By Kim Choe and 3 News online staff
A US technology writer claims the FBI runs the risk of making Kim Dotcom an "internet freedom fighter" after the court case against him faced a major setback.
Yesterday a High Court judge ruled that the raid on his mansion was illegal, a decision which could be a big blow to the FBI’s case against him.
Speaking from New York, CNet.com senior writer, Greg Sandoval, says in the court of public opinion Dotcom is already a winner.
“The prosecution of him could make him bigger than ever, he could become, if he loses, a martyr, and if he wins he could start another company,” says Mr Sandoval.
“This prosecution is helping him become a celebrity.”
Mr Sandoval is applauding the New Zealand court system for taking a look at the processes used by authorities during the raids.
Next week Dotcom's legal team will be back in court, trying to get back hard drives belonging to his file-sharing company Megaupload from the FBI.
The Megaupload founder was all smiles last night after winning over neighbours at a Coatesville community meeting but his real victory had come earlier in the Auckland High Court when Justice Winkelmann ruled the search warrants which saw police helicopters swoop on Dotcom's mansion in January were invalid.
Luxury cars and art work were seized in the raid and bank accounts and internet services were frozen, but by relying on those warrants the search and seizure was illegal.
In a statement, Kim Dotcom said that he and his co-defendants were happy with the judgment, and were considering their next steps.
The American authorities too will be deciding what to do next.
Law Society spokesman Jonathan Krebs says the ruling could have a huge impact on the rest of the case, including attempts by the US Government to extradite him from New Zealand.
“Evidence in court has to be admissible and to be admissible it has to be fairly obtained and if it’s been obtained pursuant to unlawful warrants that’s a pretty good steer that the evidence may well be unfairly obtained and shouldn’t be admitted,” says Mr Krebs.
Dotcom's lawyers are now asking that no more copies of his hard drives be allowed to leave the country, and that those already with US authorities be returned.
They also want anything that is not relevant to the case returned.
Speaking to Firstline this morning from California, Dotcom’s lawyer Ira Rothken, called the seizures a “privacy intrusion” and says the High Court decision in favour of his client is an embarrassment to both the New Zealand and US governments.
“You have family photos, you have financial spreadsheets, you’ve got Microsoft Word documents, you have DVDs, you have just a vast amount of information that is private in nature and something that ought to be kept away from the government snooping on it,” says Mr Rothken.
“I think it's embarrassing for both the US as well as New Zealand. New Zealand apparently was induced by the United States to do this, and in what is being called the largest copyright case in history by the United States. One would think that they would use a high standard of care in how they carried out their operations. This situation looks like nothing more than a desire just to take down the Megaupload cloud storage site at any cost, and worry about the consequences later on.”
And media commentator Wayne Hope says the decision is a victory for new media.
“This is a defeat for the film industry and the music industry in the United States who are driving this,” says Mr Hope.
“And there's another new world, isn't there? - of file-sharing, counter-party exchanges, Apple, Google and social media. So the old media have had a real hit here.”
A hearing is due to start in the United States tomorrow, in an attempt to get the case against Megaupload thrown out altogether.
3 News/RadioLIVE