Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




INTERNET SPACE
Megaupload offers US deal on N. Zealand extradition
by Staff Writers
Wellington (AFP) July 11, 2012


Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom on Wednesday offered to voluntarily leave New Zealand for the United States if prosecutors agree to release funds to bankroll his defence against online piracy charges.

The deal would bypass lengthy extradition proceedings under way in New Zealand, which the German national complained were contributing to mounting legal bills he could not pay because all his assets have been frozen.

True to form, the Internet businessman made the proposal on his Twitter feed, which has attracted around 90,000 followers since he began using the micro-blogging website less than a month ago.

"Hey DOJ (Department of Justice), we will go to the US," he tweeted. "No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers and living expenses."

An extradition hearing for Dotcom and his three co-accused, initially set for August 6 in Auckland, was this week pushed back by six months until March next year amid legal wrangling over evidence disclosure.

Dotcom said delays in the case against Megaupload and related file-sharing sites, described by US prosecutors as the world's largest copyright action, were hampering his ability to mount an effective defence.

"I have accumulated millions of dollars in legal bills and I haven't been able to pay a single cent," he told the New Zealand Herald.

"They want to hang me out to dry and wait until there is no support left."

The 38-year-old was sceptical US authorities would accept the proposed deal, which would see him and his co-accused travel to the United States to face charges of money laundering, racketeering, fraud and online copyright theft.

"They will never agree to this and that is because they can't win this case and they know that already," he told the newspaper.

The FBI and Department of Justice allege Megaupload sites netted more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and cost copyright owners more than $500 million by offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and other content.

Dotcom, who denies any wrongdoing, faces up to 20 years jail if convicted in a US court.

He is currently free on bail after armed New Zealand police, cooperating with the US investigation, arrested him at his sprawling Auckland mansion in January.

New Zealand's High Court last month ruled the raid on Dotcom's mansion was illegal as the search warrants that police used were too broad, further complicating the legal case.

At the same time as the raid, Dotcom's assets were frozen and US authorities shut down the Megaupload sites, which had servers located in the US state of Virginia.

A US indictment alleges that at their peak Megaupload's sites had 50 million daily visitors and accounted for four percent of all Internet traffic.

Dotcom appeared to put forward the possibility of reviving his Internet empire at some point, tweeting: "Mega is looking for reliable non-US based Hosting and Bandwidth providers in Europe, South America and Asia."

"Mega seeks Governments supporting Innovation & Internet Freedom," he added. "The US will lose plenty Internet business. Who wants it?"

.


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








INTERNET SPACE
Megaupload N. Zealand extradition case delayed
Wellington (AFP) July 10, 2012
Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom's extradition case against US authorities has been delayed until next year amid legal wrangling in New Zealand over evidence disclosure, his lawyers said Tuesday. A hearing to decide if the United States can extradite Dotcom from New Zealand to face online piracy charges was scheduled for August 6 but would now take place on March 25, a spokeswoman for his Auckland ... read more


INTERNET SPACE
New biofuel process dramatically improves energy recovery

Denmark can triple its biomass production and improve the environment

Researchers tap into genetic reservoir of heat-loving bacteria

Prairie cordgrass: Highly underrated

INTERNET SPACE
Researchers Develop an Artificial Cerebellum than Enables Robotic Human-like Object Handling

NASA Workshop Discusses How On-Orbit Robotic Satellite-Servicing Becomes Reality

Biomechanical legs are a giant step for robot-kind

Most accurate robotic legs mimic human walking gait

INTERNET SPACE
GL Garrad Hassan releases update of WindFarmer 5.0

U.S moves massive wind farm plan forward

Belgium wind farm a go after EIB loan

Opponents force Wales wind farm hearings

INTERNET SPACE
EU push for car CO2 cuts faces industry, green criticism

China auto sales up 9.9% in June: industry group

1950s flying car for sale

Big German cars favoured in new EU car emission rules

INTERNET SPACE
ASEAN sharply split on South China Sea row

Waste to Watts: Improving Microbial Fuel Cells

Japan, China in fresh territorial row

Israel drills for oil near West Bank

INTERNET SPACE
S. Korea prosecutors charge 32 over nuclear graft

Swiss nuclear safety watchdog gives stations the all-clear

Canada nuclear scientists strike

Japan reactor back to full power after nuke shutdown

INTERNET SPACE
EU ministers launch project bonding effort

Extreme weather conditions cost EU's transport system at least 15 billion euro annually

Europe grid upgrades pegged at $128B

Clean cookstoves unaffordable to Bangladeshi women

INTERNET SPACE
Rising CO2 in atmosphere also speeds carbon loss from forest soils

Taiwan indicts loggers for axing 2000-year-old trees

Study Slashes Deforestation Carbon Emission Estimate

Scientists develop first satellite deforestation tracker for whole of Latin America




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement