Interviews: Ask Kim Dotcom a Question 205
He was the founder of Megaupload, its successor Mega, New Zealand's Internet Party, and is the world's greatest Modern Warfare 3 player. He was born Kim Schmitz, but you know him better as Kim Dotcom. While he's had a number of run-ins with the law over the years, The U.S. government is currently charging him with criminal copyright violation and racketeering in association with his Megaupload site. Dotcom has recently won a court battle in New Zealand blocking the U.S. from seizing $67 million in assets. Even though he has a lot on his plate, Kim has agreed to take some time to answer any questions you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.
phys (Score:4, Funny)
how did he turned into such a fat slob?
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sorry did incorrect mod of overrated.. meant to do funny
Re:phys (Score:4, Interesting)
At age 16, I was told to quit playing football (not hand-egg), because of scoliosis.
At age 17, I moved out of my parents place and had to cook for myself (guess what, Pizzaaaaaa)
At age 21, I got my first IT job, sitting all day
At age 25, I had grown to a BMI of 34
At age 30, I had grown to a BMI of 37
At age 40, I'm close to 40.
I don't eat two pizzas for breakfast. I just sit in a cube all day and work my ass off (or on, actually), by sitting and typing. My gut is the size of the mount Everest, and I can't see my dick anymore. Not even in the mirror, as it is concealed by a big lump of fat.
But it goes so slowly, that you won't realize until it's too late.
Re: (Score:3)
Thanks, AC, for actually giving a serious answer and putting a human face on the too-often faceless target of fat ridicule. Everyone - literally every single person in the world - is facing their own unique struggle and it bugs me to see people dismissing other people's struggles so nonchalantly, like "Just be skinny! I can do it so why can't you"
Re: (Score:2)
I'm up at 4:30 to go for my morning run, back home by 5:15 and out the door to work by 5:45. I usually work from 6:00 to 18:00, with a 30 minute lunch break, a 30 minute "tea" break and several 5 minute walking breaks (sitting for too long is very bad for you). I arrive back home at around 18:15, have dinner then have supper later at 20:00 and in bed by 21:30.
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.
Gamergate (Score:2, Insightful)
What are your thoughts on Gamergate?
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Silly Squiggleslash. You should have added Social Justice Warriors to that list!
I think if he answers the GP's questions, we will also be able to deduce his position on SJWs.
Just one: (Score:5, Interesting)
Was it worth it?
Ethics (Score:2)
Sside from all the niceties of whether copying does or doesn't take the original from its owner, or whether one is legally entitled to copy something, isn't the basic notion of copying or making available someone else's works, for which they fully wish to have a copyright, ethically wrong?
Re:Ethics (Score:4, Informative)
isn't the basic notion of copying or making available someone else's works, for which they fully wish to have a copyright, ethically wrong?
You tell me.
Person A writes a song and plays it on the radio.
Scenario 1
Person B hears it, likes it, and wishes to play it on the piano at home. He listens to it a few times, figures out the melody, etc (1) Is this ethically wrong?
Scenario 2,3,4
Person B hears it, likes it, and wishes to learn to play it on his piano at home. He's not as good as the person B in scenario 1 though and can't figure it out.
Person C however figures it it out, rights down a piano arrangement on sheet music for Person B to use Is that unethical? He realizes lots of people would like his sheet music so he posts it online. Is that unethical? Can the original artists wish that the arrangement not be distributed have force?
Scenario 4. ... 75 years now? What if the original artist wants it to last 100 years. Is it unethical to copy his music after the copyright expires. Sure it would be LEGAL... but it still violates his -wishes-.
Copyright is what
Scenario 5
What if he wishes to transfer copyright to an incorporated trust that lasts forever and the trust as the new copyright owner wishes for the copyright to last forever... is the basic notion of copying or making available the work, even 500 years from now, given the trust still exists and still fully wishes that you not copy it... is it ethically wrong to copy it?
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yes, and if you don't like the laws change them.
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Do I look like I could afford a Senator?
End game (Score:3, Interesting)
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Hmmm (Score:2, Insightful)
Were you born a criminal sociopath and con-artist, or did you evolve into one?
Re:Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
Were you born a criminal sociopath and con-artist, or did you evolve into one?
He was born a criminal, just like you, just like me, just like all of us.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, no. That idea is wildly incorrect, psychopaths and narcissists are born not made. With lots of extra effort and careful well managed upbringing their poor behaviour can be moderated but never eliminated. They are basically born with emotional social learning disabilities, the narcissists born with a lack of autonomic empathic response (a emotional learning trigger that teaches them to become a part of a human society ie sharing emotions) with the psychopath also lacking a full range of emotions (brai
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That idea is wildly incorrect, psychopaths and narcissists are born not made.
Is that true? I was under the impression this was still an active area of research, and that whether the cause of psychopathy is a genetic issue or a developmental issue is very much up for debate.
Re: (Score:2)
Only up for debate by psychopaths, just like global warming, just like austerity economics, just like uncontrolled capitalism and what ever other disingenuous debates psychopaths like to foster in order to continue their egoistic destructive criminal enterprises. http://www.medicaldaily.com/co... [medicaldaily.com] as an example. They should be identified at the earliest possible age and tracked, to ensure all who come in contact with them are aware who they are.
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No, that's not what your article says at all. And I don't think the article correctly expresses the conclusions of the study about which it reports. [jamanetwork.com]
The article opens with the line "Psychopaths...may be born with physical abnormalities in their brains..." (emphasis added).
Thereafter they report the findings of the study, which merely addresses the differences discovered in the brains of psychopaths. I don't doubt this, and I don't think many do. The primary mechanisms [wikipedia.org] which give rise to psychopathy are almos
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Just like I said, only up for debate by psychopaths. It is going to be a different world when the psychopaths can no longer hide and are actively excluded from all roles of governance, control and influence.
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I think we agree that psychopathy is neurological, right? It's a manifestation of a defective brain. And we could do brain scans to detect this condition.
But you said "psychopaths are born not made."
That is not known.
The conditions that produce the psychopathic brain are still up for debate. There are only moderate links to psychopathy from genetic markers. There are much stronger links from environmental factors, like abuse and neglect.
So, if your idea is to scan the brains of adults to see if they're psyc
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Were you born a criminal sociopath and con-artist, or did you evolve into one?
He was born a criminal, just like you, just like me, just like all of us.
Speak for yourself, psychopath.
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Were you born a criminal sociopath and con-artist, or did you evolve into one?
You may personally dislike the guy, but running a public cloud storage service isn't supposed to be illegal. The service had substantial, non-infringing uses, which was previously the litmus test for whether a product exists solely to enable copyright infringement. Otherwise, we wouldn't have things like photocopiers, tape recorders, MP3 players, VCRs, DVRs, cameras, and pretty much every form of blank media.
Megaupload was used quite extensively for storing open source projects and homebrew Android ROMs. That alone should've demonstrated the service had substantial, non-infringing uses.
I understand that Megaupload was allegedly not acting on DMCA takedown requests as promptly as they should've. Still, that seems like something that should be handled with fines, not going all Gestapo by seizing the domain and servers. You wouldn't torch a restaurant to the ground for failing a health inspection, would you?
The fence's warehouse (Score:2)
You may personally dislike the guy, but running a public cloud storage service isn't supposed to be illegal. The service had substantial, non-infringing uses, which was previously the litmus test for whether a product exists solely to enable copyright infringement.
Much as a Fencing operation or a chop shop might occupy similar premises to legitimate businesses?
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Much as a Fencing operation or a chop shop might occupy similar premises to legitimate businesses?
Bad analogy. A fencing operation or chop shop is taking possession of stolen property and re-selling it. It was more like Megaupload was a strip mall and they leased out space to legitimate businesses and a few chop shops.
eBay essentially gets away with the same thing (and takes 10% on each sale). You don't honestly think all these iPhones [ebay.com] are from people who just forgot their iCloud password, do you?
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I see, so it's like a landlord that turns a blind eye to the crackhouse running in one of his units.
