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Tag: New Zealand

  • Baby Left With Note in Grocery Store Parking Lot

    Shopping with children is certainly high up on the list of stressful activities for parents. The alternative of leaving the baby alone is not a real option, but a woman in New Zealand decided this weekend that it was.

    The New Zealand Herald is reporting that a mother left her baby alone in a car in the parking lot of the Porirua, New Zealand Pak’nSave grocery store. A note was left on the infant, reading,”My mum’s in doing the shopping, call her if I need anything.” The man who found the baby promptly called the number left on the note and summoned the child’s mother to the parking lot.

    Though leaving a child alone in such a way is illegal in New Zealand, no charges were mentioned by the Herald report.

    Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, especially in hot weather, is dangerous. Children die as a result of the practice on a yearly basis, and some states have laws that allow parents to be prosecuted on manslaughter charges for such deaths.

    (Image courtesy Polly Gillespie on Facebook)

  • Kim Dotcom Loses Appeal In Extradition Battle

    With all the excitement over the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that Kim Dotcom is still facing extradition to the U.S. To fight this, Dotcom and his legal team argues that they need access to the evidence the U.S. will bring against them. Lower courts agreed with Dotcom, but the Court of Appeals didn’t buy the argument.

    TorrentFreak reports that the Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that said the U.S. had to present all the evidence it had on Dotcom and his associates. In its ruling, the court says that evidence is not required in an extradition case because it’s not a trial over whether the party is innocent or guilty. Instead, the court said that the U.S. only has to prove that they have a case against Dotcom to move things forward.

    It’s a pretty big setback for Dotcom, as he was hoping to get access to all the evidence the U.S. has against him. Dotcom isn’t giving up, however, and plans to bring his case before the Supreme Court.

    For the next installment in the long running Dotcom legal battle, we’re going to have to wait for word from the Supreme Court. If it picks up the case, we can expect to see Dotcom’s already delayed extradition trial delayed even further. If the court doesn’t agree to hear the case, Dotcom’s extradition trial will go on as planned in August. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.

  • Grab Some Popcorn And Watch The Hour Long Mega Launch Party

    As you all know by now, Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched over the weekend to much fanfare. The new file-sharing site is already in the top 150 most visited sites on the Internet, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

    Dotcom has already shared the speech he gave at the launch of Mega, but we didn’t get to see the full spectacle. Now you have the opportunity to see what all the hubbub was about as Dotcom launched his latest product.

    The video clocks in at an hour and 14 minutes long. You might want to grab a snack:

    Despite hosting a massive launch event, Mega has not been without its stumbles over its first few days. The service was a little unreliable at first, and then reports started coming out that Mega’s encryption wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. The launch problems have been fixed already, but Dotcom is now engaging critics of the site’s encryption. He will even be offering a cash reward soon for those who can break it.

    Perhaps the strangest thing to come out of the launch, however, was the above video being taken down from YouTube as a result of a DMCA complaint from GEMA. Dotcom claims all the songs in the video are of his own creation. The video is back up, but Dotcom says GEMA will be hearing from his lawyers.

    It’s pretty obvious that Dotcom and Mega will continue to run into situations like this as the file-sharing service becomes more popular. In fact, it shouldn’t be too long before we start hearing some noise from the same media industry that’s been gloating about the shut down of Megaupload.

  • Mega Already Has Over 1 Million Users, Dotcom Teases Future Projects

    On Sunday, Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz finally launched after a year of preparation and rebuilding since the original Megaupload was shut down in early 2012. Dotcom held a massive media event in New Zealand to celebrate the launch, and provided more details as to what his goals are with this latest venture.

    The Next Web reports that Dotcom announced at the Mega launch media event that the service has gained over 1 million users within a day. It’s a fantastic start, but the service still has a ways to go before it reaches the levels seen with the original Megaupload.

    At the event, Dotcom shared some more details about Mega and other upcoming projects like Megabox. First and foremost, he assured the audience that something like Megaupload won’t happen again because his team “scrutinized every pixel to ensure it’s built from the ground up to adhere to the law.” As for the 220 jobs lost when Megaupload was shut down, Dotcom says he plans to offer every one of them their jobs back while creating a few hundred jobs in New Zealand. As for Megabox, he says the service will launch in six months.

    Of course, a concern is that Hollywood and the music industry may not appreciate the relaunch of the Mega brand. To them, Dotcom says he he wants “to find a diplomatic solution.” To further elaborate, he says that “the wiser thing to is to start a dialog to solve this problem between Hollywood and the Internet. We can solve this by sitting down together.” He extended the same offer to President Barack Obama despite the fact that Obama’s administration are the ones leading the prosecution in the states.

    Speaking of movies, Dotcom teased on Facebook that he also plans to revive Megavideo in a slightly different format. Just like Megabox, he fully intends to shake up the industry with Megamovie. It’s only a tease at the moment so details are scarce, but it seems like a service that would allow movie studios to sell their films directly to consumers while retaining more profit compared to other services like iTunes or Amazon Instant Video. Considering that Megabox is still six months out, it will probably be a while before we see anything more on Megamovie.

    Megabox1 day ago

    That was just the beginning.

    Powered by socialditto  241 likes ·  64 comments

    So, what will Dotcom do now that Mega has been launched? He said that he plans to take a step back from the public eye for a while. During that time, he will be writing a book about his experiences over the last year. He also wants to take a break because he doesn’t want “to be seen as someone who is always in the media.” He can’t escape the public eye completely, however, as he will be attending court a lot over the course of the year as his extradition hearing approaches.

  • Facebook Rolls Out New Privacy Settings Globally

    It’s official. You should be seeing Facebook’s new privacy controls popping up any time now. The company has just announced that they should be rolling out to users are the world, including the U.S.

    “Last week we told you about some new privacy tools to help manage who can see what you share on Facebook. These tools have started rolling out globally and will begin to roll out in the US starting today.”

    Facebook first announced the changes earlier this month, and began rolling them out in their favorite testing ground of New Zealand yesterday.

    “Today’s updates include Privacy Shortcuts, an easier-to-use Activity Log, and a new Request and Removal tool for managing multiple photos you’re tagged in. We’re also adding new in-product education that makes key concepts around controlling your sharing clearer, such as in-context reminders about how stuff you hide from timeline may still appear in news feed, search, and other places,” says Facebook.

    The “privacy shortcuts” will come from a tab located at the top right of your main bar, next to your name, settings button, and home button. Facebook wants users to be able to access, learn about, and modify their privacy settings anywhere on the site.

    As far as the new Activity Log goes, here’s what Facebook has to say:

    “The updated Activity Log has new navigation, so you can easily review your own activity on Facebook, such as your likes and comments, photos of you, and posts you’ve been tagged in. It also has new ways to sort information, for example: Now you can quickly see public photos you’re tagged in and have hidden from your timeline, but which still appear in other places on Facebook.”

    Users should start seeing the new controls soon. You can check out our full breakdown on the changes here.

  • Facebook Starts Rolling Out New Privacy Settings in New Zealand

    New Zealand, that fertile testing ground for experimental and upcoming Facebook features, has just begun to receive the company’s recently announced privacy settings additions. Facebook announced the changes a couple of weeks ago, saying that they would make it easier for users to both understand and access their various privacy settings.

    According to The Next Web, users in New Zealand are being greeted with a box that shows a sample question from the new “privacy shortcuts” tab. That questions reads “how do I stop someone from bothering me” and then gives the user some info on blocked users, along with the ability to block the user right from that tab.

    That’s the gist of the new privacy shortcut tab. Facebook wants users to be able to learn about, access, and change their privacy settings from anywhere on the site – without having to leave the Timeline and news feed. The new privacy shortcut tab follows users around the site and will appear on the top right of the header, niest to your name, profile picture, and the “home” button.

    Facebook is also making improvements to the Activity Log.

    “The updated Activity Log has new navigation, so you can easily review your own activity on Facebook, such as your likes and comments, photos of you, and posts you’ve been tagged in. It also has new ways to sort information, for example: Now you can quickly see public photos you’re tagged in and have hidden from your timeline, but which still appear in other places on Facebook,” said the company when they announced the new privacy controls.

    For a full rundown on all the changes, check here.

    Facebook said at the time that the new controls should roll out to all users by year’s end. The fact that they are showing up in for New Zealanders means that they’re most likely just around the corner for us here in the U.S. and for others around the world.

  • Kim Dotcom Gets The OK To Sue New Zealand’s Spy Agency

    If anything, you have to agree that Kim Dotcom is tenacious. He’s fought every challenge that has come his way since having his Web site and livelihood seized by feds in January. Now he’s just received clearance to launch a lawsuit that could have some very heavy implications.

