The trial against the founder of Megaupload will be seen in 'streaming'

The trial against the founder of Megaupload will be seen in 'streaming'

Kim Dotcom tries to avoid his extradition to the US, where he could face a penalty of up to 20 years in prison for piracy

   The founder of the page Megaupload has obtained that the court of Auckland that studies its resource to avoid being extradited to the United States by charges of online piracy transmits the session by Internet. "Last minute, the judge granted the broadcast in streaming, a success!" Kim Dotcom indicated on the second day of the process against him.

  The 41-year-old German, whose real name is Kim Schmitz, is accused of being enriched thanks to hacking through his website, which before its closure in 2012 was one of the main sources for illegally downloading music and movies. The United States tries to block the diffusion of the process arguing that this could condition the jury, if finally Kim Dotcom finishes being judged in the country.

Judge Murray Gilbert has rejected the request of the defenders of the extradition, but has established some conditions. The images must come out with a delay of 20 minutes, to prevent any restricted material from being published, and once they are broadcast, the recordings must be removed from the internet. "This is something totally new! New Zealand is at the forefront of transparent justice! Leadership!" The accused has indicated on Twitter.

Between six and eight weeks

In its heyday, Megaupload was at number thirteen on the list of most visited pages in the world, had 50 million daily users and claimed to represent 4% of global traffic. But in January 2012 the police arrested Kim Dotcom in his luxurious mansion in Auckland at the request of US authorities, in a spectacular operation. At the end of 2015 New Zealand justice considered that he could be extradited to the United States along with three other founders of Megaupload but Kim Dotcom appealed.

The lawyer of the eccentric entrepreneur has said that since this case judges unprecedented facts of a public and international interest, it would not be fair that it was not shared by the Internet. "This is a case of the internet age," Ron Mansfield said.

The process is expected to last between six and eight weeks. If finally tried in the United States, Dotcom would face a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Kim Dotcom denies all charges and accuses the United States of persecuting him instigated by the American cultural industry, and states that his case could set a precedent for all Internet users. It is defined as a "defender of internet freedom". Dotcom defends that Megaupload was a file exchange platform but with a total of 50 million users per day, it could not control all the data uploaded to the page.

According to the FBI, Megaupload obtained a net profit of 175 million dollars through illegal procedures and has caused a loss of 500 million dollars to holders of the rights to movies, musical works and other pirated products.