Kim Dotcom may be the king of bad taste, but the FBI’s handling of his criminal case is pretty bad, according to Apple co-founder — and Gizmodo hero/friend — Steve Wozniak.
When crimes occur through the mail, you don’t shut the post office down. When governments dream up charges of ‘racketeering’ for a typical IT guy who is just operating a file-sharing service, or accuse him of mail fraud because he said he had removed files [to alleged infringing content] when he’d just removed the links to them, this is evidence of how poorly thought out the attempt to extradite him is. Prosecutors are attempting to take advantage of loopholes.
Woz also believes that it is a disgrace that the Feds are not allowing Kim Dotcom access to his assets to defend himself in court:
How unfair that the United States will allow him living expenses out of his frozen assets but not give him any legal fees. The side with access to the funds spends millions on lawyers hoping the other side goes bankrupt and gives in. Shame on the system that permits this one-sided advantage. Kim is well enough liked and respected that his legal team is working without up-front payment.
The FBI killed MegaUpload back in January. Special forces busted into Kim Dotcom’s mansion in what’s probably the most stupid and overkilling operation in the history of the most stupid and overkilling operations in the world. [CNET]