Dotcom Search Warrants Ruled Illegal

New submitter StueyNZ writes "Justice Helen Winkelmann of New Zealand's High Court (non-appellate court) has ruled that the search warrants used to search and seize property from Kim Dotcom's Coatsville residence did not properly describe the offenses under which the search was being made. In particular, warrants did not make it clear that the breach of copyright law and money laundering offenses were U.S. federal offenses rather than NZ offenses. Therefore the search and seizure was illegal. I hope this means Mr. Dotcom gets his security footage back, which should shed some light on how many tourists from the FBI were present at the NZ police raid, and how many firearms those tourists were waving around as they joined in."

At Least...

[sycodon]

...they didn't bring SWAT along, bust down her door and shoot her dog (and possible her).

Re:Jurisdiction

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Citizen, citizen, nothing whatsoever has happened to the concept of jurisdiction. In fact, we value this legal principle so highly that we've been carefully collecting as many samples as possible, from as many areas of the world as possible, in order to better appreciate its value...

Re:Jurisdiction

[Anonymous Coward]

Jurisdiction died that fateful day when copyright pirates flew their torrents into the WTC. NEVER FORGET.

the real reason

[slashmydots]

Hey, the FBI takes cheating at Modern Warfare 3 VERY seriously, okay? (see Kim Dotcom's wikipedia page)

News headline from next week

[crazyjj]

"Helen Winkelmann Arrested on Rape Charge"

Re:At Least...

[sycodon]

Where is Crocodile Dundee when you need him?

Re:At Least...

[ColdWetDog]

In Australia.

Re:It's no surprise..

[Captain Hook]

Have you see the weather at Other Location? The place is objectively terrible.

Hey, I live in the UK you insensitive clod.

Re:It's no surprise..

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure the US authorities are thinking, 'job done'.

I think you mean: 'Mission Accomplished!'

Re:Impressive...

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG! Megaupload is gone! All that leaves is Filefactory, Shareflare, Rapidshare, Rapidgater, Depositfiles, Megashares, Uploading, Filelocker, Bitshare...

Re:It's no surprise..

[arth1]

The U.S. is defined by its government. Not necessarily the people running the show, but the system in place. It is defined by the Constitution and the Declaration. There is literally nothing else that separates someone from the U.S. over someone from say, Europe, Mexico, or even Canada.

Oh, I don't know. I'd say about 50 kg...