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I was neutral on this guy until I read the wired story, and then I became a fan. He is a self made man (way more so than romney!), he suffers from persistent d

I was neutral on this guy until I read the wired story, and then I became a fan. He is a self made man (way more so than romney!), he suffers from persistent discrimination (overweight) and he has cycled thru the hero's journey. I have heard a lot of these "major success stories", but they are people who have been put in ideal situations and then they made the best of it. That is just emotionally dead for me. Kim's story is more interesting because it is relevant to ME. I can imagine myself in the same spot, and it overlaps with my own personal history (timewise) a bit too. Ultimately, I believe there is minimal legal differences between youtube in the early days (which was made successful via RAMPANT piracy), and megaupload. Screw the government.

sanswork 14y ago
You are skipping over his history of fraud, embezzlement, theft, etc.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- andoriyu 14y ago
  and how he started making even "bigger" air than RIAA and MPAA.
rscale 14y ago
He's a career criminal. He hacked for profit. He traded in stolen phone cards and turned in his compatriots for reduced sentence. He ran a "premium" phone number scam. He ran a pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. He evaded prosecution by jumping jurisdiction. He tried (and failed) to run a fake hedge fund. He sold pirated software. He committed insider trading. He's not a self-made man. He's a career criminal and a con man. I find it shocking that so many people are eager to lionize this sociopathic asshole. Screw Kim Dotcom.
- ryanpers 14y ago
  That was years ago when he was a teenager. Many people went thru an "illegal period", his was just... more successful than most. As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths? I find that argument... not compelling. Like it or not, sociopathy appears to be an integral/essential part of human organizations.
  - kleiba 14y ago
    As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths? I don't think that's true. If I'm not mistaken, the percentage of sociopaths among CEOs is somewhat higher than among the rest of the population, but that doesn't mean that the majority of CEOs are sociopaths.
    - tokenizer 14y ago
      It still means you're implicating a large group for something they are good at doing, which is manipulating an environment to suit their needs. If you're going to attack his history or his mental state, than at least be willing to acknowledge the man isn't all bad. From what I've read, it seems like some think once a criminal always a criminal, AND that mega upload was a scam.
      - bluedanieru 14y ago
        I don't get what your point is. Are you defending sociopaths? I mean, yeah sure they are what they are through probably no real fault of their own, but they are a net negative on society's balance sheet. They are a problem that needs to be managed. Maybe back in the day when we had to worry about other animals hunting us for food, and a bit later when we had to worry about other tribes murdering us and taking our things, then yeah sociopaths served a purpose. They don't now. (Oh, and sociopaths aren't very great at manipulating their environment. The high-functioning ones, maybe, but most sociopaths are poor, stupid, and often in jail.)
        14y ago
jakeonthemove 14y ago
He did quite a lot of shady and downright illegal things, too. He's definitely a self made man, though... Change the government.
tubbo 14y ago
So let me get this straight, just because Youtube did it...it's okay? Youtube, like every other video upload service out there, had pirated videos. But Youtube became successful via original content. Anybody can download better versions of full movies than on Youtube, and remember when the videos were limited to like 15 minutes each? I mean, definitely screw the government. But Kim Dotcom isn't a hero, or an anti-hero. He's just another idiot looking to make an easy buck, and he did. Kim Dotcom is no better than the indian on the phone who's trying to scam you into buying Anti-Virus software, but then again, neither is Romney in my opinion.
CrankyPants 14y ago
What's with the unnecessary injection of US presidential partisan politics? We should be better than that around here.
illuminate 14y ago
"He is a self made man (way more so than romney!)" Most every con artist is. "he has cycled thru the hero's journey" Now, I think he's gotten a raw, horrid deal from how his most recent case has been approached, certainly. The most he has in common with "the hero's journey" is that his persona is based entirely on myth and self-propagated legend. His claims of personal genius are for the most part fluff and lies, pushed to credulous journalists. Heck, he couldn't even win Quake and Call of Duty bouts without being caught using aimbots and other chicanery. I may be reading too far into this and his story is more interesting than the man himself, which I agree.

sanswork 14y ago

You are skipping over his history of fraud, embezzlement, theft, etc.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
andoriyu 14y ago
and how he started making even "bigger" air than RIAA and MPAA.

rscale 14y ago

He's a career criminal. He hacked for profit. He traded in stolen phone cards and turned in his compatriots for reduced sentence. He ran a "premium" phone number scam. He ran a pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. He evaded prosecution by jumping jurisdiction. He tried (and failed) to run a fake hedge fund. He sold pirated software. He committed insider trading. He's not a self-made man. He's a career criminal and a con man. I find it shocking that so many people are eager to lionize this sociopathic asshole. Screw Kim Dotcom.

ryanpers 14y ago
That was years ago when he was a teenager. Many people went thru an "illegal period", his was just... more successful than most. As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths? I find that argument... not compelling. Like it or not, sociopathy appears to be an integral/essential part of human organizations.
- kleiba 14y ago
  As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths? I don't think that's true. If I'm not mistaken, the percentage of sociopaths among CEOs is somewhat higher than among the rest of the population, but that doesn't mean that the majority of CEOs are sociopaths.
  - tokenizer 14y ago
    It still means you're implicating a large group for something they are good at doing, which is manipulating an environment to suit their needs. If you're going to attack his history or his mental state, than at least be willing to acknowledge the man isn't all bad. From what I've read, it seems like some think once a criminal always a criminal, AND that mega upload was a scam.
    - bluedanieru 14y ago
      I don't get what your point is. Are you defending sociopaths? I mean, yeah sure they are what they are through probably no real fault of their own, but they are a net negative on society's balance sheet. They are a problem that needs to be managed. Maybe back in the day when we had to worry about other animals hunting us for food, and a bit later when we had to worry about other tribes murdering us and taking our things, then yeah sociopaths served a purpose. They don't now. (Oh, and sociopaths aren't very great at manipulating their environment. The high-functioning ones, maybe, but most sociopaths are poor, stupid, and often in jail.)
      - 14y ago

jakeonthemove 14y ago

He did quite a lot of shady and downright illegal things, too. He's definitely a self made man, though... Change the government.

tubbo 14y ago

So let me get this straight, just because Youtube did it...it's okay? Youtube, like every other video upload service out there, had pirated videos. But Youtube became successful via original content. Anybody can download better versions of full movies than on Youtube, and remember when the videos were limited to like 15 minutes each? I mean, definitely screw the government. But Kim Dotcom isn't a hero, or an anti-hero. He's just another idiot looking to make an easy buck, and he did. Kim Dotcom is no better than the indian on the phone who's trying to scam you into buying Anti-Virus software, but then again, neither is Romney in my opinion.

CrankyPants 14y ago

What's with the unnecessary injection of US presidential partisan politics? We should be better than that around here.

illuminate 14y ago

"He is a self made man (way more so than romney!)" Most every con artist is. "he has cycled thru the hero's journey" Now, I think he's gotten a raw, horrid deal from how his most recent case has been approached, certainly. The most he has in common with "the hero's journey" is that his persona is based entirely on myth and self-propagated legend. His claims of personal genius are for the most part fluff and lies, pushed to credulous journalists. Heck, he couldn't even win Quake and Call of Duty bouts without being caught using aimbots and other chicanery. I may be reading too far into this and his story is more interesting than the man himself, which I agree.