Kim Dotcom, founder of the now-defunct Megaupload website, scored a victory in his battle with U.S. regulators today. A New Zealand judge has barred authorities there from giving the FBI any codes that would could unlock Dotcom’s encrypted hard drives. That’s not likely to please the U.S. officials attempting to extradite Dotcom to face charges.
New Zealand officials have been seeking the passwords to Kim Dotcom’s encrypted hard drives for years. The drives in question were collected during the dramatic raid on Dotcom’s mansion, which netted authorities several computers. Authorities have accused Dotcom of promoting illegal sharing of copyrighted content (including movies) via Megaupload. While Dotcom has shown willingness to share the passwords with New Zealand, he has not wanted to share them with U.S. government. Thanks to today’s ruling, it appears that he won’t have to – for now.
