New Zealand High Court rules Megaupload raids were illegal

Wired reports a New Zealand High Court judge ruled that the raids on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's home were illegal. Justice Helen Winkelmann found the warrants for the raid did not comply with New Zealand's law because they fell well short of describing the offenses they meant to relate, and that the FBI's act of sending clones of Dotcom's hard drives to the US was also unlawful.

Justice Helen Winkelmann says that warrants for the raids “fell well short of” describing the offenses they were meant to relate. According to Justice Winkelmann, words such as “breach of copyright” used in the warrants do not provide details of the alleged offense and therefore, the warrants do not comply with New Zealand law.

Further undermining the prosecution’s case, Justice Winkelmann also ruled that the FBI’s act of sending clones of Dotcom’s hard drives to the U.S. was also unlawful.

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Labelling the police conduct “an unreasonable search and seizure,” Justice Winkelmann found that the New Zealand law enforcers had exceeded their legal authority by continuing to hold material that they themselves had deemed irrelevant to the case.