The Telegraph, Reuters, 27 Sep 2012
 |
| The founder of Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz, is seen at court in Auckland earlier this year Photo: REUTERS |
An official
report showed confirmed the breach of privacy rules on Thursday, prompting the
apology from John Key and dealing a possible blow to a US bid to extradite Mr
Dotcom..
Washington
wants the 38-year-old German national, also known as Kim Schmitz, to be sent to
the United States to face charges of internet piracy and breaking copyright
laws.
Thursday's
report by the Inspector-General of Intelligence, the official watchdog for New
Zealand spy agencies, found the Government Communications and Security Bureau
(GCSB) had spied on Mr Dotcom, despite a law prohibiting it from spying on New
Zealand citizens and residents.
The
flamboyant Mr Dotcom was granted New Zealand permanent residency status in
2010.
"It is
the GCSB's responsibility to act within the law, and it is hugely disappointing
that in this case its actions fell outside the law," John Key said in a
statement, adding the blunder was the result of "basic errors".
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"They
[GCSB] have failed at the lowest hurdle," he added.
"I'm
personally disappointed. New Zealanders should be very disappointed."
Mr Key
apologised to Mr Dotcom and all New Zealanders, saying they were entitled to be
protected by the law and that it had failed them.
New Zealand
police asked the GCSB to keep track of Mr Dotcom and his colleagues before a
raid in late January on his rented country estate near Auckland, which saw
computers and hard drives, works of art, and cars confiscated.
The illegal
surveillance may deal another blow to the US extradition case after a New
Zealand court ruled in June that search warrants used in the raid on Dotcom's
home were illegal.
The raid
followed a request by the FBI for the arrest of Dotcom for leading a group that
netted $175m since 2005 by allegedly copying and distributing music, films and
other copyrighted content without authorisation.
Mr Dotcom
maintains that the Megaupload site was no more than an online storage facility,
and has accused Hollywood of lobbying the US government to prosecute him.
US
authorities are currently appealing a New Zealand court decision that Mr Dotcom
should be allowed to see the evidence on which the extradition hearing will be
based.
The
extradition hearing has been delayed until March 2013.
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