Kim Dotcom Interview Translation New Zealand TV
After the closure of the world's largest file hosting site megaupload.com and the arrest of its owner Kim Dotcom, almost two months passed. On February 22, Dotkom came out on bail, and on March 1 he gave an exclusive interview to New Zealand's 3news television channel , and spoke about the court, the size of his company and the history of megaupload. I publish his translation.
Kim Dotkom: You know, this is like a nightmare. An unexpected situation that frightened my family, my wife, who is pregnant with twins, had nightmares, she feels unhappy, that is, of course, I found myself in an interesting situation.
J. Campbell: Kim, you say it was unexpected. Absolutely, completely unexpectedly, have you ever imagined that such a thing could happen to someone in the world sometime?
Kim: Well, business has already been seven years old, and we only sued once, and it wasn’t, you know, a film company, a big media company, and we spent millions of dollars on legal advice over the past few years, and our advisers claimed that we were safe. being protected by DMCA, a U.S. law that protects online service providers from the actions of third parties, it all came out completely unexpectedly.
Campbell: what did your lawyers say about your activities? As far as you can understand, Megaupload, simply put, is a giant exchanger, right? You upload something there, someone else downloads from there, you and they share files - and this can be anything, right? How are you protected from copyright infringement by individuals using Megaupload?
Kim: theoretically, and everyone really believed in it, the law protected us. We are not responsible for the actions of third parties, understand? While we are dealing with things that are being reported to us, which we have been doing all these years, we are protected by law and, you know, I find this happening surprising, because, as I said, we received legal advice all these years, where it was said, that we are not responsible for the actions of third parties.
Campbell:How did the idea of Megaupload come about? That was your idea, right?
Kim: Once I sent a file to a friend via e-mail, and I received a message that the file is too large, the site refuses to send it, so I wondered how to solve such problems? So I created a server where I can upload the file, and send a friend a unique link to this file, that's how it all started, it was just a solution to the problem that exists to this day.
Campbell: How fast things began to develop, were you surprised?
Kim: Yes, it developed surprisingly fast, because every time someone used the system to download a file, the one who downloaded this file also found out about Megaupload with a mortgage, and more and more people used it, because the mechanism is so useful ... and free.
Campbell:Kevin Soo, senior vice president of the Content Protection and the Motion Picture Association, has called you, I quote: "The most malicious copyright infringer in the world." Is it so?
Kim: Not at all. I am not a copyright infringer. You estimate the size. Megaupload is a network that processes 1.5 terabytes ...
Campbell: explain to me how much this is?
Kim: That's about 800 file transfers per second. We are a relatively small company, we can not expect that we will monitor all this traffic.
Campbell: So, 800 files per second.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell: 24 hours a day, all days of the year.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell: Per second.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell:And do you know what is contained in these files? Can you look at these 800 files per second at any time ...
Kim: Well, there are other laws that protect users, these are piracy laws. For example, in the United States, this is the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, which prohibits us from rummaging through user profiles or files. Like mail, it is private, we can’t just take and check everything that users load. But for this reason, we have our own rules for using the service, where we tell users: “You can’t upload anything that violates someone’s rights to Megaupload, but only that which belongs to you”, and before something download, each user clicks a button in the window: "I agree with the rules of the service." So we had a legal agreement with users that they could not download something that did not belong to them.
Campbell:In general, it is somewhat idealistic to believe that only as we click on the item confirming acceptance of the rules of the service, we will behave appropriately to these rules, right? That is, you should have known what people would do what they wanted, as soon as they could slip through the front door. They shared all the files they wanted. Have you had the opportunity to control this?
Kim: Of course, everyone knows that the Internet is used for both legal and illegal purposes. I think that all owners of such resources had similar problems. YouTube, Google, all in one boat. So, you must understand that we provided content owners with the ability to remove links that violate their rights. That is, they not only had an online form where they could convey information about the violation of rights, but also direct access to our system to remove any link without our participation. Full access to 180 of our partners, including any major film studio, Microsoft and major content providers, and they constantly used the system, which the law did not oblige us to introduce! We gave access voluntarily, and more than 15 million links were deleted.
