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Comment by coderdude | Hacker News Reader

It looks like he's recently tried to change his image from mega villian to "freedom fighter." At least that's what he calls himself on his Twitter account. Although it does seem like a troll towards the people who have been after him.

Does this qualify as a heel face turn? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeelFaceTurn

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I suspect that Kim Dotcom is something of a Walter Mitty figure, one of those people who fundamentally sees the world and his place in it very differently to how the rest of the world see him. As a result I don't think he'd view this as a change (which would involve him accepting that he'd been a heel in the past), I think he'd say he's still the way he's always been.

At the end of the day though I think he's in it for himself. He only wants to disrupt the music industry and free artists so long as it makes money for himself. He's clearly a smart and driven guy but I'd need to see a lot more than we've seen now to believe he's any sort of altruist.

He has been doing the exact same thing for almost 2 decades now. He started out on BBS and distributed "warez" over a bbs he ran and then famously turned everyone in the scene in to the police when they caught him and cut him a deal. He did the same thing with megaupload by providing a platform and making money from it and I am sure megabox will be like that as well. Lots of marketing hype and huge, romantic promises and lots of shades of grey and nothing much behind it, least of all a legitimate business.

Some of the stunts he pulled in between his BBS days and megaupload was to royally scam "letsbuyit.com" which he got convicted for and then he tried to open a "very high-wealth individuals" automatic trading system which obviously bombed. And back in the day he flamed the German CCC and loved to flash the word "hacker" as if he belongs. He sold a company he founded, DataProtect, to the renowned TÜV Rheinland and it turned out to be a scam and crashed. And before that he got caught dealing stolen calling cards.

He is and has been a trickster, an opportunist, a self-proclaimed "hacker" and above all an egomaniac who now, by sheer luck alone, finds himself on the more fortunate, romantic Robin-Hood side of things but his basic principles and ideas and greed haven't changed one bit.

As a German I always cringe when I see Kim Schmitz speaking or a video of some stupid stunt. He isn't even a convincible trickster or a sophisticated con man! He is just an immature joke, a narcistic simpleton. He compares himself with Martin Luther King without even blinking an eye. If life would be a movie you would criticize his character as totally unbelievable and badly written.

That he managed to live in a 15 million Dollar mansion and is cheered on in many corners of the web makes me despair.

As someone who (casually) knew Kimble back in the BBS days I confirm everything kahawe wrote.

He shows his true face when things get heated. Legalities aside he has repeatedly turned around and backstabbed whoever was nearby, in order to cover his own ass. Definitely not the kind of person you want to do any business with.

Nevertheless, he is worth defending. There's more at stake than just the man. The things they do to Dotcom are indicative of the current involvement of US politics with the IP lobby. This relationship is having repercussions all over the world. Faced with a failing business model, IP companies are investing their ever-scarce capital into political rent-seeking, the consequences of which would be the destruction of privacy and creative freedom.

A million times this.

Furthermore, we must not forget that even the "guiltiest" and scummiest men deserve the full protections the law affords. Shortcuts around due process cannot be justified by saying, correctly or not, "This guy is a total sleeze and guilty as hell".

Please stop saying a million times this...

Also due process was followed as far as I know. Read the indictment. There was enough evidence to have his assets seized just like any other business if there is enough evidence to believe there are ongoing illegal activities. And yes the NZ government did agree to this also, otherwise his arrest in NZ wouldn't have happened.

Apollogies for using that phrase. I did not know it had the power to offend.

The issue specifically is the apparently illegal search warrant/raid. Well, actually to be honest that by itself does not particularly disturb me, mistakes are always made. The issue is the number of people I see on HNs dismissing what they see as technicalities because they know he is guilty.

The justice system is designed to afford protections to the obviously guilty because without that, it is no different than mob justice.

Due process was not followed here in NZ, and that's what the real issue is here. (and court proceedings) Dotcom was not originally an appealing victim, but our overdeveloped sense of fairness here in NZ was always going to help his cause, and he has increasingly shown himself to be largely authentic. An authentic rogue that is - nobody is pretending that he isn't flawed or doesn't have a chequered history.

Dont forget his business endeavous with Megacar, Kimpire, Ultimate Rally etc. For many of which he got up-front money from people who trusted him and then got screwed over by Kim in the end. Hes doing it all over again, all the time until somebody finally locks im away.

I initially got to know him from playing Quake2, where he was a very skilled player (although he had a very strong PC and internet connection for the late nineties). He even set up a big 1on1 quake2 league, promised big prizes and many of the worlds top players signed up and played to later get screwed by him because of course, the winners got nothing. He used it solely as a vehicle of self promotion.

I was number one at a game similar to Quake2, and it had much more to do with the strong internet connection I had than skill.

Just wanted to validate something that rang true with me :)

Also known as "low ping bastard" back then :)

Even if what you say is true, heroes aren't perfect. They are controversial and complex people, just as we all are.

I look forward to checking out his new music service, and hope he prevails over his legal troubles.

Absolutely true. See also other people with 4 to 5 digit karma who confirmed it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz#Early_career

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz#Insider_trading_and...

One of the archives of his harassment and trolling in the CCC newsgroup, in German: http://arnold.babsi.de/KIMBLE.txt

In case you doubt this as well and don't know the CCC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Computer_Club

He is not who you think or wish he is but I will just let you see for yourself... he probably gets lucky each new decade with people who haven't been on the web in the decade before. He is not even remotely a "hacker" nor a "freedom fighter". And a "hero", are you crazy? kimble, is that you trying to make yourself look like people actually like you?

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