Kim Dotcom’s Extradition Hearing Can Be Live-Streamed, New Zealand Court Says

At the start of his extradition hearing in an Auckland court Monday, Kim Dotcom’s lawyer asked the judge to allow the case proceedings to be streamed live over YouTube, a request the United States — which is seeking Dotcom’s custody to charge the tech entrepreneur with copyright infringement and money laundering — opposed. And on Tuesday, Judge Murray Gilbert rejected arguments made by New Zealand government prosecutors, who were representing the U.S., and allowed the hearing to be live-streamed over YouTube.

Dotcom expressed his joy on Twitter.

The case against Dotcom, a German by birth, relates to the erstwhile file-sharing website, Megaupload. U.S. authorities say Dotcom and other Megaupload executives encouraged piracy through the website, which cost film studios and recording companies over $500 million while making about $175 million for the website in revenue.

In his defense, Dotcom has maintained that the website was only for sharing files, many of which were legit and that with about 50 million active users every day, it wasn’t possible to monitor and control everyone’s activities on it. In an interview with the BBC, he likened the charge against him to charging a car manufacturer for speeding drivers.

A few moments ago I caught up with @KimDotcom to discuss the live-streaming of his extradition appeal pic.twitter.com/47Rz9n3FWN

— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeBBC) August 30, 2016

Citing the users who lost their legitimate files when the site was shut down, Dotcom also called his case one in public interest.

“It’s very important that the entire world gets to see the courtroom,” Dotcom’s lawyer Ira Rothken told the court. “The Internet isn’t run by any one nation, so we thought the solution itself would come from the Internet.”

Dotcom is also hoping that experts and students of law will crowdsource analysis of submissions the U.S. government will make in the case. And it seems like there will be at least some takers too.

The hearing in the Auckland court comes nine months after a lower court in New Zealand ruled that Dotcom could be sent to the U.S. to face charges. The current hearing will go on for six to eight weeks.

The live stream of Dotcom’s hearing will begin Wednesday, once the court has the provisions it wants. The stream will be on YouTube with a 20-minute delay to allow for any parts the court wants suppressed to be removed from the stream. The entire feed must also be removed from YouTube once the hearing is over. Dotcom will announce the link to the stream on his Twitter account once it becomes available.