    Back in September, it was revealed that Dotcom was subject to illegal surveillance at the hands of New Zealand’s GCSB – the country’s equivalent of the CIA. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at the time said he was not aware of the spy agency’s actions and would open a full investigation into the issue.

    Fast forward to now where the courts have given Dotcom the OK to file a lawsuit against the GCSB. The interesting part is that the High Court has ordered the spy agency to reveal the details of its electronic spying setup in court. The order also requires the spy agency to reveal which nations it handed the info over to. It could very well reveal that the GCSB was handing over Dotcom’s information to US authorities before the raid on his mansion in January that was conducted by the local police and the FBI.

    Obviously, the government opposes the court order on the grounds that info from GCSB being made public could pose a national security risk. The judge in the case will hand the information to a third party who will verify which information is relevant to the case.

    Like always, Kim Dotcom has something to say, and he says it via Twitter. This time, he seems pretty confident that he’ll beat the spy agency in court with unnamed evidence that he’s gathered.

    Aside from suing New Zealand’s spy agency, Dotcom will also be launching the new Mega in January on the anniversary of the police raid that took Megaupload down. The new domain hit a few snags at first, but now it’s ready to go.

    [h/t: NZ Herald]

  • President Obama And New Zealand PM John Key Discuss Kim Dotcom

    Kim Dotcom is currently fighting in New Zealand and US courts to have the charges against Megaupload and himself dropped. It’s not exactly getting much play in the mainstream news, but something new happens every week. It’s actually kind of surprising that President Obama hasn’t even addressed it since it’s his administration that’s leading the offensive against Dotcom. Well, as it turns out, Obama will talk about Dotcom, but only in private.

    Stuff reports that Obama and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key both attended the East Asia Summit in Cambodia this week to discuss various issues facing these nations. During the summit, Obama and Key met up in private to discuss Dotcom. It’s noted that Key was reluctant to even say that they discussed Dotcom, and refused to give any details on what the talk entailed.

    Dotcom wasn’t going to sit idly by as world leaders talked about him behind closed doors. He took to Twitter to ask Obama for some green cards:

    Back in July, Dotcom formally addressed Obama in a music video called “Mr. President.” As expected, Obama didn’t respond in any way to Dotcom’s first attempt at contact. It likely will remain this time as well unless Dotcom is able to successfully have the case against Megaupload dropped in the US courts.

    In other news, Dotcom just hit the top 50 in the leaderboards for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but he still hates the game. He’s going back to Modern Warfare 3.

  • Kim Dotcom Moves Megaupload Reboot To .NZ Domain

    Kim Dotcom has some lofty goals for Mega, the reboot of Megaupload. To accomplish these goals, he had to move to a domain that couldn’t be easily suspended by the US government. Turns out his first move to Me.ga, a domain under the jurisdiction of Gabon, was suspended by the Gabonese government. Now he’s trying his luck back home.

    Dotcom announced a few hours ago via Twitter that the new Mega will be launching on his home country’s domain at mega.co.nz.

    The site looks exactly the same as it did on me.ga. Dotcom is still looking for investors, hosting partners and Mega API partners. He is also still hoping to launch the site on January 19, the one-year anniversary of the raid on his home that led to his arrest and the shutdown of Megaupload and related services like Megavideo.

    Now it’s time to play the waiting game, and see if the New Zealand government cracks down on the Mega.co.nz domain. Dotcom blamed Gabon’s swift suspension of the domain on interference from Vivendi and the US government. He’s also been adamant that certain players within New Zealand’s government have thrown him to the dogs, but the courts have largely been on his side. Any attempt to suspend the Mega.co.nz domain will most likely result in legal proceedings that Dotcom is likely to win based on precedent.

    In other news, Dotcom is apparently disappointed in the latest Call of Duty – Black Ops 2. His opinion should hold more weight than most as he was at one time the number one ranked player in the world in Modern Warfare 3.

  • Tyson’s Visa Cancelled, New Zealand Doesn’t Want Him

    Mike Tyson’s 1992 rape conviction still haunts him, as it is grounds for New Zealand officials to deny him entrance into the country for a November event called “Day Of The Champions”.

    Tyson was initially granted the go-ahead by New Zealand Immigration Minister Kate Wilkinson because his speech was set to garner proceeds for a children’s charity, Life Education Trust. But the group bowed out and withdrew their support yesterday, and Wilkinson saw no need to keep Tyson on the guest list.

    “Given that the trust is no longer supporting the event, on balance, I have made the decision to cancel his visa,” Wilkinson said in a statement.

    Tyson’s past could be the thing that keeps him out of Australia–where he’s scheduled to speak on five tour dates–as well. However, tour promoter Max Markson says he doesn’t think Australia will keep him out, and that it’s possible New Zealand will reverse their decision if he can find a suitable charity to back him up.

    “He’ll only be in the country for 20 hours, I don’t think he’s a danger to anybody, and thousands of people want to see him,” Markson said.

  • Kim Dotcom Was Subject To Illegal Surveillance From New Zealand’s CIA

    It’s been relatively quiet on the Megaupload front for the past few weeks. The last major event saw Kim Dotcom winning $4.83 million in his bid to have funds released to him. For now, he’s still fighting to have the charges against him and his company dropped. That fight may have become a little easier as New Zealand’s Prime Minister, John Key, revealed that the Government Communications Security Bureau acted without his consent in the weeks leading up to Dotcom’s arrest.

    For a little background information, the GCSB is essentially the CIA in New Zealand. They are a task force dedicated to the interception of information from terrorists, criminals and the like. They are required to have a warrant when intercepting foreign information, but New Zealand law says that the organization is not allowed to spy on domestic citizens or residents.

    Prime Minister Key revealed that he had not been made aware of any ongoing investigation into the Dotcom case. It’s required by New Zealand law that any GCSB operation be signed off by the Prime Minister. Key said that he had not been informed of the GCSB’s involvement in the Dotcom case until today.

    Warrants have been an ongoing issue in the Dotcom case since the beginning. The legality of the warrant used by police during the raid on Dotcom’s mansion had been called into question numerous times since his arrest, but a judge finally declared the warrant illegal in late June.

    In response to the allegations that the GCSB acted illegally, Prime Minister Key has opened up an investigation into the matter. He doesn’t believe that the organization intentionally violated the law with their actions, but he wants to know the extent of their actions.

    Dotcom’s U.S. lawyer, Ira Rothken, is also requesting the investigation look into U.S. involvement. He told Bloomberg that Dotcom’s legal team wants to know if the “U.S. was aiding or abetting domestic spying in New Zealand.”

    For his part, Dotcom has been tweeting about the revelation that he had been subject to illegal surveillance:

    [h/t: NZ Herald]

  • Kim Dotcom Wins $4.83 Million In Latest High Court Ruling

    It’s been a little over eight months since Kim Dotcom’s house was raided and all of his assets were seized. The Megaupload founder has been fighting for the return of his assets ever since. After numerous roadblocks and only a few wins, he finally secured a major win.

    The New Zealand High Court released the equivalent of $4.83 USD to Dotcom today. Wired reports that the money was taken out of a government bond that he paid to gain permanent residence in the country. As expected, the money will go to paying local legal fees. Unfortunately, Dotcom’s U.S. representation, Ira Rothken, will go unpaid as he couldn’t secure the full amount that was requested.

    Like always, there are a few caveats to this latest ruling. The money released to Dotcom can’t be used to pay the legal fees of his associates who are also under fire. The decision was made after New Zealand’s Police Commissioner said that they have their own “substantial restrained funds.”

    For his part, Dotcom has been rather mum on the release. He just made a single Tweet and has only been retweeting news stories about the funds being released.

    Interestingly enough, Dotcom also had a little exchange with Digg founder Kevin Rose.

    Dotcom is somewhat of a minor celebrity in the tech industry. He’s already rubbed elbows with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Will there be an Instagram picture of Dotcom hanging out with Rose in the near future? We can only hope.

    As for now, Dotcom is waiting to see the evidence the FBI has against him after the high court ruled that the information must be released. He will use to mount a defense for the charges against both Megaupload and himself. His extradition trial is set for March of next year.

    Check out the document containing the high court’s ruling at your leisure:

    Potter J Unfreezing NZ Funds 290812

  • New Zealand Court Orders FBI To Show Kim Dotcom Evidence

    It was only last month that a New Zealand court ruled that the FBI broke the law by moving its evidence against Kim Dotcom overseas. The court also ruled that the FBI must give all the evidence they have on the Megaupload to him. The FBI refuted the order and said that they wouldn’t give him anything. The New Zealand High Court upheld the previous ruling today in court.

    The NZ Herald reports that Justice Helen Winkelmann told the FBI in court today that they must present the evidence they have against Kim Dotcom. She also said that the evidence must prove that they have a case against the Megaupload founder after she found that the legal document requesting his extradition violated New Zealand law.

    Justice Winkelmann said that Dotcom must be allowed to see the evidence against him so that he can prepare his defense for the upcoming extradition trial that’s scheduled for March. Without the evidence, she said that Dotcom would be “significantly constrained.”

    Today’s ruling is just the latest blow to the FBI and the local authorities that worked together to bring down Dotcom and Megaupload. It was revealed last week that the FBI convinced New Zealand’s anti-terrorism squad to raid Dotcom’s home because he had a “Doomsday device” that could wipe all evidence of piracy from servers around the world. Anybody with a shred of intellect would know that such a claim is at best laughable. They also claimed that Dotcom assaulted a police officer with his stomach.

    At this point, it seems like the authorities are looking for any way to defend their exaggerated response during the raid on Dotcom’s house in January. They want to keep the odds stacked against Dotcom throughout the entire process, but the New Zealand court thinks otherwise.

    The court also heard arguments for having Dotcom’s funds unfrozen. The legal bills are mounting and he needs the money to pay his lawyers. The court has not made a decision on that yet, but precedents don’t inspire confidence.

  • This Amazing Time-Lapse Takes Us Through 30 Days and 30 Nights in New Zealand

    Many of my travel-savvy friends have told me that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Having never been myself, I can only take their word on it. But the fact that the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming film The Hobbit were all filmed there makes me think I should visit as soon as I possibly can.

    Trey Ratcliff recognizes the beauty in the country, and decided to showcase it in an epic time-lapse video, which he calls 30 Days and 30 Nights in Queenstown.

    I shot and edited the entire piece myself here in Queenstown, New Zealand. All of the shots are from this little fertile crescent. I get many questions about that interior shot, and that is from the Commonage Villas ( http://www.commonagevillas.com/ ). I stayed there for about a month while house-shopping, and I think it has some of the best views in Queenstown! Besides that location, every shot was less than a fifteen minute drive from my home.

    He says that he put over 300 hours of work into the project and compiled over tens of thousands of photos in the process (not all of which he used, obviously). Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful achievement and mandatory viewing if you have around six minutes to spare (and I know you do).

    Oh, and you can thank Hans Zimmer for the epic soundtrack.

    Check it out below:

  • Video Of Raid On Kim Dotcom’s Mansion Finally Released

    It’s been almost eight months since the U.S. government took down Megaupload and arrested Kim Dotcom on charges of copyright infringement. Since that time, Dotcom has been granted bail, produced two songs and won a series of major hearings against the United States in court. Now we have video from the day of the raid on his mansion which may help prove that that raid was illegal.

    3 News in New Zealand got a hold of the video footage from the day of the raid that led to Dotcom’s arrest. The courts in New Zealand have already ruled multiple times that the raid was illegal because the police did not have the proper warrants. Dotcom himself has argued that he was subject to police brutality on the day of the raid.

    While it doesn’t show everything, here’s the footage that we do have of the raid:

    According to Dotcom, he was “punched in the face” when the police force found him in his panic room. He was also kicked down to the floor where police kicked him in the ribs. Other details from police involved in the raid say that they used two helicopters, attack dogs and four police vehicles. The FBI was also there during the raid and instructed the police to “secure suspect as soon as possible to prevent destruction of evidence.” Dotcom alleges that he couldn’t have destroyed any evidence as the FBI had already copied all of his data before the raid took place.

    The aggravated response and the illegality of the warrants have already helped Dotcom get back a lot of his belongings. In April, he received about $750,000 in assets. The court later said that he could bring further action against the U.S. freeze on his accounts

    With Dotcom’s extradition case delayed until next year, the news is going to be mostly focused on what has already happened for now. It’s still major news in New Zealand, so expect more news like this to emerge.

  • Glen Campbell Cancels Tour, Issues New Video Online

    Glen Campbell, the singer/guitarist who has released 52 studio albums and 81 singles over the course of his career, has been forced to cancel his tour of Australia and New Zealand, according to reports. Citing health issues, Campbell will forgo the rest of his scheduled international gigs, which was part of his “Goodbye Tour”, which also featured Kenny Rogers. In order to fill the void left by the talented musician, country music artists John Williamson, Beccy Cole, Lee Kernaghan, Troy Cassar-Daley and Sara Store have been tapped to take his place.

