US govt breached human rights in copyright case, Dotcom’s laywers claim

Lawyers of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom last week launched a white paper discussing America’s prosecution of Megaupload, in which they accuse the US of using “dirty tactics” and “due process abuses” in their case against the file sharing company.

The 48-page document was authored and released by members of Dotcom’s legal team: international lawyer Robert R Amsterdam and Dotcom’s US-based lawyer, Ira P Rothken.

Following the release of the white paper, Amsterdam said he intends to ask the German government to try to block Dotcom’s extradition to the US, where he would face trial.

“He is a German citizen, aside from being a New Zealand resident. It is a German citizen whose rights have been so abrogated, and there are obligations under the German constitution,” Amsterdam said.

Considering that the paper is essentially a diatribe from Dotcom’s representatives, it’s hardly unbiased. But it is definitely an interesting read, acting as a reflection of the state of global copyright law, and the use of such law in this digital age.

The paper argues that the prosecution’s case against Megaupload is untenable and motivated by the interests of the motion picture industry.

In the paper, Amsterdam and Rothken discuss several grounds on which they consider the case to be untenable.

They argue that Megaupload is shielded from criminal liability by the ‘safe harbor’ provisions in the US’ Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Under the DCMA, online service providers are protected from criminal liability so long as they block access to or remove infringing material from the service when they receive notification of an infringement claim from a copyright holder.

Megaupload took these steps, Amsterdam and Rothken claim.

They also point out that search warrants used to justify a raid on Dotcom’s home in 2012 were later determined to be illegal by a New Zealand court.

The authors write that the prosecution of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom is “founded on highly dubious legal principles and apparently propelled by the White House’s desire to mollify the motion picture industry in exchange for campaign contributions and political support”.

They argue that “The outside motivating factor in this case stems from Motion Picture Association of America’s (erroneous) view of Megaupload as ‘the very top of the piracy pyramid’, coupled with the current Administration’s desire to placate an association whose members, as a group, are some of the Democratic Party’s strongest political supporters and most generous campaign contributors.”

Amsterdam and Rothken also claim that the US employed underhanded tactics and violated human rights in its pursuit of Megaupload and Dotcom.

“The US government’s numerous due process violations infringe upon internationally guaranteed human rights”, they write.

The US government’s “attack” on Megaupload, “dramatised” arrest of Dotcom and the seizure of Megaupload’s assets represent “one of the clearest examples of prosecutorial overreach in recent history”, they write.

Check out the full paper here.