Kim Dotcom Speaks At SXSW
Kim Dotcom, founder of MegaUpload.com, appeared at SXSW.
Kim Dotcom spoke at SXSW on Monday in a surreal show reminiscent of Oz the Great and Powerful, appearing like a floating head at the show. Using Skype, Kim Dotcom appeared against a black background wearing a black shirt, giving the illusion of a floating head.
Charles Graeber of Wired moderated the panel in which Kim Dotcom spoke of his predicament in New Zealand. His house was raided in the early morning hours by the New Zealand government in January 2012. Kim Dotcom is banned from leaving the country as he awaits extradition to a US prison for activity involving MegaUpload.com and its tendency to be used as a path for internet piracy. He is being accused of facilitating several counts of criminal copyright infringement.
The German national sees himself as a target of US political repression rather than an online racketeer, and vows that he will never see the inside of a prison in the US.
Kim Dotcom said only 10 percent of users of MegaUpload originated from the US and “of all the files uploaded to Megaupload, half had never been downloaded, not once. That shows people were using it for storage more than anything else.”
Regardless, the US sees the use of MegaUpload as a piracy channel resulting in several violations of copyright laws. MegaUpload has been used by US citizens to transfer illegal copies of software and movies, two things that have recently sparked the six strikes law against piracy.
Kim Dotcom said he’s looking forward to April’s hearing, where it should be revealed whether or not agencies spied on him illegally:
“there will be some interesting leaks to come out. We will show that the Prime Minister lied in Parliament. I’m looking forward to that hearing. … The White House supported SOPA. It was a gift to Hollywood from the president for giving him so much campaign money to get re-elected. They gave [former Senator] Chris Dodd $2 million to go after us.”
How do you feel about what Kim Dotcom said at SXSW?
