New Zealand illegally spied on MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom prior to his January arrest on copyright charges. Today that country's leader apologized.
(Credit: Kim DotCom/Greg Sandoval/CNET)
Members of New Zealand's government believed the law gave them the right to spy on MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom because he was a foreign national.
They were wrong.
In New Zealand today, Prime Minister John Key apologized to DotCom for the spying conducted against him by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
The United States has accused DotCom of criminal copyright violations and in January New Zealand police raided his home and arrested him. Just ahead of the raid, the GCSB began collecting intelligence against DotCom to see if he posed any danger to the police who would later swoop in by helicopter to arrest him.
Turns out that the GCSB isn't allowed to conduct such surveillance on New Zealand citizens and the agency was under the false impression that DotCom, who was born in Germany, was not yet a citizen.
This meant that the spying was unlawful.
"I apologize to Mr Dotcom," Key said, according to a report in TVNZ.co.nz. "I apologize to New Zealanders because every New Zealander... is entitled to be protected from the law when it comes to the GCSB, and we failed to provide that appropriate protection for him."
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via CNET http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/NnTv/~3/RmDiWGyCA1c/
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