Campbell:That is, every member of the Motion Picture Association, any studio that is part of the association, had direct access to Megaupload.com to remove any material that threatens copyright - is that all?
Kim: Exactly.
Campbell: And yet, the FBI’s accusations against you include, I quote: "Copyright violations that entailed losses of rights owners in the amount of 500 million US dollars"?
Kim: This is complete nonsense. If you read the prosecution and listen to what the prosecutor said in court, this is a minimum of $ 500 million in damage from music files over a two-week period. That is, they actually talk about 13 billion dollars of damage per year due to music downloads. The entire US music industry is worth less than 20 billion. Thus, as one site may be liable for such damage, it does not fit into the head and does not fit into the idea of reality.
Campbell: So, do you think that you are like an innocent lamb sacrificed?
Kim: I can’t find any other explanation, because I haven’t done anything wrong. I am not a criminal, my site was not planned as a pirate bay. If you read the comments, take a look at the online discussion, everyone understands this. This is madness.
Campbell: The FBI called your case unprecedented. That is, the scale of your piracy is unprecedented. There was nothing like this in the history of mankind, you are a pirate from pirates.
Kim: Yeah. These are like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you know. If you want to get someone and you have political goals, you will say anything. This is a fabrication and a lie. There are hundreds of other companies like us, why is nothing happening to them?
Campbell: Can you name a couple?
Kim: Lots of sites. Mediafire Located in the USA, they offer exactly the same service as we do.
Campbell: file sharing?
Kim: YES. Rapidshare, Fileserve, Filesonic. Microsoft has its own service - Skydrive. Google launches the Drive service. Everything in this field, in one business, all have the same problems with piracy that we had. But we are not responsible for the problem itself, I think it is important to understand. Why is there piracy? Because, for example, Europeans are not able to watch new films at the same time as they go to the United States. This problem comes from the outdated business model and the license model Hollywood stands for, they release something first in their country, but they show trailers around the world advertising the film, but the 14-year-old Frenchman or German will not see him for another six months after the premiere Do you understand? If there were a model according to which everyone would have simultaneous access to content, there would be no problem of piracy. So, IMHO, the United States government is patronizing an outdated monopoly system that no longer works in the Internet era, and that’s it. I'm not the king of pirates, I offered online storage of content for users, that's all.
Kim: When you create something popular, you create a solution to a problem, you are an innovator, you solve the problems of many people, they like what you offer, and, of course, you automatically make money. If you have a popular product, you make money. I had a very popular product.
Campbell: Why was he so popular?
Kim: Because people could overcome many limitations. It saved people money, you know, you do not need to buy a place to store files, you can use our services. I am talking about legit files. You can use our services to keep a backup copy of all your documents. There are so many legitimate ways to use Megaupload that the element of piracy should not really be considered before everyone else.
Campbell:in a CNET article, I quote: "Among the copyright holders who accused Megaupload of piracy, including software and video game manufacturers, no one has provided the FBI with more evidence against Megaupload than the MPAA." Have you ever received complaints from MPAA members like: “Kim, are we worried about what's happening on Megaupload?”
Kim: Never. And, I’ll tell you more, if you were a company that suffers billions of dollars of such damage from us, would you sit and wait? You would call your lawyers, try to sue us, stop our activities.
Campbell: that is, no action in any form. Have you received letters from the MPAA of the form: "The last James Bond movie is downloaded via Megaupload, stop it ..."? Did you get ...
Kim: Not at all. We did not receive any official papers from any of these studios. The only thing we received was reports of violations and their removal of files on our site. Does it not surprise you that I am the king of pirates, causing all this damage, and none of them makes any attempts to sue for losses ah? Who will manage the business and lose millions of dollars because of me, and still sit, do nothing. I want to say that the investigation lasted two years, the company has existed for seven years, the MPAA has always called us different bad words, but they never tried to bring us to court for the simple reason that there is a law in the USA protecting us - the Digital Millenium Copyricht Act - protecting suppliers online services from liability for user actions, the same law that allows Google to exist, allows YouTube to exist. Viacom sued YouTube, they said that they were protected by the DMCA and won the case. And look at the materials of the case, the correspondence during the trial - you will understand that we are innocent sheep compared to YouTube, but those guys managed to get away. They won the case, and I'm in prison, my house is confiscated, my accounts are frozen without trial. This is complete madness, that’s what it is.
