There’s a few interesting threads to the Kim Dotcom saga.
At the base is the question of copyright and the internet. Should merely providing a tool that can be used for piracy be a crime? Isn’t it time copyright law evolved to the reality of the internet, rather than ‘cracking down’ (the last refuge of failing systems). No law is ever going to stop people sharing files or consuming pirated materials. Most people now do it as a norm, many not even realising it’s illegal. When a social norm is illegal, it’s the law that is wrong. There are models out there that will allow artists to continue to make a living from their art, without futilely imprisoning people for breaking archaic copyright laws.
But, given the law is what it is for now, does that in any way justify the police’s raid – 70 armed officers, helicopters and the rest swooping on a family home and then parading that private property for the TV cameras? Have they learned nothing from the Tuhoe raids, or have they learned the wrong lessons?
And, if Dotcom really is such a bad guy, why did National let him come to live in New Zealand in the first place? He has a criminal record but ‘investing’ $10m in New Zealand was enough to get National to turn a blind eye. Why does buying $10m of Government bonds count as investing in New Zealand, anyway? It’s not an actual investment in building anything in our country, it’s like cash, but with the added advantage that it wouldn’t be held in a New Zealand bank where it could be frozen. Is that all the rich have to do to gain access to our country under National, wave a bit of money about? I guess so, it’s part of a pattern of behaviour from Warner Bros, to Crafar Farms, to Dotcom – if you’re a foreigner with cash, National is at your service.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress