MegaUpload: Kim Dotcom Gives First TV Interview

After the crazy events of the last two months in the MegaUpload saga, Kim Dotcom is finally coming out to talk about it. New Zealand’s 3 News spoke to the MegaUpload founder recently on a program ca...
MegaUpload: Kim Dotcom Gives First TV Interview
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After the crazy events of the last two months in the MegaUpload saga, Kim Dotcom is finally coming out to talk about it.

New Zealand’s 3 News spoke to the MegaUpload founder recently on a program called Campbell Live. The interview consisted of a lot of topics including the charges and what Dotcom plans to do to combat extradition to the U.S.

Dotcom began by saying that he never thought MegaUpload would be targeted by the authorities due to protections granted by the DMCA. All of his legal advisers told him that they were completely safe.

Interestingly enough, Dotcom divulged the inspiration behind the creation of MegaUpload. It apparently came about because of an email he sent:

Well, you know, one day I was sending a file to a friend via email and I got a message back saying, you know, the file’s too large and the mail server has refused to send it so I thought, you know, what can I come up with, what can I do to solve that? So I basically created a server where I could upload a file and got a unique link and then I would just email that link to my friend and he would then get the file and that’s how Megaupload was started, it was just a solution to a problem that still exists today.

He said that due to the sheer amount of traffic coming through their servers (800 file transfers every second), it’s impossible to monitor data for copyright infringement. He did say, however, that every member of the MPAA had “direct delete access” to take down any copyrighted material on MegaUpload.com

In regards to the accusation that MegaUpload has caused damages in excess of $500 million, Dotcom said the accusation is ridiculous and out of proportion:

Well that’s complete nonsense. If you read the indictment and if you hear what the Prosecution has said in court, it’s at least $500 million of damage were just music files and just within a two-week time period. So they are actually talking about $13 billion US damage within a year just for music downloads. The entire US music industry is less than $20 billion. So how can one website be, you know, responsible for this amount of damage, it’s completely mind-boggling and unrealistic.

Dotcom compared MegaUpload to the accusation that Iraq had WMDs. He says that the accusations are all lies to fulfill a political goal. He says that file-sharing doesn’t come from sites like his, but rather from an outdated business model from Hollywood.

Where does piracy come from? Piracy comes from, you know, people, let’s say, in Europe who do not have access to movies at the same time that they are released in the US. This is a problem that has been born within this licensing model and the old business model that Hollywood has where they release something first in one country but they show trailers to everyone around the world pitching that new movie but then the 14-year-old kid in France or Germany can’t watch it for another six months, you know? If the business model would be one where everyone has access to this content at the same time, you know, you wouldn’t have a piracy problem. So it’s really, in my opinion, the government of the United States protecting an outdated monopolistic business model that doesn’t work anymore in the age of the internet and that’s what it all boils down to. I’m no piracy king, I offered online storage and bandwidth to users and that’s it.

What may be damning for the MPAA is that Dotcom says the organization never came to him first with their concerns. They went straight for the throat instead of submitting take down notices.

Why does Dotcom feel that he was targeted instead of any other business that offers the same service? His infamy and foreign background:

I’m an easy target. My flamboyance, my history as a hacker, you know, I’m not American, I’m living somewhere in New Zealand around the world. I have funny number plates on my cars, you know, I’m an easy target. I’m not Google. I don’t have 50 billion dollars in my account and right now I’ve not a penny on my account. All my lawyers currently are basically working without a penny and they are all still on board and all still doing their job because what they see here is unfair, is unreasonable and is not justice.

As for the future, Dotcom is going to fight the charges.

I feel confident I am going to win because at the end of the day I know, my family knows, and everybody around me knows that I am no criminal and I have done nothing wrong. So I will fight it. It’s all I can do.

To watch the full interview, check it out on 3 News.

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