New Zealand police ordered to return Dotcom material 31 May 2013 return it to Dotcom. She rejected the argument that the police had committed only a technical breach of the law and should not have to sift the material for irrelevant data, which they said would be a lengthy and expensive exercise. "The deficiencies in the warrants and, as a consequence, the searches, were more than merely technical," she said. "The defects in the warrants were such that the warrants were nullities. The plaintiffs are entitled to relief." The Auckland mansion of Megaupload founder Kim She also said the police must provide Dotcom with Dotcom on January 20, 2013. A New Zealand judge on clones of material that had already been sent to the Friday ordered police to return any digital material seized FBI. in an armed raid on Internet mogul Kim Dotcom's mansion last year not directly related to the prosecution against him. Dotcom's US-based lawyer Ira Rothkin tweeted that his legal team was analysing the decision. US authorities allege Megaupload and related file- A New Zealand judge on Friday ordered police to sharing sites netted more than $175 million and return any digital material seized in an armed raid cost copyright owners more than $500 million by on Internet mogul Kim Dotcom's mansion last year offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and not directly related to the prosecution against him. other content. The decision by High Court chief judge Helen The US Justice Department and FBI want Dotcom Winkelmann follows a ruling last year that the to face charges of racketeering, fraud, money- January 2012 raid on Dotcom's Auckland mansion laundering and copyright theft in a US court, which was illegal because the search warrants used were could see him jailed for up to 20 years. too broad to be considered reasonable. Dotcom and his three co-accused deny any Digital material such as computer hard drives were wrongdoing and are free on bail in New Zealand taken in the dawn swoop as part of a US probe ahead of an extradition proceeding scheduled for into allegations of massive online piracy by August. Dotcom's now-defunct Megaupload empire. © 2013 AFP Winkelmann ordered police to review all the material, at their own expense, to identify material that was irrelevant to the prosecution case, then 1 / 2 APA citation: New Zealand police ordered to return Dotcom material (2013, May 31) retrieved 2 October 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2013-05-zealand-police-dotcom-material.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. 2 / 2 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).