Kim Dotcom Resigns From Mega To Fight Extradition, Run For Office 109
rjmarvin writes "The Internet mogul and founder of the infamous file sharing and storage service confirmed he has stepped down as director to fight his U.S. extradition case, develop Megabox — his revolutionary music platform — oh, and to start his own political party and run for office in New Zealand's elections next year. What about the cutting-edge encrypted email service he promised? Well that's Chief Executive Vikram Kumar and new Director Bonnie Lam's problem now. Dotcom will have his hands full trying to 'get New Zealanders a new submarine cable, fair Internet pricing & no more data caps...'"
Busy lil' feller... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
"Busy huge' feller..."
There corrected it for you.
Gee, he's got my vote (Score:2, Funny)
A conviceted fraudster for an MP? I thought they were at least supposed to *start* honest.
Re:Gee, he's got my vote (Score:5, Funny)
per-scandaled. It's the new way to do business.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Gee, he's got my vote (Score:5, Insightful)
The politician you know is a felon is more honest than the one who claims not to be.
Re:Gee, he's got my vote (Score:5, Insightful)
I think, given the current state of the law, we are all felons.
Re: (Score:3)
He should campaign as the Robin Hood of intellectual property laws.
Re:Gee, he's got my vote (Score:5, Informative)
He's a real criminal. Many criminal charges including credit card theft, pump and dump stock schemes, and investment fraud.
Re: (Score:3)
Mod parent up. Just because you support his claims against the music industry doesn't mean Kim isn't a giant jackoff.
The guy has run the gambit of fraudulent business enterprises, hence the reason he hasn't been to his home country (Germany) in years and the name change (break the association with his criminal past).
He got lucky with Mega, otherwise he'd probably still be stealing old ladies checkbooks.
Re: (Score:1)
'Mega' was/is just another scam he's running. I'd hardly call it luck, he just found a new method.
Re: (Score:2)
'Mega' was/is just another scam he's running. I'd hardly call it luck, he just found a new method.
It is? Pretty expensive "scam" he is doing. I thought scams was about putting little money in and making a shit ton of money back. While he might of made some money with MegaUpload, he has been spending quite a bit of it to defend himself. Then, on top of that, he started up another Mega, is making a Music site, is starting up a political party. All of which cost money.
So once again, tell me how it is a scam what he is doing now?
Re: (Score:1)
He likely got people to front him most of the money and he's been keeping mega going while figuring out how to divert as much as possible to supporting his luxury living that he in turn uses to convince other people he's got shit figured out. This is not rocket science, there are a lot of guys more honest than him who stay in the lap of luxury by being at the helm of failed startup after failed startup he simply observed this and took out the unimportant parts.
It kills me that you guys are defending this
Re: (Score:2)
Well, you catch bandits with bandits. About time someone stepped up against the criminals who don't work in the interest of the voters but in the interest of the criminal empire the US is.
Re: (Score:2)
He's a real criminal. Many criminal charges including credit card theft, pump and dump stock schemes, and investment fraud.
So you are saying he has experience going up against the corporations that are running the show?
Re: (Score:1)
WRONG. Google his name read the articles on attrition. He is not guilty of crossing the MPAA he's guilty of robbing people of their life savings in order to fund the appearance of success which he then uses to convince the next round of confidence scam suckers.
Mega was the most honest thing he's ever done, not the reason he's called a criminal. He would happily be one of the banksters robber barons we all hate if he wasn't such a laughably goofy personality.
Re: (Score:2)
The politician you know is a felon is more honest than the one who claims not to be.
There is a lot of truth in this. Look at his behavior and personality. How is he any different than any other politician that has been exposed for wrong doing? Positions of power attract similar personalities, and the fact that Kim would direct his resources towards a political position implies he is cut from the same cloth as every other politician out there.
The shocking part is not Kim running for office, it is that people like Kim are already there.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
More likely many start claiming to be honest.
Re: (Score:1)
We already know that he has the necessary qualifications for a career in politics.
Back in the '80s he happily sold out people when it gave him an advantage (look up his connection to Gravenreuth, a German lawyer).
Starting point for your own research: http://eclamus.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/megaupload/ [wordpress.com]
Re: (Score:2)
It's not self-aggrandizing when other people are doing the aggrandizing.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh? You're sure about that? That's a pretty big claim to make without presenting any evidence (or even any reasoning)
Not good enough (Score:5, Insightful)
Cutting-edge, encrypted email should be an RFC, not a service.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean like 1847, 2015, and 3156?
Re: (Score:2)
Not familiar with those but note that I didn't say that it didn't already exist. Just that a centralized service is not an acceptable implementation.
Re: (Score:2)
Uhm, why cutting edge? Theres nothing wrong with 20 year old encrypted email
Re:Not good enough (Score:4, Funny)
There's a fair bit wrong actually.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing wrong with that. Only a fool stays with a product that isn't selling and has no hope that it will.
Surprised? (Score:2, Insightful)
If anyone was actually surprised at this, given his attention-whore-arms-race-partner Julian Assange running for parliament, I've got some nice oceanfront property to sell you in Kansas. Schmitz (his v 1.0 last name) has pretty much had a year or two's shelf life on any given project before he found a bigger "look at ME" project for the last couple of decades. Well, I wish him good luck, and all that. I look forward to the schadenfreude of watching people actually think he's not just saying whatever it t
Re:Surprised? (Score:4, Insightful)
I literally just shit my pants so much that my whole colon came out and shot through the wall in shock. And then the rest of my internal organs followed when I realized that might mean that people who are less than perfect could potentially be elected into office.
I mean, my God, they might sully the good name of elected officials! They might make decisions which are not necessarily in the best interests of everyone! They might have sex while in office with people who are not their spouses and in positions which are not missionary! They might make headlines for things which are not "Kim Dotcom and Julian Assange quietly achieve world peace and nuclear fusion." There might be annoying headlines about things they do! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!
Re: (Score:2)
That and much of Assange's "attention whoring" really had nothing to do with him.
Most of his supposed "attention whoring" was actually the media looking for a drama and most prominently falling for the whole Domscheit-Berg FUDfest, you can read about it first hand from a real actual activist with a long track record and who was familiar with the two of them:
http://nothingispermanent.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/open-letter.html [blogspot.co.uk]
Most of the "attention whoring" by Assange has actually been manufactured precisely to
Re: (Score:2)
So what? Current and former US presidents should be facing a Neurenberg trial but only escape it because they have power.
More than anyone presently alive (or comatose) (Score:4, Funny)
Kim Dotcom reminds me of Bill the Cat >ACK<
Re: (Score:2)
Does he also play in a band called Billy and the Boingers?
If the election doesn't work out, (Score:1)
If the election doesn't work out, is he gonna try starting a church?
I get the impression he's kind of an AW'ing gladhanding huckster, not a principled person.
I could be wrong, of course, and sort of hope I am, but all the stunting and 'hey! look-at-me'-ness gives me doubt.
put the major music labels out of business (Score:2)
and all the big artists contracts likely will kill this idea or some how make them pay up any money they make off of this.
Why are we still hearing about this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why are we still hearing about this? There has been nothing notable about this attention-thirsty individual in a long time, notwithstanding "Mega" and its allegedly real users.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why are we still hearing about this? There has been nothing notable about this attention-thirsty individual in a long time, notwithstanding "Mega" and its allegedly real users.
Other then the USA over reaching it's jurisdiction in another country, breaking laws there and here, destroying a business because the music/movie cartels asked for it? You know, where we claim people are innocent until proven guilty, yet doing every little thing they can (the USA) to keep the trial in there favor, if it even ever goes to trial.
Look, you have a low UID, so i expect some smarts out of you, but apparently you are senile if you don't think the "Mega" has nothing to do with anyone else. It's
Re: (Score:3)
As you, since you note my low UID, would have noted, I have a very low opinion and an even dimmer view of services that try to earn money by promoting, either directly or indirectly, the act of illegally distributing copyrighted content, contraband, stolen secrets, and the abuse of intellectual property. From Napster, Gnutella, Limewire, BitTorrent, and "MegaUpload/Mega," my views are consistent (NB I do not hold an opinion of WikiLeaks for personal reasons). Not all information "wants to be free" and it'
Re: (Score:1)
Because the NZ police use the FiveEyes infrastructure to illegally spy on him. It's an issue at the heart of Snowden's NSA revelations and being played out in a supposedly democratic country famed for it's transparency and political honesty. We've just changed our laws to make uses of the now-revealed spying tools legal by our government for looking into things completely outside of 'terrorism'. It's a big deal here. Just as Snowden and the continued leaks are a big deal everywhere else.
Kim Schmitz == Julian Assange (Score:1)
equally evil,
equally hated,
equally loved,
both viewed in secrect as hero's of the netizens, because they actually moved things and are pain in the ass of Survalian Parties
Re: (Score:1)
Ah; there's an idea for his next project:
MegaLeaks. He could even start a political party dedicated to fostering information leaks while protecting privacy.
Interesting individual (Score:3)
The guy certainly has a knack for getting people riled up. Thing is though, when you mouth builds a bridge your ass can't cross people get sick of hearing you spew. Maybe this guy is genuinely going to change things for the better and maybe not. Time will tell.
Re: (Score:2)
Getting a law passed that abandons copyright? That would be an interesting experiment. It could bring the local economy a lot of profit when companies rush in from oppressed countries.
Chaotic... (Score:1)
Good
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Kudos Unknown Lamer (Score:2)
Cutting edge encrypted email service? (Score:2)
It's called PGP / GnuPG.
Not so funny when you live here... (Score:3)
The way the political system works here (NZ) it is actually entirely possible for him to become an MP.
We have a small population and the minimum threshold (under MMP) for a party to get seats in parliament is quite low.
It is unlikely he'll get there, but it is not impossible.
For those of us who live in New Zealand... (Score:1)
The sad part is, he'll fit right in among NZ politicians. Publicity whore? Check. Big-time crook now untouchable by law? Check. Doesn't know what he's talking about? Check. Too amateurish to try to make it in any bigger pond than NZ? Check.
Winston Peters, Peter Dunne, Colin Craig, David Cunliffe - there's a reason you, out there in the Rest Of The World, have never heard of any of them. Kim Dotcom won't even stand out among them.
Re: (Score:2)
This is like taking a dump (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I've seen this meme often, but don't really understand it. What's the joke in using the word "cosmonaut" instead of "confidant"?