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No, a crack house in a mall would be immediately obvious as a mall only has a hundred or so stores. That's very easy to police.
It's more like a Public Storage with 180 million units [wikipedia.org] containing 12 billion items where some percentage of them are illicit. Every so often the someone points out an infringing item and asks that it be removed. And every so often those items are not actually infringing.
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Defending Dotcom is like defending a known fraudster because "this time, it really isn't a scam!"
Anyone who puts legitimate important data on one of Dotcom's sites deserves what they get.
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Still, that seems like something that should be handled with fines, not going all Gestapo by seizing the domain and servers
Going after the domain and servers sucks. But going after his home and family is fucking inexcusable.
Re: (Score:1)
We just see Dotcom for what he is, a con artist who paints on a thin veneer of anti-establishment rhetoric to legitimize what always end up being criminal operations.
Oh, and get off my lawn!
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We just see Dotcom for what he is, a con artist who paints on a thin veneer of anti-establishment rhetoric to legitimize what always end up being criminal operations.
So what you're saying is, against the law baaaaaad.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends.
One can (and I frequently do) make a case that drugs should not be illegal, and it is not morally wrong to produce, distribute, or consume them.
Bill believes this too. He grows weed and sells it for a profit. He shies away from dealing in hard drugs because while he believes one should have the legal right to choose to poison themselves with heroin, he's not willing to be a party to it. He would love to see an end to the war on drugs so he can open a legitimate pot farm or storefront. You could even
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We just see Dotcom for what he is, a con artist who paints on a thin veneer of anti-establishment rhetoric to legitimize what always end up being criminal operations.
So what you're saying is, against the law baaaaaad.
The default position should be that breaking the law is bad, yes. And breaking it solely to make money is never justified. If a law is bad, you get it changed.
People on slashdot seem to think of Kim Dotcom as a modern day Rosa Parks, except better because he's a multi-millionaire.
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Re: Hmmm (Score:2)
Hmmm, low-digit Slashdot accounts just mean you've been a nerd for a very long time ...
Re: Hmmm (Score:2)
I've been reading /. Before they even had accounts. What does that make me?
Photo Op (Score:1, Interesting)
If we are ever visiting in New Zealand, can we get a picture with you?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
You wouldn't fit.
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Two words: Panorama mode.
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You still wouldn't fit.
Exposure (Score:2)
Every time someone says the name "Kim," I now say "Dotcom." But nobody ever gets it, because nobody has heard of you. Then I have to explain it, and they're like "file sharing what?" and it's all very confusing and anti-climatic. Much like this post. Please gain more publicity so that people laugh at my nerdy references.
Guest speaker (Score:5, Funny)
We're holding a conference on file sharing in Baltimore later this summer and we were wondering if you'd like to be a guest speaker?
Thanks.
Re: (Score:2)
Nice try Mr. FBI man!
What could possibly ... (Score:2, Insightful)
We're holding a conference on file sharing in Baltimore later this summer and we were wondering if you'd like to be a guest speaker?
Yean, travel to America. Great idea. What could possibly go wrong?
Or more accurately, what could possibly induce Kim Dotcom to travel to a country owned by the special interests that have called for his head, and are trying every legal and extra-legal method they can to financially break him without a trial (no presumption of innocence) and ultimately imprison him (after what
Uhm, Telelconferencing (Score:1)
You know, like Snowden did. And many many others before him.
If you think he HAS to do it in person.... Slashdot may not be the website for you.
Re: (Score:2)
Mega (Score:2, Funny)
Was there ever a plan make money with Mega by bundling malware to downloads as Sourceforge is doing?
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Hi megaupload public relations person.
Train wreck inc (Score:1)
Ya, this will end well.
After reading the first dozen questions... (Score:5, Funny)
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After reading the first dozen questions, how many million years would you say it would be before you ever agree to answer questions from slashdot posters again?
I predict it will be some time after Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu agree to an "Ask Slashdot".
Re: (Score:2)
That would be...interesting...
Re:After reading the first dozen questions... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yup; its an embarrassment to associated with this site right now.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's an embarrassment to have a ask Slashdot featuring Kim Dotcom.
