It’s been relatively quiet on the MegaUpload front recently. After a U.S. judge said that the trial may not even happen, it seemed that all the parties seemed to have just given up. It appears that is not the case as Kim Dotcom is now fighting for the return of his computers and hard drives.
TorrentFreak is reporting that Dotcom has requested a judicial review of the search warrants that were used against him back in January. The legality of the search warrant was already brought into question before, but the police filed the proper warrant. The result was that Dotcom got back some of his money, but he’s now fighting to get back something more important – evidence.
Dotcom’s defense argued that the hard drives and computers are needed to mount a proper defense against the forces that seek to extradite him to the U.S. He also wants to use the information to prove that the police used excessive force against him in the raid that he claimed left him with a bleeding hand from a ruptured fingernail.
As always, the U.S. doesn’t want Dotcom to have any chance of a fair fight. Their new tactic is saying that the existence of encrypted files on the hard drives means that he must be hiding something. Dotcom claims that he isn’t and is happy to show the authorities what is behind those encrypted files. The catch? They have to return the computers and he will supply the passwords. No computers means no passwords.
In more troubling news, the New Zealand court had reportedly assured Dotcom’s defense in the past that the information on the hard drives would not be sent to the U.S. without prior warning. It was revealed during the hearing that the New Zealand authorities had already been sending all the information to the U.S. without telling anyone.
The concern now is that New Zealand will send the hard drives to the U.S. effectively removing them from New Zealand jurisdiction. It’s all part of the conspiracy that Dotcom has been talking about for months now as he believes the U.S. is cooperating with the copyright industry to bring him down as a personal favor. He believes that the record industry was scared of the competition that Dotcom would bring to the table with his music service instead of any legitimate complaints of copyright infringement.
All of this was just too much for Dotcom as he reportedly had an emotional breakdown in the courtroom. He said that having to relive those days when he was torn away from his family were “unfair and over the top.”
Now everything is up to the judge in the case to decide if Dotcom should get his belongings back. This case has been all over the place so it’s hard to say what will happen. We’ll hopefully know within the next few weeks. Until then, we’ll keep you updated on any other developments in the MegaUpload Saga.