Aug. 15 () –
The New Zealand government has agreed to extradite computer scientist Kim Dotcom, founder of the Megaupload download site, to the United States to face trial on alleged computer piracy charges.
Dotcom, who has German and Finnish nationality but has lived in New Zealand since 2010, was arrested along with several of his associates in early 2012 in an FBI operation outside Auckland.
New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith told 1 News that after receiving “extensive” information on the case, he had concluded that the computer scientist could be handed over to the United States. The government is now granting “a short period of time” to assess his situation.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Dotcom said on social media, reiterating that he has no intention of leaving. A few days ago, he accused New Zealand of being “an obedient colony” of the United States.
Megaupload operated as a file hosting portal and quickly became one of the main channels for distributing piracy on the Internet. It came to have more than 150 million registered users, according to the company.
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