    In June of 2011, Campbell announced that he intended to release one more album, “Ghost on the Canvas”, which he would support with a final farewell tour. However, the singer’s battle with Alzheimer’s is rumored to have taken an unfortunate turn for the worse, which ultimately makes him unfit for travel. Kenny Rogers website refused to comment on Campbell’s cancellation.

    In addition to the tour and the aforementioned album, Campbell also released a video for the song “A Better Place”, which finds the country music legend taking stock of his life and career. Also included in the piece is a special message for his legion of devoted fans, many of whom have followed the musician for decades.

    Campbell’s talents don’t begin and end with his music career. In 1969, John Wayne hand-picked Campbell to co-star with him in the western classic “True Grit”. He was also the host of the CBS variety program ” The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour”, as well as the voice of Chanticleer in the animated feature “Rock-a-Doodle”.

    For more information about Campbell, stop by his official website. The video for “A Better Place” has been embedded below.

  • Kim Dotcom Won’t Know His Fate Until Next Year

    The Megaupload case is going to do down in history, one way or another, as one of the defining moments of global copyright law and enforcement. The historic extradition case would have gone down next month in the New Zealand court, but we won’t know anything until March 2013.

    New Zealand’s Stuff is reporting that Dotcom’s lawyer and Crown lawyers representing the US government both agreed to the delay. In a perfect world, this would be good news for Dotcom who needs time to construct a defense and fight the charges that have been brought against him. The Megaupload founder doesn’t see it that way though.

    Time would indeed do the rest as Dotcom still does not have access to most of his assets. His lawyers are essentially working for free at the moment. You can bet Dotcom will be paying them a huge bonus if he wins the case and has his assets reinstated.

    Stuff also reports that the U.S. revealed during the delay hearing that they will appeal any orders to have evidence returned to Dotcom. They even threatened to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. If the New Zealand court system is anything like America’s, he might not get to see that evidence for a very long time.

    If you recall, New Zealand District Court Judge David Harvey ordered the FBI to return all evidence they have against Dotcom. The threat of appeal makes it so that the evidence they currently have will remain out of the public eye until the appeals can work their way up through the Supreme Court or if Dotcom is extradited to the U.S.

    At this point, it seems that the U.S. is waging a war of attrition against Dotcom. One can assume that their hope is that he just gives up and goes quietly. If the U.S. has been watching his Twitter feed, however, they would know that he’s going to do everything but go quietly. He has become somewhat of an Internet hero and has taken up the expectations that comes with the label. The Megaupload case isn’t over by a long shot and we’ll continue to hear more throughout the rest of the year.

  • Judge Declares Megaupload Searches Illegal

    New Zealand’s High Court has declared that the warrants used to justify the January 19th raid on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s were illegat. The court also ruled that it was illegal for copies of Dotcom’s hard drive to be removed from New Zealand to the U.S.

    In the judgment, which is embedded below, Justice Helen Winkelmann ruled that the search warrants were far too broad to be valid. New Zealand law does not permit the issuing of general search warrants. Warrants must be specific in regards to both the nature of the suspected criminal offenses and the articles to be seized. The lack of specificity regarding the offenses and the items to be seized, along with the failure to stipulate that Dotcom was being accused of crimes under American law are symptomatic of “the lack of precision infecting the entirety of the warrants.” As such, “[t]hese were general warrants both in form and reality,” making them illegal under New Zealand law.

    Justice Winkelmann also ruled that the transfer of copies of Dotcom’s seized hard drives to the FBI was illegal. New Zealand law requires authorities to retain all items seized until they receive written direction from the Attorney-General regarding what to do with them. Justice Winkelmann ruled that the files on the seized hard drives “are part of the relevant hard drive,” meaning that “the release of cloned hard drives to the FBI for shipping to the United States was contrary” to New Zealand law.

    Justice Winkelmann concluded by ordering that cloned copies of the hard drives be returned to Dotcom and his co-defendants “forthwith.”

    All in all, this looks like a pretty big victory for Dotcom and the others arrested during the January raid. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities continue to resist returning Megaupload users’ data to them, while making it as difficult as possible for Dotcom’s U.S.-based attorneys to mount a defense.