Campbell: Why then do you think you are?
Kim: I'm an easy target. My extravagance, my hacking past, and, you know, I'm not an American, I live somewhere in New Zealand, on the hell of a fuss. I have funny car numbers, all that. I am not Google. I don’t have 50 billion dollars in my account, in fact, now I don’t have a penny in my account either. And all my lawyers work without getting a penny, and yet they do their job, because they see that what is happening is unfair, unreasonable, unjust, unfair.
Campbell: What are you thinking about spending a month in jail? A lot of time alone with you, right? Do you have a single camera, or do you share it with someone?
Kim: Yes, I have a solitary confinement, and I mostly care about my family, this is what I think most about. My wife is pregnant with twins, and this impossible situation does not allow anxiety to subside, they have made a pledge - and I don’t even know on what grounds. Some kind of nonsense.
Campbell: Are you a troubled prisoner?
Kim: Absolutely not.
Campbell: Is a helicopter waiting for you over the hill, literally or figuratively, that will take you to where you cannot be extradited from?
Kim: Think for a moment yourself. Why should I run after everything is taken from me? A company worth perhaps a billion dollars was sentenced to death without trial, why should I run away? The only thing that remains and the only thing that makes sense is to fight, which I am going to do. I am going to fight to the end, and I promise you and everyone who is watching this that victory will be mine, since I am not a criminal and have not done anything illegal.
Campbell: FBI accusations, written perhaps in the most emotional tone that I have come across ...
Kim: This is a press release. The 72-page conclusion is so sloppy as to only compel the judge and the grand jury in the States to agree to similar methods. Read the professional opinions of those who have seen this document. This is nothing more than a press release, with facts taken out of context, designed to make me look like a bad guy.
Campbell: Are you a bad guy, Kim? Maybe you are a bad person who tried to cut as much money as possible for yourself at the expense of content providers who take risks, do work, a product - all so that you force people to participate in their fraud with the aim of enrichment?
Kim: Nonsense. I am an innovator, I am a software manufacturer, I offer solutions, I create a website that is becoming popular and that they want to use, and many have used it quite legally, and it is very strange that they put me on such a pedestal, declaring me the super-pirate of the whole planet. This is madness. There is no excuse for this.
Campbell: Do you think you would be in that position if you hadn’t been driving a Mercedes in a crazy rally in Europe with Dr. Evil at the wheel, you weren’t behaving like a life-burner? After all, you position yourself in such a way as to attract attention, which distinguishes you from the guy who runs Google, who dresses like me and doesn’t upload a video to YouTube where he behaves like a nut. Maybe that's why you are such an easy target, what do you think?
Kim: I'll be honest. Those videos and everything that you see on the network was not uploaded by me. This video is over ten years old and I like to have fun, OK? I enjoy life, I have a big child inside and I see no reason to walk in a suit and be clamped. I made my money, fulfilled my dreams, there is nothing wrong with that. These clips were shot long before I had a wife, family, children, you see, my priorities have changed. I’m a family man, I don’t do anything like that anymore - it was fun for children, and then it was funny, I do not regret it, but today I’m not like that. I want to save the future for my children, provide my family with a decent home, which is why we actually moved to New Zealand, and I am very surprised at how things turned out.
Campbell:That is why you are here? Moved to start life anew and become a family man or to get away from all this hype, the FBI?
Kim: No, I'm here for my family. I have small children, and we lived in Hong Kong. This is a type of concrete jungle. No grass, no trees, no birds. I want my children to live closer to nature, nature, happiness, peace, that’s why we came to New Zealand. You do not have nuclear weapons; you are not on the list of opponents of any nuclear power. This is good. NZ is a beautiful country, we spent our holidays here, fell in love with this place and decided to move here for the sake of children in order to give them a decent future.
Campbell: What future awaits you, Kim?
