New Zealand Prime Minister Orders Megaupload Inquiry

[Doom-Slayer]

The precise wording of the enquiry is that GCSB was in the possession of intercepts, they don't know how they got them. As I said in this post

Ok this is just a PR exercise. The standard practice when dealing with intelligence agencies in this situation is say they are acting on information received from a foreign government. They may be banned from spying on NZ citizens and residents but the NSA and GCHQ isn't. Seeing that NZ, US, UK and AUS are all involved in the echelon network you simply take the data out of the server in Fort Meade and email it to NZ. Its a well know dodge that has been used on trans-caribbean drug traffickers for years. In that case its the NSA is banned from operating in the US but the intercepts come from a foreign power over the echelon system.

There plenty of all ready established ways around this issue. This is the PM covering himself and that's it.

As to the media reports , I doubt many NZ political journalists know about the 1948 agreement that setup the echelon system or drug smuggling trails in Florida.

But once again, there wouldnt be an issue if the NSA or GCHQ were the ones conducting the spying because of that system you mentioned, the issue is that it was very specifically an NZ agency that did the spying.

From http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/illegal-spying-in-dotcom-case-has-chilling-effect-expert-5101691

It has been revealed that the Crown's foreign intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), unlawfully intercepted information in the lead up to the police raid at Dotcom's mansion.

Court documents released this afternoon say a police agency sought the help of the Government spy agency the GCSB to track down Kim Dotcom and his associates prior to a raid on his Coatesville mansion.

The documents also show the agency OFCANZ, the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand, gave the GCSB an assurance that all those being targeted were foreign nationals.

Thats the main issue here is that its KNOWN, that an NZ agency illegally monitored Kim Dotcom, and who exactly is responsible is waht is being investigated. Im sure other international agencies are legally allowed to spy on citizens but that isnt an issue becuase they weren't the ones that did it.

Also the big crux of this is that the PM wasnt made aware of all of this until a few days ago. You might scoff at that but what has basically happened is the deputy PM(Bill English) while the PM was away, authorized all of this while he was acting PM and never told him.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

You might scoff at that but what has basically happened is the deputy PM(Bill English) while the PM was away, authorized all of this while he was acting PM and never told him.

That's clearly a made-up name. He should properly be called Pound English.

 

[UberNoodle]

What a coincidence that despite all these illegal seizures and searches, his business still managed to get destroyed.

 

[zombocom]

What a coincidence that despite all these illegal seizures and searches, his business still managed to get destroyed.

Not for long, torrentfreak had an article last week, the code for the new mega is 90% complete, the investors are lined up, the servers have been ordered, and the lawyers are being fed a diet of human flesh and gunpowder to prepare for opening.

Mega will return, stronger than ever, while Kim.com ties up the government in court for the next 20 years. Good luck getting the kiwis to sign off on another raid.

 

[phreakdb]

Ultimately, he did nothing illegal. Flat out, he followed the letter of the law, and I would imagine that the 'present to Hollywood', who had full blown access to megaupload (something he didn't have to do) had something to do with the campaign contributions that made their way into Obama and staff's coffers.

Essentially put? The case against Dotcom is shyt, and ranks up there with the Solyndra cronyism. I am waiting for the day that New Zealand finally stands up, bares it's nuts, and tells the US to kiss them. This is coming from a US citizen.