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Comment by kingcharles | Hacker News Reader

"However, the operators of Glupteba are likely to attempt to regain control of the botnet using a backup command and control mechanism that uses data encoded on the Bitcoin blockchain."

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-disrup...

I don't see the legal aspect going anywhere. I don't know the technicalities of suing someone in another country, but to get the discovery they need they'll need subpoenas. How do you serve a subpoena in Russia? Is there any treaty which gives a U.S. subpoena any legal power in Russia? I guess there must be something behind it or Google would not have wasted their legal resources to file it.

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If Google establishes that the venue they're suing in has jurisdiction (which seems pretty clearly established, since it's where a substantial amount of the damage has happened), then the judge is going to let the case proceed. If at that point the defendants don't bother to show up and don't respond to subpoenas Google will eventually win a default judgement. If the defendants don't comply with the default judgement (why would they?) the judge might hold them in contempt, and then they won't be able to travel internationally to anywhere willing to extradite them or keep assets anywhere that will seize them on behalf of the US government, which is most of the world.

I've just downloaded the whole case file from PACER, I'll upload it somewhere in a minute. They served the defendants by FedEx a few days after filing the case. Then somehow Google immediately managed to get a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in record time to enjoin the defendants from their tomfoolery. Not sure at this stage how the TRO will be enforced.

RECAP? I noticed on courtlistener that most of the things haven't been passed through RECAP yet: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/61599631/google-llc-v-d...

I haven't got around to using RECAP yet, though I should have for this. I've bought all the PDFs and uploaded them here:

https://kingcharles.one/google-v-dmitry-starovikov-1-2021cv1...

If you can figure out how to push them into RECAP please do so.

I paid for some more and uploaded them to PACER. I've burned up my $30 free account though. I'll try and get another one.

From the complaint, it looks like there are some Delaware corporations that are connected to the botnet that might have some assets that could be raided. So while the defendants probably don't have a lot of exposed skin, they do have some skin in the US that they are at risk of losing.

Can one really be extradited for contempt of court related to a civil lawsuit?

Contempt is a criminal offense, so in theory, yes, you could be extradited.

This is how courts in the USA turn civil matters into criminal matters all the time. For instance, non-payment of child support: you can't legally be imprisoned for your debts, but if you fail to pay after the judge orders you to pay then you are in contempt and you are going to jail.

A judge can hold you upto 180 days.

For contempt?

I don't know which jurisdiction you're referring to, but certainly in Illinois state courts it's an unlimited offense. I don't think there are any statutory restraints on it. I've seen people be sentenced to 20 years for refusing to testify as the sole witness to a murder.

The comment was specifically talking about not paying child support. 180 days is the limit in Colorado.

They can just get a passport with a different name, and none of this would apply.

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