Kim: You know, I'm a fighter, and I'm going to fight. I feel confident and intend to win, because, in the end, my family and all my loved ones know that I am not a criminal and have done nothing wrong. So I will fight. That is all I can do.
PS
Thanks for the translation to Andrei Gorelikov .
Kim Dotkom: You know, this is like a nightmare. An unexpected situation that frightened my family, my wife, who is pregnant with twins, had nightmares, she feels unhappy, that is, of course, I found myself in an interesting situation.
J. Campbell: Kim, you say it was unexpected. Absolutely, completely unexpectedly, have you ever imagined that such a thing could happen to someone in the world sometime?
Kim: Well, business has already been seven years old, and we only sued once, and it wasn’t, you know, a film company, a big media company, and we spent millions of dollars on legal advice over the past few years, and our advisers claimed that we were safe. being protected by DMCA, a U.S. law that protects online service providers from the actions of third parties, it all came out completely unexpectedly.
Campbell: what did your lawyers say about your activities? As far as you can understand, Megaupload, simply put, is a giant exchanger, right? You upload something there, someone else downloads from there, you and they share files - and this can be anything, right? How are you protected from copyright infringement by individuals using Megaupload?
Kim: theoretically, and everyone really believed in it, the law protected us. We are not responsible for the actions of third parties, understand? While we are dealing with things that are being reported to us, which we have been doing all these years, we are protected by law and, you know, I find this happening surprising, because, as I said, we received legal advice all these years, where it was said, that we are not responsible for the actions of third parties.
Campbell:How did the idea of Megaupload come about? That was your idea, right?
Kim: Once I sent a file to a friend via e-mail, and I received a message that the file is too large, the site refuses to send it, so I wondered how to solve such problems? So I created a server where I can upload the file, and send a friend a unique link to this file, that's how it all started, it was just a solution to the problem that exists to this day.
Campbell: How fast things began to develop, were you surprised?
Kim: Yes, it developed surprisingly fast, because every time someone used the system to download a file, the one who downloaded this file also found out about Megaupload with a mortgage, and more and more people used it, because the mechanism is so useful ... and free.
Campbell:Kevin Soo, senior vice president of the Content Protection and the Motion Picture Association, has called you, I quote: "The most malicious copyright infringer in the world." Is it so?
Kim: Not at all. I am not a copyright infringer. You estimate the size. Megaupload is a network that processes 1.5 terabytes ...
Campbell: explain to me how much this is?
Kim: That's about 800 file transfers per second. We are a relatively small company, we can not expect that we will monitor all this traffic.
Campbell: So, 800 files per second.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell: 24 hours a day, all days of the year.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell: Per second.
Kim: Yes.
Campbell:And do you know what is contained in these files? Can you look at these 800 files per second at any time ...
Kim: Well, there are other laws that protect users, these are piracy laws. For example, in the United States, this is the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, which prohibits us from rummaging through user profiles or files. Like mail, it is private, we can’t just take and check everything that users load. But for this reason, we have our own rules for using the service, where we tell users: “You can’t upload anything that violates someone’s rights to Megaupload, but only that which belongs to you”, and before something download, each user clicks a button in the window: "I agree with the rules of the service." So we had a legal agreement with users that they could not download something that did not belong to them.
Campbell:In general, it is somewhat idealistic to believe that only as we click on the item confirming acceptance of the rules of the service, we will behave appropriately to these rules, right? That is, you should have known what people would do what they wanted, as soon as they could slip through the front door. They shared all the files they wanted. Have you had the opportunity to control this?
Kim: Of course, everyone knows that the Internet is used for both legal and illegal purposes. I think that all owners of such resources had similar problems. YouTube, Google, all in one boat. So, you must understand that we provided content owners with the ability to remove links that violate their rights. That is, they not only had an online form where they could convey information about the violation of rights, but also direct access to our system to remove any link without our participation. Full access to 180 of our partners, including any major film studio, Microsoft and major content providers, and they constantly used the system, which the law did not oblige us to introduce! We gave access voluntarily, and more than 15 million links were deleted.
Campbell:That is, every member of the Motion Picture Association, any studio that is part of the association, had direct access to Megaupload.com to remove any material that threatens copyright - is that all?
Kim: Exactly.
