelmann said, “and as such, are invalid.”
An independent lawyer will now be appointed, to comb through everything that was seized and figure out what evidence is relevant to the investigation. The US authorities will have access to that information, but must return all other data copied from the New Zealand police.
“These categories of items were defined in such a way that they would inevitably capture within them both relevant and irrelevant material. The police acted on this authorisation. The warrants could not authorise seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid” Justice Helen Winkelmann
Exactly what happened in that data exchange process will also be investigated. According to DotCom’s lawyer, Paul Davison QC, the Crown legal team assured him back in February that “the evidence is required in its original form to be sent to the US. That has not happened and will not happen without prior warning” when he wrote to them insisting that no evidence leave the country. However, he was subsequently informed that the FBI had visited New Zealand and cloned drives, returning with the data to the US.
The Crown legal team argues that the original warrants made it clear that evidence would be shared with US authorities, and have said they are in discussions about the implications of the warrant decision on the ongoing case.
Megaupload case stalls as evidence seize & share judged illegal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 28
New Zealand Court Declares January Megaupload Seizures Illegal, a Coup for Kim DotCom [Megaupload]
Posted in: Today's Chili
New Zealand’s National Business Review and TVNZ are reporting, says The Register, that the January seizures the the Coatesville mansion of Megaupload kingpin Kim DotCom were illegal and as such are therefor invalid in court. More »
Jun 27
Law enforcement, Hollywood, and music companies are all waging war on anyone they think may have something to do with digital piracy. Much of the focus over piracy is being placed on BitTorrent sites and on cloud-based storage sites. So far, cloud storage site Dropbox has managed to stay pretty much out of the piracy line of fire, and it wants to stay that way.
A new BitTorrent startup called Boxopus to set up shop in hoped to access the Dropbox API to allow users of the service to store files and information on the Dropbox cloud. However, before Boxopus really got started, Dropbox crushed the site by blocking access to its API over fear of being associated with piracy according to reports.
The site was blocked from accessing the Dropbox APIs after it quickly racked up more than 50,000 users. The gang at Boxopus received notification from Dropbox that some features could be “perceived as encouraging users to violate copyright” and therefore, the apps access to the API was terminated. The Boxopus team says that the termination of the API access cost them $30,000 in development costs. Dropbox had approved an alpha version of Boxopus previously.
[via TorrentFreak]
BitTorrent site Boxopus blocked from Dropbox APIs is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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