The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom: Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet by Fisher David

Author:Fisher, David [Fisher, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paul Little Books
Published: 2013-11-16T23:00:00+00:00

8

Who your friends are

Freed from prison, Dotcom returned to the house on the hill above the mansion, where Mona had taken up residence. If he walked to the edge of the garden, he could look down on the life he once had. And although he was free of prison, liberty to roam the internet was still denied. One of a string of bail conditions was that Dotcom stay offline.

Visitors to the mansion, until the restriction was lifted on April 2, were asked by security guards to surrender laptops and phones before driving up to the house. The door to 5H carried a sign reading: “No smartphones and internet devices.” Inside, computers were disconnected from anything which might provide an internet connection. If information needed to be transferred, Dotcom used memory sticks.

The constraint was a severe inhibition for a group to whom connectivity was natural and internet use came as reflexively as a muscle twitch — and in Dotcom’s case, probably more so. Swapping notes between the group, researching case law and even accessing their own legal filings became a logistical exercise involving navigation of bail conditions, schedules of those involved and traffic. If there were papers to be delivered, instead of attaching the document to an email and sending it from the central city to Coatesville, it would have to be downloaded onto a stick and driven across town. Alternatively, visitors to 5H or those not covered by the order, could drive away from the house, access the internet and receive emails, then disconnect, save the documents to a memory stick and return to the house.

Dotcom was also determined to pursue his musical adventures. The bail conditions which kept him confined to the house didn’t stop artist Printz Board from bringing samples of tracks back from Roundhead Studios. The dining room area in 5H was also converted into a cross between a work station and a makeshift recording studio. Dotcom’s chair — larger than the others — sat at the top of the table, facing a large television screen which had the necessary software for tweaking and working the electronica album. It seemed an odd pursuit, when so much else needed to be done, but the music would have its uses.

It was an odd settling in period, during which the reality of the situation was absorbed. The Dotcoms’ plans for their twins to be born in Hong Kong were undone by the arrest — they were getting used to the idea of an Auckland City Hospital birth.

The lack of internet access inhibited defence preparations, as seen when Dotcom called up iTunes to show off the latest efforts cobbled together between the recording equipment at home and what Printz Board had done in the studio. The song would come up, but only after dismissing the error message: “iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store.”

Dotcom delighted in the music, which was slowly becoming a weapon in his far-reduced arsenal. He’d turn up the latest mixes full volume, bass pounding through the house.

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