Campbell: And yet, the FBI’s accusations against you include, I quote: "Copyright violations that entailed losses of rights owners in the amount of 500 million US dollars"?
Kim: This is complete nonsense. If you read the prosecution and listen to what the prosecutor said in court, this is a minimum of $ 500 million in damage from music files over a two-week period. That is, they actually talk about 13 billion dollars of damage per year due to music downloads. The entire US music industry is worth less than 20 billion. Thus, as one site may be liable for such damage, it does not fit into the head and does not fit into the idea of reality.
Campbell: So, do you think that you are like an innocent lamb sacrificed?
Kim: I can’t find any other explanation, because I haven’t done anything wrong. I am not a criminal, my site was not planned as a pirate bay. If you read the comments, take a look at the online discussion, everyone understands this. This is madness.
Campbell: The FBI called your case unprecedented. That is, the scale of your piracy is unprecedented. There was nothing like this in the history of mankind, you are a pirate from pirates.
Kim: Yeah. These are like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you know. If you want to get someone and you have political goals, you will say anything. This is a fabrication and a lie. There are hundreds of other companies like us, why is nothing happening to them?
Campbell: Can you name a couple?
Kim: Lots of sites. Mediafire Located in the USA, they offer exactly the same service as we do.
Campbell: file sharing?
Kim: YES. Rapidshare, Fileserve, Filesonic. Microsoft has its own service - Skydrive. Google launches the Drive service. Everything in this field, in one business, all have the same problems with piracy that we had. But we are not responsible for the problem itself, I think it is important to understand. Why is there piracy? Because, for example, Europeans are not able to watch new films at the same time as they go to the United States. This problem comes from the outdated business model and the license model Hollywood stands for, they release something first in their country, but they show trailers around the world advertising the film, but the 14-year-old Frenchman or German will not see him for another six months after the premiere Do you understand? If there were a model according to which everyone would have simultaneous access to content, there would be no problem of piracy. So, IMHO, the United States government is patronizing an outdated monopoly system that no longer works in the Internet era, and that’s it. I'm not the king of pirates, I offered online storage of content for users, that's all.
Kim: When you create something popular, you create a solution to a problem, you are an innovator, you solve the problems of many people, they like what you offer, and, of course, you automatically make money. If you have a popular product, you make money. I had a very popular product.
Campbell: Why was he so popular?
Kim: Because people could overcome many limitations. It saved people money, you know, you do not need to buy a place to store files, you can use our services. I am talking about legit files. You can use our services to keep a backup copy of all your documents. There are so many legitimate ways to use Megaupload that the element of piracy should not really be considered before everyone else.
Campbell:in a CNET article, I quote: "Among the copyright holders who accused Megaupload of piracy, including software and video game manufacturers, no one has provided the FBI with more evidence against Megaupload than the MPAA." Have you ever received complaints from MPAA members like: “Kim, are we worried about what's happening on Megaupload?”
Kim: Never. And, I’ll tell you more, if you were a company that suffers billions of dollars of such damage from us, would you sit and wait? You would call your lawyers, try to sue us, stop our activities.
Campbell: that is, no action in any form. Have you received letters from the MPAA of the form: "The last James Bond movie is downloaded via Megaupload, stop it ..."? Did you get ...
Kim: Not at all. We did not receive any official papers from any of these studios. The only thing we received was reports of violations and their removal of files on our site. Does it not surprise you that I am the king of pirates, causing all this damage, and none of them makes any attempts to sue for losses ah? Who will manage the business and lose millions of dollars because of me, and still sit, do nothing. I want to say that the investigation lasted two years, the company has existed for seven years, the MPAA has always called us different bad words, but they never tried to bring us to court for the simple reason that there is a law in the USA protecting us - the Digital Millenium Copyricht Act - protecting suppliers online services from liability for user actions, the same law that allows Google to exist, allows YouTube to exist. Viacom sued YouTube, they said that they were protected by the DMCA and won the case. And look at the materials of the case, the correspondence during the trial - you will understand that we are innocent sheep compared to YouTube, but those guys managed to get away. They won the case, and I'm in prison, my house is confiscated, my accounts are frozen without trial. This is complete madness, that’s what it is.
