Kim Dotcom

thumb|right|Kim Dotcom in 2013 Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who resides in Glenorchy, New Zealand. He was the founder of the file-sharing Megaupload platform which was closed down by the United States Department of Justice in 2012 for alleged copyright infringement. Quotes Everyone tells me not to say the things I do. I'm very direct, very undiplomatic. Everyone tells me to stop talking about my hacker history, about my lifesytle, but I don't give a ****, I've just stayed the way I am. Over the past few years I realised that if I was to run a company or a fund, I needed to be the captain and not listen to anyone else. I needed to be the ruler of my world otherwise it was never going to work. [On his early history as a hacker] Every hack was a trophy. I had a big feeling of power because I was running the most important worldwide mailbox exchanging hacking information and I knew what was really going on. From an interview by Amanda Hall, as cited in "City Profile: From convicted hacker to dotcom backer", The Telegraph (28 January 2001) Then known under his birth name of Kim Schmitz. They're treating us like a Mafia, man! [...] It's unbelievable. It's only because they cannot extradite us to the US just for copyright violation. If they treat us as some sort of international criminal conspiracy, they can. Interview, as cited in "Inside the Mansion—and Mind—of the Net's Most Wanted Man", Wired (18 October 2012) At the beginning of the United States' attempts to extradite Kim Dotcom and his six codefendants. [Defending his purchase of a rare signed copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf] I'm a [video game] Call of Duty player right ... It's all about World War II and how you play and I'm a big fan of that. I've bought memorabilia from Churchill, from Stalin, from Hitler. Well let me make it absolutely clear, I'm not buying into the Nazi ideology. I'm totally against what the Nazis did. I think in another 100 years that book will probably go up in value times 10. From an interview on 3 News (25 March 2014), as cited in "Hitler manifesto just an investment - Mana", NZ Herald (26 March 2014) What the US Govt is doing reminds me of what I learned in school about Nazi Germany. Ironic, Hollywood is run by mostly Jewish entrepreneurs. Tweet (6 January 2015), as cited in "Kim Dotcom tweets upset Jewish community", NZ Herald (6 January 2015) [T]he obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload. Post on X/tweet (13 Augiust 2024), as cited in Lewis Jackson and Lucy Craymer "Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand after 12-year fight with US", Reuters (15 August 2024) New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith had signed a United States extradition order for Kim Dotcom. External links Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Germany Category:Businesspeople from Finland Category:Software engineers Category:Fraudsters Category:Political activists Category:People from Germany