KIM SCHMITZ
The average Russian is probably already deeply perplexed by what is happening in the law enforcement sphere in the " decaying West — - who is being caught, what is being jailed for?! And then he periodically throws up some shocking pseudo-facts on the Internet, which is why his head is completely spinning.
For example, once the entire Russian-language Internet was littered with posters with photos of three characters and the text below or above them: "On January 23 of this year, the trial of American Sergeant Frank Wuterich, accused of shooting 24 unarmed men, women and children, ended. The sergeant was found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison, but due to a violation of procedural rules, he will not serve this term either. Miguel Carano was found guilty of murdering and raping a woman. To cover his tracks, Miguel burned the body and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Hacker Kim Schmitz, known as Dotcom, did not kill anyone, but simply helped people share files over the Internet. And he was sentenced to 50 years in prison."
From such American lawlessness, the Russians are completely losing their minds. And to restore its stability, there is a recipe: do not take anything on faith and understand the essence of the issue.
HACKER-BENEFACTOR
The question about hacker Kim Schmitz is really difficult. The kind that you can't figure out without a bottle. Although the bottle is unlikely to help here. It seems that there is not only an ocean between Russia and the United States, but a real gulf in terms of worldview. But before moving on to the worldview, there is a good reason to return to Schmitz and report: they are fooling our brother! Firstly, no one has planted it for 50 years, and secondly, it is not at all white and fluffy, which aims to benefit people by helping them "share files over the Internet". Only we, the Russians, still don't understand why the Western law enforcement system is so mad at him.
Kim Schmitz is a very curious person, in which everything is confused and mixed up. He was born and raised in Germany, has two citizenship — German (on his father's side) and Finnish (on his mother's side), lives in New Zealand, and is being hunted by American justice. No less confusing is his biography.
It is believed that since childhood, Kim had two passions-computers and money. However, it seems that his main passion was to test the patience of the system. That's why he became interested in hacking. And he achieved recognition for his talents in this area when he hacked the security of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Department of Defense, and several German and American banks. The highest buzz for a hacker is to make a "trick" to the state system. And perhaps that's what Schmitz got when he changed the credit history of German Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl. However, there are hackers who enjoy stealing money from banks. Kim really liked money, but he wasn't an ordinary hacker, and he wasn't going to make a living hacking computers. He showed the world that he could overcome bank computer defenses when he broke into the database of the long-suffering Citibank, which was robbed by the Russian hacker Levin. But unlike Levin and the other hackers, Schmitz didn't try to make a fortune out of it. He stole $ 20 million from a bank and transferred it to a Greenpeace account for good causes. No Russian hacker has ever done such charity work! True, and Schmitz was not an altruist. It is known that he hacked the PBX of American organizations, selling access codes to them for $ 200 apiece, and sold stolen phone card numbers.
The system tried to put Schmitz on the right track. He was first arrested in 1994 and charged with 11 counts of computer fraud, 10 counts of information espionage, and other offenses. Kim was saved by the fact that he committed most of the offenses when he was still a minor. As a result, he was sentenced to 20 months of probation and released on all four sides.
Kim Schmitz was a smart guy and learned his lesson, so he decided to stop hacking. But the desire to continue to tease the system and test its strength did not disappear from him. This is evidenced at least by the fact that he was fined 14 times for driving without a driver's license.
AN INSIDER
Detractors say that Schmitz was engaged in Internet piracy from a young age. He created a system where he uploaded other people's distributions (mostly games). And for access to the system and downloading programs, Kim took money. That is, he earned money from piracy. To be honest, most Russians don't quite understand what kind of piracy it is if you download a free toy from the Internet, and what fools paid him money if they could also download it for free.
And they do not understand why Schmitz was again given a 20-month suspended prison sentence in May 2002. And he was tried for using insider information. The attitude to insider information in Russia is philosophical. In our country, its use is considered business acumen. And Western judges are a crime.
Kim's fault was that he once announced his intention to buy a fairly large, but on the verge of bankruptcy, online store Letsbuyit.com. And he said that he intends to invest several million euros in the store, which is breathing its last breath, to put it on its feet. This statement caused a jump in stock prices Letsbuyit.com on the stock exchange. Their value jumped as much as 150 percent. However, the next day Schmitz probably woke up in a bad mood. He lay down, thought about it, and decided: "Why did he give up this online store to me?". Then he got up and sold all the shares he owned Letsbuyit.com. And he earned 1.1 million euros more from this operation than he would have earned before the stock rally. So Schmitz was brought to justice for rotten bazaar. Namely, for his promise to buy the site, which caused an increase in the share price.