Re: (Score:2)
It's an embarrassment to have a ask Slashdot featuring Kim Dotcom.
Touche.
Still.... we're just being represented by the idiots and trolls on this one.
Wait... what? (Score:2)
It's an embarrassment to have a ask Slashdot featuring Kim Dotcom.
And why is that?
We're supposed to be the smart crowd in the internet, and pride ourselves in having open minds and hearing both sides.
Is it important to get information that wasn't delivered by the news outlets?
Is it important to give both sides a chance to tell their story?
Is it effective to make judgements based on arrest claims, and not on convictions?
The GP has it dead-on: these posted questions are an embarrassment to our community. You could fault sock puppets and spammers, but our moderation system i
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I am astonished at the crass and low-born nature of the posted questions.
Did it not occur to you that it's because the majority of people here hate him and have no interest in getting his opinion on anything serious?
Re: (Score:2)
A: It saves time.
(Original joke copyright Brian Clough, I believe).
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Yeah because it's not like the Slashdot crowd have anything in common with someone who has a problem with overarching US governmental efforts to apply universal jurisdiction outside of their authority, who thinks that linking shouldn't be copyright infringement, and that believes someone needs to stand up and stick it to the RIAA/MPAA.
Wait, are you sure you're on the right site?
Re: (Score:2)
His problem is with getting caught. It's sad that no one remembers that lying thieving bastard he was known to be just a few years ago. Forget about him claiming to hack Bin Laden?
He's opportunistic. He's anti-govenement, copyright stance is nothing but ruse to gather people to his side and to make him more money.
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And would you rather be questioned by Talkie Toaster?
Mega Technique (Score:4, Interesting)
I've seen some criticism from open source advocates and hackers that Mega can't be trusted because the source isn't available.
What assurance could you give someone to the point that their files may not be kept secret while hosted on your platform?
Mana party. (Score:5, Interesting)
You created the "internet party" as a fight against privacy laws being tramped in your adopted country, helped shape policy and pushed for "digital rights" not just for yourself but others.
Yet your "party" formed an alliance with the "mana party" who once claimed that broadband was stealing the soul of the country and sought compensation from the Govt, a party who has never gotten more the 1.30% of the popular vote, Nationalisation of monopolies and duopolies (which means they will never get any business votes, and which constricts their only policy of "for the people" (aren't people allowed to make profit?)
I was absolutely with the "internet party" and digital rights, until they made a coalition with the "mana" party.
Was this a choice that you had a part in for the betterment of the political party you bankrolled, or was this out of control?
Re: (Score:2)
That makes the Mana Party about twice as popular as the ACT party at the last election and ACT have a seat.
Seen the policies from the far-right that ACT have had pushed through over the last three parliaments?
Would Mana be able to do the same thing when they were expressly excluded from a coalition by both major parties?
Morality, ethics and religion (Score:5, Interesting)
License Plates (Score:1)
the elephant in the room (Score:2)
i know it, you know it, everyone knows it. While megaupload was great, most of the content there was illegal *for the users*. I'm not saying the carrier should ever be penalized for it... but regardless of law, what are your thoughts on the ethics of it? What if at the time you were a music wirter or a indie game developer instead of Kim Dotcom, how would you have felt about your company?
Modern Warfare 3 (Score:5, Interesting)
Did you achieve your rank all by yourself, or were there other people you shared your account with?
What is your favorite...
-Game type? (Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, etc)
-Loadout
-Perks
Any other comments or stories you'd like to share about your COD experience?
How much ... (Score:2, Insightful)
(once a cheater, always a cheater)
go ahead, mod me down wannabe gangsta hackers
Hello Kim (Score:4)
Can I have a million dollars? I have no story or noble cause. I just think a million dollars would make my day more amazing.
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Only if your cause is two chicks at the same time.
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I have no qualms with this condition.
Perspective on jurisdictionally conflicting laws (Score:5, Interesting)
What are your thoughts on the conflict of laws between jurisdictions with specific regard to how countries like the U.S. can claim jurisdiction over the actions of people and business in other countries if U.S. citizens seek to use the internet to purchase or use services not available in their own country?
