12 years after Megaupload shutdown, Dotcom will keep fighting extradition to US.
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Kim Dotcom plans more appeals after losing yet another extradition ruling
- Thread starter JournalBot
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I completely forgot this guy was still around. I think I just assumed he died during COVID or something.
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Potentially 55 years for alleged copyright infringement. You get less for murder.
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That was probably arrived at by adding all the maximum sentences together, which is not how federal sentencing in the US works.
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The statute of limitations stops running once you're indicted.
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AIUI, statutes of limitations apply to bringing charges, not resolving them. Provided the original charges were made within the statutory period, it doesn't matter how long it takes to resolve the charges.
Ninja'd by a damned bird.
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Once the legal process starts that becomes irrelevant.
Statute of limitations is there to prevent stuff coming up unexpected. Kim, this is no surprise. And really if you could drag out the legal process long enough and just get off ... imagine how much worse that would be for the process.
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The treatment of people like Kim Dotcom compared to people like OpenAI and other AI companies is always super striking to me.
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Yes. That's a shield against the government taking too long to pursue its case, not a sword that allows you to chill out somewhere nice and remote while the heat dies down.
The statute of limitations doesn't run while you're a fugitive.
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The case was filed well within any applicable statute. Resolution is not required during the time limits.
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I'm sure the US Federal government will be equally compliant when it comes time to extradite Musk to Ireland.
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It could potentially work like that, which is why they have to report it that way. But yeah, judges almost always instruct that sentences are to be served concurrently, and defendants rarely get the max sentence, which means they serve time for whichever is the longest individual sentence minus time served, good behavior, yadda yadda.
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Ah, Dotcom and the good old days when techno-brats where just quirky, not megalomaniac cough Musk cough
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Can't put an AI in jail, can't ticket an AI-driven car for moving violations. Our future AI-driven anarchy is gonna suck.
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I don't see anything to indicate what a jury would decide ...
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Not really. Kim was straight up paying people to upload copyrighted files. He just pretended that he didn't know that the most popular files were all movies and tv shows.
Its like a junk metal dealer offering no questions asked payments for copper wire. Then pretending to be surprised when it turns out all their customers are thieves.
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Heart of Dawn
Ars Praetorian
It depends on whether you're a large corporation stealing from people, or a person stealing from large corporations.
The law only applies to us plebs too small to ignore it.
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Can ChatGPT show you a movie or play your favorite song on demand? Can it distribute those things to anyone who asks? Who knows how copyright vs AI is going to shake out, but what the AI companies are doing with copyright material is very different than what Megaupload did.
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It really can't work like that. There's a complex set of federal sentencing guidelines, basically like a spreadsheet, for cases with multiple charges. The answer can vary somewhat depending on the judge and the details of the case, but the correct answer is never "max for all of them, consecutively." The reason news organizations don't report realistic ranges is it's complicated and they don't want to pay someone to figure it out.
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So we treat AI like any other product: the manufacturer is liable for it when it goes off the rails.
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Oh good. I was afraid today would go by without me being reminded that there's one form of justice for people without oodles of money and then there's something else (as in: delay delay delay) for those that have oodles of money.
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I know the US has earned a pretty shitty reputation, but I'm fairly sure that FSBing somebody over copyright stuff is still beyond the pale here.
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No, it really can. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines allow it, and the judge has scope to adjust sentencing based on evidence presented at trial. Because evidence hasn't been presented yet, all sentencing options are on the table, and prosecutors have to advise the defendant on what the potential maximum sentence could be, and this is what gets reported.
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It can show you copyrighted content including stolen code that you legally shouldn't have access to.
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I am sure the UK government would like Musk extradited as well and any other Americans who supported the right wing riots in the UK.
I do not think USA is going to allow it but if it makes Musk and right wings terrorists' life harder outside of USA, then that is good.
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Between him and Trump . . . I don't know how you craft a system that both protects people without an infinite amount of money, but can't be abused by the wealthy . . . but the US system seems to do neither, so I'm sure we can do better.
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Crying Croc
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
I agree. But still, I question why exactly our government is so intent on hauling Dotcom's ass back to the US? All the while, murder cases languish unsolved...
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It's the principle of the thing, meaning randos being killed isn't a big thing but stealing from corprations, the best people on the planet, is more akin to sin than crime.
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The difference is MegaUpload never made an attempt to entrench itself among the government. Look at the board, C Suite, and special advisors at a company like OpenAI, Google, etc, you will see a presence of many former government officials.
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Prosecutors are not detectives, detectives are the ones who "solve" a case. Also all laws have to be enforced, otherwise most of them wouldn't matter. And murder is usually a local case not a federal one
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Mungus the Unhyphenated
Ars Tribunus Militum
I've always been ambivalent about this case. I abhor draconian copyright overreach that stifles creativity and access to information. But at the same time, Dotcom is such a whiny, arrogant d-bag who flagrantly flouted laws and then proceeded to engage try to weasel his way out in the sort of legal obstruction and wangling that borders on frivolous filings and abuse of process.
Meanwhile, the aggressive prosecution of Megaupload and Dotcom also smacks of cartel-like behavior and excessive influence by copyright maximalist corporations, lobbyists, and complicit politicians.
The whole thing just reeks, and to a certain extent there's probably no chance of remedying copyright issues until this case is finally resolved one way or another.
But there's likely no end in sight; even if Dotcom is finally brought to the US to stand on trial and is in fact handed a guilty verdict, he'll just appeal. And who knows how long that will go on.
Meanwhile, the aggressive prosecution of Megaupload and Dotcom also smacks of cartel-like behavior and excessive influence by copyright maximalist corporations, lobbyists, and complicit politicians.
The whole thing just reeks, and to a certain extent there's probably no chance of remedying copyright issues until this case is finally resolved one way or another.
But there's likely no end in sight; even if Dotcom is finally brought to the US to stand on trial and is in fact handed a guilty verdict, he'll just appeal. And who knows how long that will go on.
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