Dotcom: I prefer not to sue the NZ Government, but ...
"Is it possible for this to be any more embarrassing for NZ? Every time something new pops out of the woodwork I shake my head in disbelief."
Featured commentOn Twittter last night, Kim Dotcom said he would prefer not to sue the NZ government in the wake of the GCSB spying bungle - which came on top of a ruling that the original search warrant on his rented mansion was illegal, and evidence being unlawfully sent offshore to the FBI.
However, the accused pirate did not close the door on a bid for compensation.
"I prefer not to sue the NZ Government," Mr Dotcom said through his official Twitter account. "We love it here & we don't want to burden tax payers."
He added, more ambiguously, "But it's time for diplomacy. This is all wrong."
Mr Dotcom's US attorney, the San Francisco-based Ira Rothken, returned to Auckland this week as news of the GSCB blunder broke.
Mr Rothken has told media he is keeping options open, and does not want to pre-judge the Inspector-General's investigation into the GSCB's illegal wire-tapping.
Mr Dotcom has used the GSCB wiretapping to reiterate his point, made to NBR earlier, that authorities must have known he was planning a trip to LA in August this year - where he could have been arrested without any need for extradition proceedings. The accused pirate maintains Hollywood studios pressured the White House to make an earlier arrest.
Back to home
Back to top
Print
Latest
NBR SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sign up for NBR subscriber content or email alerts
Comments and questions46
Has anything that has happened so far in the Kim Dotcom case been done legally?
Poor guy! Hope this gets sorted soon Kim, The DOJ owes you big time!
I'd like to see him sue and give away all but his costs to Starship or similar. He needs to sue for huge dollars so that no fools in power in the future ever run rough-shod over citizen's rights ever again. The message to our leaders has to be very loud and very clear and not something quickly forgotten. There is a very serious principle at stake here.
Take it out of the Keystoners' budget and then give it to Starship....to bring home to them this was Strike 3.
I'd always thought that Constable Broad was simply a Clark stooge. The current guy is out of his depth and morale and behaviour in interaction with the public is woeful.
Time they looked back at Peel's Principle......number one of which is protecting the public. Too much of what they do currently is seemingly done for political or financial gain.
aside from the teenage kids with entitlement issues, I think most New Zealanders are actually pretty darned tired of hearing about this guy. Okay so I agree that the number he did on banks was brilliant but Kim Dot COm is a tired overthrashed story. Move on New Zealand
Probably better if you just move on and those of us that still care about due process can keep the light burning.
u should get a life jonny boy, , its all old news get over it move john key forever
Its people like you who would happily give away rights your grandparents fought and died for. Best you do some thinking.
I care plenty about my rights but what we are seeing here is some amature hour PR plays from Kims legal team. Then really sad thing is that the public and the media are lapping it up
Kick this guy out of NZ its what germany would do to a kiwi in the same position
Not if you were legally in Germany and had not broken any German laws. Do some thinking.
No one has given away rights, lets wait for ALL the evidence before we come to conclusions. Dot's PR machine is not 100% pure and without motive. He is not a citizen but a resident
Once again we see another example of how inept our Prime Minister and the New Zealand government is, and their inability to be trustworthy.
How come Key always seems to get away with laying the blame on other ministers when surely he has'nt got a clue about whats going on in his own rank and file.
This man is a total idiot and the sooner the general populace of New Zealand wake up and smell the coffee the better off we will all be. Are we all supposed to hang around and swallow the lies and deception until the next elections until he makes a total laughing stock of this country?
Him and Banks and similar ilk are nothing but barefaced liars just out there to drag us down the toilet just so they can feather their own nests. What a load of lemmings we must be be to stand for this BS.
I hope Dotcom gives them what they deserve because quite frankly I've had a gutsfull of it !!
Sadly Labour would be no better. The USA has NZ by the short and curlies no matter who is in charge.
Labour and National as dodgy as each other? Who is left to run the country properly? Poor pickings at the moment.
Please explain how govt ministers caused this stuff? is it up to them to do their own research on the law? isn't that their expert advisors job. Yes heads should role but its in the Police and/or GCSB where the problem lies.
They are where the buck stops in their respective departments.
I truly believe this Government has cast a shadow over democracy in New Zealand, and we will look back forever more to the disastrous John Key led National Party.
Will people dare vote National again? Prepare for a Labour/Green coalition while National spend 2 or 3 terms licking their wounds from this dreadful administration.
There have been p*ss poor responses to Pike River, Rena oil spill, Chch rebuiild of people's homes, wrong footing re education (twice), Auckland quay cock-ups for the RWC, road and rail crises, the John Banks mess, that stupid cup of tea, the cycle track - John key's one and only job making idea from the secret Job Summit (no media allowed),...well I could go on (I really could).
Time for a vote of no confidence in our Government? Maybe.
To be fair, during the global recession the ship was steered better than Labour would have, no question. As to all your other comments, harsh but true.
God - it's so easy these days to pick out the Labour Party and union trolls shrilling against National - not because they have any credible alternatives, but just because National is not Labour/Unions/the Left.
If this Leftie troll really wanted to know how NZ Inc would have been had National not won - have a look at how Greece, Spain & Portugal are doing and then tell us NZ Inc would have been better off?
Yeah Right! Can you guess which Labour troll has some good good herbs to smoke?