End to End Crypto (Score:5, Interesting)
Is there a market in the world for strong cryptographic file sharing? Meaning only the end users control their private keys and the "network" just connects users -- it never knows the keys.
Or does that only work on the small scale such as one user sharing some files with a few friends. If that same user shared those files with ten thousand friends, then would the sharing would be public as the keys would be "leaked" by nature of lots of people having them? (And thus those files could be examined for copyright infringement.)
Q: (Score:4, Interesting)
What do you teach your children about fairness, morality, and legal authorities?
Politics - Internet Party and the TPP (Score:5, Interesting)
Poliitics (Score:4, Interesting)
If you could rewrite copyright (Score:5, Interesting)
What would be your proposed copyright ruleset, so that content producers still can live off their creations?
Do you plan on showing up for court? (Score:2, Interesting)
While I understand you do not want to be extradited, are you actually planning on showing up for trial if it happens? And what are you plans when the USA grabs you and puts you in jail at that point?
best place to live & work (Score:2)
What drives you to keep going? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've seen many a file-sharing site shutter its doors or become overly restrictive after even the merest hint of action by law enforcement officials, doing things like requiring logins to upload or download, sometimes even requiring people to sign in via social media (4Shared). The end result is that a lot of these places become borderline unusable.
Unlike a lot of those website operators, you have personally been dragged out of your home by law enforcement and had actions taken against MegaUpload by the United States government. It could be argued that you have more to fear as a "face" of file-sharing that the Department of Justice would want to make an example out of than pretty much any other file-sharing or torrent tracker operator out there (apart from maybe the Pirate Bay founders).
So my question is this: What drives you to keep going with Mega after having such things happen to you? What kind of mindset does it take to (metaphorically) keep spitting in the face of the United States government after having them raid your house by proxy?
Location, location, location (Score:3)
Finland (Score:2)
What's your real connection to Finland? At one point there was lots of media coverage about german/finnish millionaire being busted and what not but besides of few photos of finnish in nz mantion and side remarks of your mother being a finn, there hasn't really been any proper statements from you and your ties with "juro" roots..
bandwidth cap (Score:2)
does mega have a bandwidth cap? I'm pretty sure if i download something big, after 24 hours i get really slow speed (10KB/s) for 24 hours.
What is the future of cyberlockers? (Score:2)
Seems the government can take them over, harass the devs, etc... so what is the future of them?
Is the best we can hope that you can set up new ones faster than they can destroy the old ones? Or can you establish a stable platform that can't really be attacked?
Racetrack (Score:2)
obstacles (Score:2)
how many separate instances of businesses trying to please governments have you encountered so far in your mega.co.nz project? e.g. paypal/visa/mastercard refusing to process payments for the service.
and have you come across any that went the opposite way? i.e. going out of their way to help you
Most and least (Score:2)
Abuse of the justice system (Score:2)
The way the government went after you was an abuse of the system. Seizing your domains and assets before a court hearing, the raid, the fact that you were not doing anything illegal etc..Do you plan to use your resources to highlight this corruption and prevent it from happening to others?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Probably the same feeling as being an idiot that uses the word "epic" to describe every day happenstance.
No, Kim Dotcom is far from an every day fuckwit. He truly takes fuckwittery to an epic level.
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asking the important questions.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm guessing both. At the same time. On top of a dozen other equally fattening products. For breakfast.
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Why are you spamming this question over and over, megaupload public relations person?
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Hey! That was my question.
Re: (Score:2)
Spark (aka Telecom) ADSL Incl. landline:
Up to 10 Mbps down & 1 Mbps up.
40 Gb $79
80 GB $89
Unlimited $99
Naked Unlimited $89
Re: (Score:2)
I am 32 and single, I have a PhD in Physics from one of the best universities in the world and am wealthy in my own right. Your size and intelligence appeals to me and I would like you to be the biological father of my child. You would not have any obligations whatsoever. Would you do it?
This would involve visiting the US presumably?
Nice try G-man.