Dotcom and US argue over seized evidence

Kim Dotcom and his co-accused should be able to scour all the evidence in the US government's internet piracy case against them, his lawyer argues.
But New Zealand's Solicitor-General Mike Heron says a local court doesn't have the power to order the US - a foreign state - to hand over anything in its case against the man it accuses of internet piracy.
"It is accepted appellants are entitled to a fair extradition hearing, but that does not give rights akin to some kind of criminal disclosure," he told the country's top judges, in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
If New Zealand tried to order the US to hand over all the seized evidence against German-born Dotcom, it would be unprecedented, Mr Heron said.
He said New Zealand's extradition treaty with the US was to facilitate extradition and make it easier and more efficient.
The US is trying to extradite Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Fin Batato and Bram Van der Kolk to face copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering charges, but the US government doesn't want to hand over the full case against them.
Instead it has provided a summary of evidence for the hearing, now expected to take place next year.
To extradite Dotcom and his co-accused the US must prove they have a internet piracy case against the quartet, arrested during a Hollywood-style raid on Dotcom's mansion at the beginning of 2012.
The FBI seized a huge number of files and emails, but needs passwords to get at encrypted files. It has offered to provide Dotcom with clones of the files in exchange for the passwords.
Dotcom's lawyer Paul Davison QC told the court the summary provided was inadequate, made propositions and didn't include any evidence showing criminal intent.
Supporting Mr Davison's arguments, Guyon Foley, the lawyer for Ortmann, Batato and Van der Kolk, told the court he could not properly advise his clients without access to actual documents.
"We don't wish to have a fight based on inferences, we wish to have a fair hearing," he said.
Mr Foley said two emails referred to in the US government's summary were actually sent as a joke, and wants access to all "five billion" emails sent between the group.
Among technical defences, the Crown, on behalf of the US, is arguing that the disclosure process will be lengthy and difficult.
The quartet say they are also disadvantaged because their personal computers and data have been seized by New Zealand authorities and not yet returned despite a High Court ruling.
Dotcom denies US allegations he acted criminally in setting up Megaupload, which the US claims netted more than $US175 million ($NZ218 million) in criminal proceeds.
The file-sharing website allowed users to share content, some of which was illegal, but Mr Davison says there is no evidence showing Dotcom had any criminal intent in setting it up.
The five Supreme Court justices reserved their decision.