So, according to our Russian concepts, Kim was tried for nothing. True, he had a sin in addition to this, for which he could have been punished. He transferred 280 thousand euros from the company he managed to the company he owned. At the same time, it is curious that for insider information, he was given a prison sentence, and for embezzlement, they only issued a fine of 100 thousand euros. Although again, how to see. For many Russians, it is easier to serve 20 months than to pay 100 euros. But for the successful businessman Schmitz, it wasn't money. In 2000, he spent $ 1 million to rent a 70-meter yacht, which he moored in Monte Carlo during the Forumula-1 Championship in Monaco and hosted a series of lavish parties for famous guests, including Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
INTERNET PIRATE
After the verdict, Schmitz took offense at the German justice system and left his homeland. He found refuge in New Zealand, where he managed his Internet company Megaupload Limited. He made it not just successful, but prosperous. Its annual income reached 175 million dollars, it gave work to 150 specialists and, I must say, paid them very well. The main sources of revenue were paid subscriptions and online advertising. More than 180 million users from all over the world were registered on the company's websites, and the daily number of visits until recently was 50 million. That's just, according to the American authorities, Schmitz was engaged in Internet piracy. And with their help, the New Zealand police prepared a surprise for Kim for his birthday. On January 19, 2012, police helicopters landed troops in front of a luxury mansion standing in the middle of the vast Schmitz country estate. Kim's clever electronic locks didn't help. He was arrested. And they seized his vehicle fleet worth $ 5 million.
Kim Dotcom's New Zealand Home
They were able to arrest Dotcom, but they didn't put him in jail. It is considered a big dock not only for computers, but also for loopholes in the legislation. As a result, Schmitz was released from custody, and searches in his home were declared illegal. True, freedom did not come cheap to him. But Dotcom managed to get some of his property out of custody, after which he sold nine of his cars to pay off his lawyers. But it seems that Schmitz soon recovered his financial condition.
A year after his arrest, he launched a new Mega resource on the New Zealand domain. And at the presentation of this project, I reproduced the scene of my arrest, only the role of policemen was performed by stunning beauties.
(c) Oleg Loginov
The average Russian is probably already deeply perplexed by what is happening in the law enforcement sphere in the " decaying West — - who is being caught, what is being jailed for?! And then he periodically throws up some shocking pseudo-facts on the Internet, which is why his head is completely spinning.
For example, once the entire Russian-language Internet was littered with posters with photos of three characters and the text below or above them: "On January 23 of this year, the trial of American Sergeant Frank Wuterich, accused of shooting 24 unarmed men, women and children, ended. The sergeant was found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison, but due to a violation of procedural rules, he will not serve this term either. Miguel Carano was found guilty of murdering and raping a woman. To cover his tracks, Miguel burned the body and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Hacker Kim Schmitz, known as Dotcom, did not kill anyone, but simply helped people share files over the Internet. And he was sentenced to 50 years in prison."
From such American lawlessness, the Russians are completely losing their minds. And to restore its stability, there is a recipe: do not take anything on faith and understand the essence of the issue.
HACKER-BENEFACTOR
The question about hacker Kim Schmitz is really difficult. The kind that you can't figure out without a bottle. Although the bottle is unlikely to help here. It seems that there is not only an ocean between Russia and the United States, but a real gulf in terms of worldview. But before moving on to the worldview, there is a good reason to return to Schmitz and report: they are fooling our brother! Firstly, no one has planted it for 50 years, and secondly, it is not at all white and fluffy, which aims to benefit people by helping them "share files over the Internet". Only we, the Russians, still don't understand why the Western law enforcement system is so mad at him.
Kim Schmitz is a very curious person, in which everything is confused and mixed up. He was born and raised in Germany, has two citizenship — German (on his father's side) and Finnish (on his mother's side), lives in New Zealand, and is being hunted by American justice. No less confusing is his biography.
