JUDGE RULES MEGAUPLOAD RAID WAS ILLEGAL

In a decision that must have come as a blow to the FBI and the MPAA, as well as to authorities in New Zealand, a court in Wellington ruled today (Thursday) that the search warrants used by local police to seize the computers and other property of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom were illegal and that the FBI’s effort to copy data on his computer and take it to the U.S. were also illegal. “The warrants did not adequately describe the offenses to which they related,” High Court Judge Justice Helen Winkelmann said in her ruling. “Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid.” Winkleman also remarked that she is taking into consideration questions of whether the actions of police amounted to unreasonable search and seizure and trespass.