Video footage reveals armed raid on MegaUpload founder's home

New Zealand-based news channel 3News has released new video footage of the armed raid launched against Kim Dotcom, MegaUpload's former head man. The video was courtesy of an "elite officer" involved in the operation and supports Dotcom's criticism of the……

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LOL..."rupturing one of his fingernails?" Poor baby - hope he had a Band aid handy.

Welcome to the 21st century

I thought he ran into a safe room. What is the point of having an unlocked safe room?

While I agree that the response was probably a bit much, he brought this onto himself. The US government hates it when people flaunt breaking the law (I'm not making a morality judgment on the law itself, just that it exists).

He probably would not have been met with this level of response if he didn't flaunt his "ill gotten" gains so much. People want to say that piracy is not done for profit, but he seems to have made quite a bit of money on it, and his exorbitant lifestyle just gives more fuel for the RIAA.

I'm honestly surprised how much the online community is treating him like a hero. He provided a service, but by no means unique, and he just brought more attention to the scene than it already had.

The amount of force there was ridiculous. It's a shame that so many countries ask "how high?" when the US tells them to jump.

Every time they squash a bug, 10 more will pop up.

Ooohh, Megaupload, Mega-upload, load.

M.E.G.A, Upload to me to day. Send me a file. Megaupload, Megaupload, Load, Load.

When I gotta send files across the globe I use, Megaupload. Mega Mega Upload. x2

I use megaupload, man.

I like to use megaupload. x3

I love megaupload. x3

Yeeaah!!

M.E.G.A Upload to me to day. Send me a file. Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa, Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa! x2

Users one billions. Per day fifty millions. 4 percent of the internet.

Get the Mega Manager. It's 10 times faster. Bit by Bit. Unlimited. It's a hit! It's a hit!

M.E.G.A Upload to me to day. Send me a file. Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa, Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa! x2

Megaupload. Check it out. Check it out. Megaupload, for free! Megaupload. x2

Megaupload, cause It's fast, fast as hell!

Yeah!

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Yeah!

Check it out! Check it out! Amazing!

M.E.G.A Upload to me to day. Send me a file. Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa, Megaupload, Meeeeeeegaaaaa! x2

Upload to me to day. Meeeeeeegaaaaa. Meeeeeeegaaaaa. x2

Megaupload. Megaupload (M.E.G.A). Megaupload

Cool thanks. I only read about it before, and he said he ran into a safe room, with no other description beyond that, so I assumed he was locked in there.

How exactly was his gains "ill gotten" and why not flaunt? doubt you would be able to cope with loads of expensive goodies you've always wanted there for the taking when your full of cash. Hes not a hero just a good service provider like google and microsoft but much better with a better way for content makers (music, tv etc) able to get there stuff out of the site only people that had a problem is government.

He brought nothing on himself the US broke there own laws and can you also explain what laws he broke?

"He brought nothing on himself the US broke there own laws and can you also explain what laws he broke?"

Oh, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the tens of thousands of illegal copyrighted files he was making available to millions of people to download for free. MegaUpLoad was well known as one of the top piracy hosting websites in the world.

Ye your right the DMCA law doesn't exist any more and he should have just broken tons of laws to look at the users files.. oh and how does microsoft, google, youtube, MediaFire, rapidshare etc differentiate themselves from megaupload in the illegal copyrighted files/media area, why haven't they been taken down as well? pretty sure google themselves are 10x bigger than megaupload yet they are still up.

He was hosting files that were in violation of US copyright laws. Nothing complex there. You seriously don't see why the RIAA and by extension the US gov't had a problem? The content makers did not give him permission. You think millions of people went to Megaupload to download indie music albums? Seriously?

"The only people that had a problem is government"

Yeah, the "only people". Seriously? The "only" people he pissed off was the most powerful gov't on the planet, that apparently has enough pull to make NZ violate its own constitution. Still want to use the word "only"?

Look I am not making a judgement call against what he did. I've downloaded and copied plenty of stuff over the past few decades. The first software I ever used was a copy of an old cassette tape filled with games, 30 years ago.

He violated US copyright laws, and the US has been shutting sites like that left and right. And instead of quietly taking that money, he rented the biggest mansion in NZ, and had a license plate that said God.

Before you get all in my face with your anger, l don't care what he did. There is a difference between stating facts and making value judgments. I very clearly said I was not judging him, but what do you care, you need to vent your righteous indignation at someone, right?

He thumbed his nose at the US gov't and now he got slapped. His wealth was based on illegal actions. As bad as dealing heroin? No. But illegal nonetheless. Its called a consequence. And this isn't his first brush with the law, he's been constantly in trouble with them on many continents.

Its simple, there are people who think that laws don't apply to them. And there are those who like to thumb their noses at authority. And then there are those who do both.

Carlo Gambino lived in the same house he always did, and he died in his bed. John Gotti liked to wear flashy suits in front of TV cameras, and he died in prison. See the difference? The government does not like it when you publicly thumb your nose at them. This is what they do. They show the world that they can wield that power. That's all.

He should have been smarter, kept his money hidden and kept a low profile. He didn't and now he's going to be dealing with this for the rest of his life.

This whole thing is a big joke. Might as well have sent a tank in as well. For anyone not taking Kim Dotcom side you must be blinded by government corruption.

I can understand if he himself had files hosted by "Owner of Megaupload" but all I see is the government not thinking right ye megaupload did host files but did they upload them? no the users did same thing goes for youtube and google drive etc users upload bad stuff on the sites so what can you do, nothing in fact except give the tools and delete illegal files when you see them.

Ye megaupload had illegal files but what file host doesn't google, microsoft, rapidshare etc all have illegal content hosted on their sites and without breaking laws they cant look into the files without breaking a few privacy laws, keeping your money hidden.. really that would help? in what country would keeping your money hidden equal to being more hidden so you don't get caught I can see google, microsoft are doing that very well.

not sure if amazon has a service like rapidshare, megaupload but if they did then they would still have illegal content hosted on there servers.

"full body armor for a fat guy" wow... can they just knock on the door and say "you are under arrest?" they might have ready a nuclear missile just to be sure... talk about exaggeration..

Yeah, forget the part where he's pinned down and getting beaten, or the part where they raided his home.

I am just trying to explain to you why this happened. I am not condoning it, just giving an explanation. You seem to be blaming me for it.

Do you grasp the notion of explaining something without necessarily agreeing with it?

You want to have a grown up discussion, that's fine, but I don't need to be yelled at by some angry child.

You won't find many people in the country (New Zealand) that are all the perturbed about the use of force tbh. Too soon after Jan Molenaar. Cops getting gunned down might be de rigueur in some countries, but dying for serving a warrant on a penny-ante dope dealer likely to get a few months in jail (if that) tended to bring into stark relief that the community constable approach has a serious downside when dealing with unknown quantities.
The country has had twenty-nine police officers killed in the line of duty, so not a regular occurance- and more to the point, police inquiries and public sentiment tend to claim more than their pound of flesh.

Might want to check your facts, there was a graph that showed which sites had the most infringing files being hosted on them and Megaupload was like 4th or 5th on the list, even though it was the largest file-sharing site of them all (ten or so). Which clearly means Megaupload was doing a very effective job of removing infringing links if they are biggest site and don't have the most infringing links. Also, Megaupload offered a tool that allowed copyright holders to remove the links themselves, up to a couple thousand per day.