It is believed that since childhood, Kim had two passions-computers and money. However, it seems that his main passion was to test the patience of the system. That's why he became interested in hacking. And he achieved recognition for his talents in this area when he hacked the security of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Department of Defense, and several German and American banks. The highest buzz for a hacker is to make a "trick" to the state system. And perhaps that's what Schmitz got when he changed the credit history of German Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl. However, there are hackers who enjoy stealing money from banks. Kim really liked money, but he wasn't an ordinary hacker, and he wasn't going to make a living hacking computers. He showed the world that he could overcome bank computer defenses when he broke into the database of the long-suffering Citibank, which was robbed by the Russian hacker Levin. But unlike Levin and the other hackers, Schmitz didn't try to make a fortune out of it. He stole $ 20 million from a bank and transferred it to a Greenpeace account for good causes. No Russian hacker has ever done such charity work! True, and Schmitz was not an altruist. It is known that he hacked the PBX of American organizations, selling access codes to them for $ 200 apiece, and sold stolen phone card numbers.
The system tried to put Schmitz on the right track. He was first arrested in 1994 and charged with 11 counts of computer fraud, 10 counts of information espionage, and other offenses. Kim was saved by the fact that he committed most of the offenses when he was still a minor. As a result, he was sentenced to 20 months of probation and released on all four sides.
Kim Schmitz was a smart guy and learned his lesson, so he decided to stop hacking. But the desire to continue to tease the system and test its strength did not disappear from him. This is evidenced at least by the fact that he was fined 14 times for driving without a driver's license.
AN INSIDER
Detractors say that Schmitz was engaged in Internet piracy from a young age. He created a system where he uploaded other people's distributions (mostly games). And for access to the system and downloading programs, Kim took money. That is, he earned money from piracy. To be honest, most Russians don't quite understand what kind of piracy it is if you download a free toy from the Internet, and what fools paid him money if they could also download it for free.
And they do not understand why Schmitz was again given a 20-month suspended prison sentence in May 2002. And he was tried for using insider information. The attitude to insider information in Russia is philosophical. In our country, its use is considered business acumen. And Western judges are a crime.
Kim's fault was that he once announced his intention to buy a fairly large, but on the verge of bankruptcy, online store Letsbuyit.com. And he said that he intends to invest several million euros in the store, which is breathing its last breath, to put it on its feet. This statement caused a jump in stock prices Letsbuyit.com on the stock exchange. Their value jumped as much as 150 percent. However, the next day Schmitz probably woke up in a bad mood. He lay down, thought about it, and decided: "Why did he give up this online store to me?". Then he got up and sold all the shares he owned Letsbuyit.com. And he earned 1.1 million euros more from this operation than he would have earned before the stock rally. So Schmitz was brought to justice for rotten bazaar. Namely, for his promise to buy the site, which caused an increase in the share price.
So, according to our Russian concepts, Kim was tried for nothing. True, he had a sin in addition to this, for which he could have been punished. He transferred 280 thousand euros from the company he managed to the company he owned. At the same time, it is curious that for insider information, he was given a prison sentence, and for embezzlement, they only issued a fine of 100 thousand euros. Although again, how to see. For many Russians, it is easier to serve 20 months than to pay 100 euros. But for the successful businessman Schmitz, it wasn't money. In 2000, he spent $ 1 million to rent a 70-meter yacht, which he moored in Monte Carlo during the Forumula-1 Championship in Monaco and hosted a series of lavish parties for famous guests, including Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
INTERNET PIRATE
After the verdict, Schmitz took offense at the German justice system and left his homeland. He found refuge in New Zealand, where he managed his Internet company Megaupload Limited. He made it not just successful, but prosperous. Its annual income reached 175 million dollars, it gave work to 150 specialists and, I must say, paid them very well. The main sources of revenue were paid subscriptions and online advertising. More than 180 million users from all over the world were registered on the company's websites, and the daily number of visits until recently was 50 million. That's just, according to the American authorities, Schmitz was engaged in Internet piracy. And with their help, the New Zealand police prepared a surprise for Kim for his birthday. On January 19, 2012, police helicopters landed troops in front of a luxury mansion standing in the middle of the vast Schmitz country estate. Kim's clever electronic locks didn't help. He was arrested. And they seized his vehicle fleet worth $ 5 million.
Kim Dotcom's New Zealand Home
They were able to arrest Dotcom, but they didn't put him in jail. It is considered a big dock not only for computers, but also for loopholes in the legislation. As a result, Schmitz was released from custody, and searches in his home were declared illegal. True, freedom did not come cheap to him. But Dotcom managed to get some of his property out of custody, after which he sold nine of his cars to pay off his lawyers. But it seems that Schmitz soon recovered his financial condition.
A year after his arrest, he launched a new Mega resource on the New Zealand domain. And at the presentation of this project, I reproduced the scene of my arrest, only the role of policemen was performed by stunning beauties.
(c) Oleg Loginov
