Five Eyes, Spies and Govt lies…Dotcom speaks

"Nobody would be shocked to hear me admit that I have a problem with authority."

And nobody would be shocked to see such a quote attributed to Kim Dotcom, who "resists the notion that the government always acts in the best interests of its citizens."

Writing a column for UK newspaper The Guardian, the Megaupload founder was his usual opinionated self, showing unwavered support for whistleblower Edward Snowden, while sticking the boot into government behaviour across the globe.

Referring to the "Five Eyes" alliance between the US, New Zealand, UK, Canada and Australia, Dotcom displayed his recurring concerns over the actions of the state, and how he has fallen "victim of such abuses."

"The "Five Eyes" alliance… effectively permits those governments to circumvent the prohibition against gathering data on their own citizens by sharing information across the Five Eyes intelligence community," he wrote.

"The UK for example can spy on Americans and make that information available to the US government on its massive spy cloud – one that the NSA operates and the Five Eyes share.

"I have personally been a victim of such abuses.

"The US government has indicted me, shut down my cloud storage company Megaupload and seized all of my assets because it claims I was complicit in copyright infringement by some of the people who used the Megaupload service.

"I have emphasised that I am being prosecuted not because the charges against me have some sound basis in US copyright law, but because the US justice department has been instrumentalised by certain private interests that have a financial stake in neutralising my business.

"That trend represents a danger not just to me, but to all of us."

Whistleblowing

Following Snowden's disclosure of top-secret US documents, the eyes of the world has been focused on the former CIA assistant, as he remains in hiding somewhere in Hong Kong.

But as he did on Twitter a few days earlier, Dotcom once again displayed public approval for Snowden's actions.

"Edward Snowden's recent interview with the Guardian underscores the possibility that those like me – who see the state as a potential threat to basic civil rights and liberties – may have been right all along," he wrote.

"We should heed warnings from Snowden because the prospect of an Orwellian society outweighs whatever security benefits we derive from Prism or Five Eyes.

"Viewed through the long lens of human history, concerns over government tyranny are always legitimate.

"It is those concerns that underpin the constitutions of most developed countries, and inform international principles of human rights and the rule of law.

"Prism and its related practices should be discontinued immediately, and the Utah Data Center should be leased to cloud storage companies with encryption capabilities."

After again enduring a delay to his extradition hearing, Dotcom was the recipient of public support himself this week, with Otago University security expert Hank Wolfe criticising Kiwi officials.

"The whole case is illegal for so many reasons," he told Stuff.co.nz.

"The FBI stole his material. They had no right to do that. The GCSB had no right to surveil him."

To read Dotcom's full article in The Guardian, click here

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