It's astonishing to reflect on how Kim Dotcom has transformed from an eccentric multi-millionaire, best known for footing the fireworks bill for Auckland residents, to a cornerstone of current events.
This week in the continuing saga, the Crown has been attempting to overturn a High Court ruling that the warrants used during the raid in January 2012 were unlawful.
If the appeal succeeds, it could affect both Dotcom's claim for compensation against the Government, and his extradition hearing next year.
David Fisher, a New Zealand Herald reporter, has written a book about Kim Dotcom, The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom: Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet, recently released by publisher Paul Little. Fisher explained his reasons in an opinion piece in the Herald on Sunday: "The public deserves to know how this mess came to be."
And Chris Barton's feature on Kim Dotcom, published in the November issue of Metro, is now available in full online:
Nothing prepares you for the sight at the top of the stairs. The big man is lying on his stomach, semi-propped up on his elbows, his chin resting on a pile of folded black towels, looking at a flat screen at the foot of the bed. The upper half of his torso is clad in his hallmark black garb, the lower half draped in a bright orange towel. Yes, his butt does look quite big in that. He’s hurt his foot. Goodness, what happened? He was walking the grounds, he says, lost in his thoughts, and fell over. His face is flushed with beads of sweat. “If I look a bit…” he says, gesturing around his face, “it’s because I’ve just had a hot shower.”
In the same publication, there's also a useful rundown, replete with hyperlinks, of "the complete and utter history" of Dotcom, starting with his birth in Kiel, Germany, in January 1974 – and spanning, with Dotcom's extradition hearing scheduled for April 2014, into the future.