Labour and National are decaying relics. Their support base is composed of old timers and dwindles as each year passes. In the fullness of time both will be minor parties (Labour is one already) The callous and arrogant behaviour of these two parties over the past three decades has demonstrated the ineptitude and unsuitability of many of our representatives. Their decisions have made New Zealand a harsher and much poorer country and one that is no longer worthy of its so called "First World" status (whatever that means) . All this should be causing the electorate to call for the end of the party based political system (which seems to be more interested in furthering the interests of MPs than in representing those who elect these people to parliament) and more towards Swiss- style referendum based representative democracy.
Lets settle a huge compensation claim with Kim Dotcom, so much so that we have nothing left in the kitty for any future Treaty settlements...
I'm all for that! At least Dotcom would spend the money on worthy causes. It wouldn't be a waste at all!
Kim Dotcom for Mayor !
Even better - sue the b*stards till they all bleed for putting such a mega corp out of business - then gift it all to construct the rail loop.
Put Auckland on the IT map as a new Seattle.
Hasn't Mr Dotcom got convictions in Singapore & elsewhere. While the Police/GSCB have mucked up here lets not get to a point of ignoring Mr Dotcoms shortcomings & why he wasn't given citzenship in the 1st place.
To be given citizenship you must be a resident for 5 years ( among other things )
Not true, he came in under the $10mill govt stock rule. He's a citizen legally.
I understand he was refused ctizenship - he only has residency
Surely the police etc are not that incompetent!
It’s on his wiki page that he is a NZ resident.
This all makes one wonder if this case has been setup to fail. How else do you explain all the mess ups?
Is it possible for this to be any more embarrassing for NZ? Every time something new pops out of the woodwork I shake my head in disbelief. And for those who think Labour would be any better, dream on, wouldn't trust them either.
If John Key had any guts or brains he'd cancel Dot Con's residency and export the problem.
John, this is what happens when you let coalition partners receive "anonymous donations" to sell residency to people not qualified to reside here. Perhaps you could take a step in redeeming your image by introducing some anticorruption legislation - and enforce it.
Can't do it, he's legally here and has not broken any NZ laws. think hard about that.
Im with the government on this one... Kims a pain
So are people who don't have the capacity to understand that a major principle is at stake here. Don't brush this off too lightly, as the outcome could affect any of us.
Kim should be bloody greatful that he's still in NZ. Rocking the boat like this isnt helping the cause any.
In fact the only reason he looks remotely good in this situation is because of the prevailing anti US sentiment in NZ
Well said - he aint no saint!
And he ain't no sinner under NZ law. Stick to facts.
Kims not rocking the boat - he was illegally arrested, had his stuff illegally removed and so far hasn't launched massive suits - which he is quit entitled to do so. You would.
Why should the taxpayer get burdened
Sue the individuals at fault and bankrupt them all
So my guess, which the NBR moderator binned for some reason, that the GSCB was misled by other officials is proven accurate.
For those who think his support is just anti-US, no. Kiwis do not buy the notion that copyright violation, even if subsequently proven which in my view as an IT professional is a very large "if", justified the armed assault on his family and pre-judicial take down of his business accompanied by a Hollywood-style media blitz.
They are also impressed by the way Dotcom has turned the media assault back on his attackers who are quite obviously pawns in the hands of Hollywood and its tame (and paid) White House politicians.
half these posts are probably from Kim dot*huge*ego*dot*jerk*dot*buffoon himself.
kim dotcom is to the music and entertainment industries what Bernie Madoff is to the investment industry.
quick question: how do you make $500 million in two years in the entertainment industry?
answer: open a file locker service where millions of songs and films are downloaded millions of times and sell ad space and subscriptions for the locker service without getting a single license or paying a penny in royalties.
it's pure genius and so simple. why doesn't everyone do that?
Because it's illegal you dopes.
Tell that to youtube.
How did Megaupload differ from any other cloud storage service other than by being early to market, size and success?
*Sigh*. You Tube. Drop box etc, all rrepositories or carriers of copyrighted content.
hey mister policeperson or who ever take your mask of anom off at least mr k dot com has showen the public how corrupt our government and agences are the old boys network whom you would have to be with comments like you spout. i for one say thank you kim for showing it how it is . this can only come about by his wealth the average joe would not have a show of getting this far. the man that donated one million to the christchurch recovery fund where most were looking at how to draw on that fund .
1. Any compo paid to KDC will come out of mine and your taxes. Not JK BE et al money.
2. The Police government agencies and government appear totally incompetent.
3. In a private company heads would have rolled by now starting at the top.
4. In this case no heads will roll as all will cover each others a*ses EG JK BE et al.
As a New Zealander watching a continuation of incompetence; whether it be a minister having to step in and make WINZ stop paying people who have outstanding warrants for their arrests; the SFO acting as tax payer funded proxy for a commercial issue between Vector and Transpower and Hawkins; the procedural mess that is the Family Court; The LSA needing an enquiry to determine that they are paying for legal actions that are at best dubious; should anyone be surprised that the Police/GCSB and SIS are also acting recklessly?
As a fellow citizen/resident I actually demand that Mr Dotcom take the government (sic) to task. Those that can should. Indulging poor behaviour will simply result in more of the same.
Key claiming he never knew when he is the head honcho seems what to you ?
Key claiming he never knew after he dined in the USA with Warner execs seems what to you ?
Key claiming he never knew until last night seems what to you ?
Well i could believe one story but 3 is another matter. Our PM prides himself on being a politician and we all know what you need to do to be a good one dont we ?