Campbell: Why then do you think you are?
Kim: I'm an easy target. My extravagance, my hacking past, and, you know, I'm not an American, I live somewhere in New Zealand, on the hell of a fuss. I have funny car numbers, all that. I am not Google. I don’t have 50 billion dollars in my account, in fact, now I don’t have a penny in my account either. And all my lawyers work without getting a penny, and yet they do their job, because they see that what is happening is unfair, unreasonable, unjust, unfair.
Campbell: What are you thinking about spending a month in jail? A lot of time alone with you, right? Do you have a single camera, or do you share it with someone?
Kim: Yes, I have a solitary confinement, and I mostly care about my family, this is what I think most about. My wife is pregnant with twins, and this impossible situation does not allow anxiety to subside, they have made a pledge - and I don’t even know on what grounds. Some kind of nonsense.
Campbell: Are you a troubled prisoner?
Kim: Absolutely not.
Campbell: Is a helicopter waiting for you over the hill, literally or figuratively, that will take you to where you cannot be extradited from?
Kim: Think for a moment yourself. Why should I run after everything is taken from me? A company worth perhaps a billion dollars was sentenced to death without trial, why should I run away? The only thing that remains and the only thing that makes sense is to fight, which I am going to do. I am going to fight to the end, and I promise you and everyone who is watching this that victory will be mine, since I am not a criminal and have not done anything illegal.
Campbell: FBI accusations, written perhaps in the most emotional tone that I have come across ...
Kim: This is a press release. The 72-page conclusion is so sloppy as to only compel the judge and the grand jury in the States to agree to similar methods. Read the professional opinions of those who have seen this document. This is nothing more than a press release, with facts taken out of context, designed to make me look like a bad guy.
Campbell: Are you a bad guy, Kim? Maybe you are a bad person who tried to cut as much money as possible for yourself at the expense of content providers who take risks, do work, a product - all so that you force people to participate in their fraud with the aim of enrichment?
Kim: Nonsense. I am an innovator, I am a software manufacturer, I offer solutions, I create a website that is becoming popular and that they want to use, and many have used it quite legally, and it is very strange that they put me on such a pedestal, declaring me the super-pirate of the whole planet. This is madness. There is no excuse for this.
Campbell: Do you think you would be in that position if you hadn’t been driving a Mercedes in a crazy rally in Europe with Dr. Evil at the wheel, you weren’t behaving like a life-burner? After all, you position yourself in such a way as to attract attention, which distinguishes you from the guy who runs Google, who dresses like me and doesn’t upload a video to YouTube where he behaves like a nut. Maybe that's why you are such an easy target, what do you think?
Kim: I'll be honest. Those videos and everything that you see on the network was not uploaded by me. This video is over ten years old and I like to have fun, OK? I enjoy life, I have a big child inside and I see no reason to walk in a suit and be clamped. I made my money, fulfilled my dreams, there is nothing wrong with that. These clips were shot long before I had a wife, family, children, you see, my priorities have changed. I’m a family man, I don’t do anything like that anymore - it was fun for children, and then it was funny, I do not regret it, but today I’m not like that. I want to save the future for my children, provide my family with a decent home, which is why we actually moved to New Zealand, and I am very surprised at how things turned out.
Campbell:That is why you are here? Moved to start life anew and become a family man or to get away from all this hype, the FBI?
Kim: No, I'm here for my family. I have small children, and we lived in Hong Kong. This is a type of concrete jungle. No grass, no trees, no birds. I want my children to live closer to nature, nature, happiness, peace, that’s why we came to New Zealand. You do not have nuclear weapons; you are not on the list of opponents of any nuclear power. This is good. NZ is a beautiful country, we spent our holidays here, fell in love with this place and decided to move here for the sake of children in order to give them a decent future.
Campbell: What future awaits you, Kim?
Kim: You know, I'm a fighter, and I'm going to fight. I feel confident and intend to win, because, in the end, my family and all my loved ones know that I am not a criminal and have done nothing wrong. So I will fight. That is all I can do.
PS
Thanks for the translation to Andrei Gorelikov .