5 ms·

At this point I feel that this is 15 years old and really not worth pursuing. It probably wasn't in the first case. Is Dotcom his real name?

wnevets 6y ago
> Is Dotcom his real name? IIRC, legally yes.
leetcrew 6y ago
it is his legal name, though I doubt it was his original surname at birth.
- ehsankia 6y ago
  Yes he legally changed his surname in 2005. His name at birth was Kim Schmitz. Funnily enough there are petitions to have him change his surname again to Kim Dotcodotnz. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well though.
  - nomad543 6y ago
    Dot-koh-doh-tenz
moomin 6y ago
I mean, it's not the one he was born with, but it's definitely the one he's known by. Whether he executed the relevant legal documents, I don't know, but I don't think it's important either. Fun fact, the person born Gordon Sumner's kids call him "Sting".
- mikeyouse 6y ago
  It's his legal name and actually is on the indictments and other legal docs - https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/megaupload-indictment.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/meg...
tlubinski 6y ago
He was born as Kim Schmitz
- artiszt 6y ago
  born in Kiel, Germany .. and still quite a few germans whom he [allegedly] betrayed would like to have a word with him, in person -- including few german attorneys
  - VectorLock 6y ago
    This sounds interesting, can you share more details?
    - busterarm 6y ago
      Kim used to brag about snooping on the documents he hosted for people and ratting people out to authorities and/or blackmailing them. The trail of bridges burned is quite long and starts in the mid-90s. His early handle was Kimble and he used to hack companies and sell their secrets for money (like PBX access) and did typical war dialer/phreaker/credit fraud scams you'd expect from '90s blackhats. He came into some money thanks to some German friends of his, one who worked at Lufthansa, and exploited that to "go legit" even though it mostly wasn't his own skills that he was trading on. He still ended up perpetrating a few frauds afterwards that cost friends and investors a lot of money. Look into Monkey AG and Monkeybank. Why anyone trusts him with their data or investments has always puzzled the hell out of me. I think people, especially "hackers", just have short memories. It's similar to how like Kirtaner is getting a lot of press right now for going after QAnon (he just had a Reddit AMA), even though the 420chan he hosted in its early years was a hot bed for child abuse imagery and even had a secret /pedo/ board. He also lies about founding Anonymous, which is kind of funny because of what I just said and the whole "we do not forgive, we do not forget" thing. Jax also finally got called out on her scumbag past recently (although not all of it...) and I'm surprised how rarely this happens...given how much dirty laundry is out in the open...
      - 6y ago
athms 6y ago
According to you, if somebody is on the lam for so many years, the government should drop all charges. By the way, it has been eight years; January 2012 is when he was arrested in New Zealand for extradition.

wnevets 6y ago

> Is Dotcom his real name? IIRC, legally yes.

leetcrew 6y ago

it is his legal name, though I doubt it was his original surname at birth.

ehsankia 6y ago
Yes he legally changed his surname in 2005. His name at birth was Kim Schmitz. Funnily enough there are petitions to have him change his surname again to Kim Dotcodotnz. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well though.
- nomad543 6y ago
  Dot-koh-doh-tenz

moomin 6y ago

I mean, it's not the one he was born with, but it's definitely the one he's known by. Whether he executed the relevant legal documents, I don't know, but I don't think it's important either. Fun fact, the person born Gordon Sumner's kids call him "Sting".

mikeyouse 6y ago
It's his legal name and actually is on the indictments and other legal docs - https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/megaupload-indictment.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/meg...

tlubinski 6y ago

He was born as Kim Schmitz

artiszt 6y ago
born in Kiel, Germany .. and still quite a few germans whom he [allegedly] betrayed would like to have a word with him, in person -- including few german attorneys
- VectorLock 6y ago
  This sounds interesting, can you share more details?
  - busterarm 6y ago
    Kim used to brag about snooping on the documents he hosted for people and ratting people out to authorities and/or blackmailing them. The trail of bridges burned is quite long and starts in the mid-90s. His early handle was Kimble and he used to hack companies and sell their secrets for money (like PBX access) and did typical war dialer/phreaker/credit fraud scams you'd expect from '90s blackhats. He came into some money thanks to some German friends of his, one who worked at Lufthansa, and exploited that to "go legit" even though it mostly wasn't his own skills that he was trading on. He still ended up perpetrating a few frauds afterwards that cost friends and investors a lot of money. Look into Monkey AG and Monkeybank. Why anyone trusts him with their data or investments has always puzzled the hell out of me. I think people, especially "hackers", just have short memories. It's similar to how like Kirtaner is getting a lot of press right now for going after QAnon (he just had a Reddit AMA), even though the 420chan he hosted in its early years was a hot bed for child abuse imagery and even had a secret /pedo/ board. He also lies about founding Anonymous, which is kind of funny because of what I just said and the whole "we do not forgive, we do not forget" thing. Jax also finally got called out on her scumbag past recently (although not all of it...) and I'm surprised how rarely this happens...given how much dirty laundry is out in the open...
    - 6y ago

athms 6y ago

According to you, if somebody is on the lam for so many years, the government should drop all charges. By the way, it has been eight years; January 2012 is when he was arrested in New Zealand for extradition.