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Court ruling means Kim Dotcom can sue NZ spooks

Illegal surveillance on trial

Kim Dotcom has successfully applied to join New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau as a defendant in his litigation over illegal surveillance of his activities.

Reg readers may recall that the Bureau tapped Dotcom's phones using powers that allow it to spy on foreigners. Dotcom, however, was a permanent resident when the Bureau turned its attentions in his direction, making the surveillance illegal.

The reason for the illegal surveillance was incompetence: the Bureau didn't check on Dotcom's immigration status. That revelation sparked a Prime Ministerial apology and further legal action that yesterday saw Chief High Court Judge Helen Winkelmann decide (PDF) that the plaintiffs, namely Dotcom and his associates, may “... amend their claim, in accordance with the draft pleading filed, to seek declarations about the legality of the GCSB’s actions and to seek damages against the Police and the GCSB.”

Three officers will also be compelled to file affidavits detailing the surveillance conducted on Dotcom.

Dotcom of course took to Twitter to discuss the judgement, issuing the following message:

Not long afterwards he threw the switch to weird conspiracy with the following tweet:

The case heads back to court in the second week of December “to resolve any outstanding matters in terms of the judgment, and to address any necessary timetabling in connection with the judgment.” ®

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