    You can check out Justice Winkelmann’s ruling for yourself below:

    Dotcom Vag

  • Underwater Expedition Produces Odd Sea Creatures

    Middle Earth is a great place, mostly because it is so beautiful. Well that beauty is actually real and takes place in New Zealand. A few weeks ago some scientists there decided to explore another part of their country that hasn’t ever been explored. The ocean around it.

    So some Scientists with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research jumped in a boat and took off to the Kermadec Ridge in the South Pacific. While there they explored 4 regions that have never been seen before by human eyes.

    The point of the expedition was to take stock of the sea creatures below to understand how human activity could affect what was down there. “In order to ensure that deep-sea ecosystems do not suffer too much damage from things like bottom trawling or mineral extraction, we need to know what animals occur there, and how vulnerable they are to impact,” said Malcomb Clark said in an interview with National Geographic.

    The survey managed to find several unknown species as well as some potential new ones. The 3,800 square mile area that this range covers is huge by our standards but small compared to the ocean. The underwater range is north of New Zealand and does feature some above water islands that are just beautiful.

    Here are some of the photos of the animals found while on the expedition. Thanks to National Geographic for these wonderful images:

  • FBI Ordered To Start Copying Kim Dotcom’s Data For Potential Return

    Things are yet again looking up for ol’ Kim Dotcom. It was only a few weeks ago that the New Zealand High Court ordered the FBI to hand over all the evidence they have against him. Dotcom’s other request to have his personal data returned may be awarded to him as well.

    The NZHerald is reporting that New Zealand High Court Justice Helen Winkelman has ordered that the FBI begin copying the 150TB worth of data they took from Dotcom’s home back in January. The data comes from over 130 computers and hard drives that Dotcom personally owned to run Megaupload. The information contained on those hard drives are essential to mounting a defense against the ever weakened attacks from the U.S. government against Megaupload.

    While it’s another potential win for Dotcom, it may still not pan out for him. The court order was just for the FBI to start copying the data which means they get to keep copies as well for their own investigation and prosecution. A separate trial will be required to determine whether or not Dotcom actually gets access to the data.

    As usual, the U.S. complained about the order saying that Dotcom shouldn’t be allowed access to this information until he’s in U.S. court. That essentially means that U.S. doesn’t want Dotcom to have anything in his defense during his extradition trial.

    We’ve heard that argument before, however, so the government came up with a new one. They also said that they don’t have the resources or the time to copy the 150TB of data in the 21-day period provided by the judge. They went on to claim that it took them 10 days to just copy 29TB of data.

    The New Zealand court wasn’t having any of it though. According to NZHerald, Justice Winkelmann told the U.S. government, “The expense involved in copying must be dwarfed by the other costs of an investigative and prosecutorial operation of this site.” Essentially, Justice Winkelmann told the U.S. to stop bitching and just copy the data.

    Once again, we don’t know if Dotcom will actually get his data back, but the news is encouraging. If he can keep up his recent string of wins, Megaupload and Dotcom may both have charges dropped against them.

  • Lucy Lawless, Greenpeace Warrior, Arrested in New Zealand

    Lucy Lawless has made a career out of playing badasses on television. However, it would seem that her warrior mentality extends to real life, as well. In order to bring attention to Arctic oil drilling, Lawless, 44, and six other Greenpeace activists climbed aboard an oil drilling ship in Port Taranaki, New Zealand in attempt to prevent it from embarking on an expedition. When they were asked to leave, Lawless and company decided to stay. Four days later, they were arrested for trespassing, though their point, it would seem, had been made.

    On Thursday, Lawless plead guilty to the charges, which could ultimately land her in prison for up to three years. However, this apparently hasn’t dissuaded her from other Greenpeace activities, as the actress intends to continue her activism with Greenpeace.

    Prior to the February arrest, Lawless explained her position to US Weekly. “This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun. Seven of us climbed up that drill ship to stop Arctic drilling, but 133,000 of us came down,” she said. “We will continue to stand in solidarity with the communities and species that depend on the Arctic for their lives until Shell cancels its plans to drill in this magical world, and makes the switch to clean, sustainable energy.”

    Lawless, who was born in New Zealand, made a name for herself on the popular television series “Xena: Warrior Princess”. In addition to appearing on such shows as “The Simpsons”, “The X-Files”, “Just Shoot Me!”, “Veronica Mars”, and “Burn Notice”, she also co-starred on “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”. Lawless is also an accomplished Broadway actress and singer, having performed several sold-out concerts since 2007.