Megaupload co-founder Kim Dotcom has launched a teaser site for "Mega" at Me.ga. Dotcom says that the placeholder site is already getting millions of hits despite offering very little to visitors beyond information on how it will work when it launches. Kim Dotcom claims that Mega will use encryption methods that make it so that only those users who are uploading something know what it is. By hiding what users are uploading, Dotcom hopes to avoid the long arm of U.S. law enforcement.

Two weeks ago New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security revealed that the government had illegally spied on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. Specifically he said in his report that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) carried out illegal surveillance on Dotcom, because the agency is only allowed to carry out that kind of action against foreign targets. When the news became public, New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key apologized to Dotcom.

On Monday New Zealand prime minister John Key revealed that he has ordered an investigation into what he calls "unlawful interception of certain individuals by the Government Communications Security Bureau" related to illegal bugging of Kim Dotcom. Some of that surveillance led to Kim Dotcom’s arrest in January. The investigation throws another monkey wrench in the U.S. government's attempt to extradite the Megaupload file-sharing site to face various charges.

While the three-strikes-rule may be considered a good idea by most rightsholders, ISP's say that they end up paying the lion's share of the costs associated with such systems. According to this TorrentFreak report, ISPs in New Zealand claim that they end up paying upwards of 76 percent of the costs.

At the beginning of this year as law enforcement agencies in New Zealand, the U.S., and Hong Kong worked together to shut down Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's file-sharing empire, it seized just about every asset the charismatic NZ resident owned - including all of his money. This naturally made it tough for Dotcom to pay his legal fees.

But a judgment today by the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand will give Dotcom some relief.

In a series of recent tweets, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom announced details on the API for the new Megaupload, which he hinted at in July. Dotcom said earlier in the month that a new Megaupload site would be bigger, faster, better, free of charge and shielded from attacks.

In a new series of tweets Dotcom describes the API's features:

"Developers get ready," he teased via Twitter. "The Mega API [application programming interface] will provide incredible powers. Our API and your Mega tools will change the world."

If the U.S. government thought they were going to skate right through the New Zealand Courts to bring Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom to America to face charges, they might have figured out that there are a few cracks in their plans.

On Monday we reported that the MPAA and the RIAA recommended to Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel that the United States government do more to combat online piracy like they did with Megaupload. Today Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom offers his two cents on the MPAA's and RIAA's recommendations and goes so far as to say that these trade groups have "corrupted the government."

Earlier this week you may have heard Kim Dotcom describe the raid on his mansion as excessive. While that sounds like something a defendant might say, watching this news report out of New Zealand featuring footage from the raid will help you come to the same conclusion.

Watching law enforcement enter into the compound of the mansion with police dogs, helicopters and dozens of agents might make you think that Osama Bin Laden was still alive and under siege in a swank New Zealand mansion... Watch the video and judge for yourselves.

The New Zealand judge overseeing the extradition of Kim Dotcom (the founder of file-sharing site Megaupload) has removed himself from the case after comments about the U.S. government being "the enemy" caught up to him. Last week at the NetHui conference in Auckland, Judge Harvey said that New Zealand had "met the enemy, and he is the US." The reference was related to how the U.S. handles copyright cases.

The New Zealand Judge overseeing the ongoing case against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has made the news by calling the United States the enemy of his country when it comes to IP law. Speaking at the NetHui conference in Auckland last week, District Court Judge David Harvey said what he thought about the United States:

"We have met the enemy, and he is the US," he said during the event.

Megaupload founder Kim DotCom was probably delighted to learn this week in a New Zealand court that his extradition hearing had been pushed to March of 2013. This gives him and his co-defendants a lot more time to fight the U.S. government's plans to extradite them to America to face a number of charges related to the popular file-sharing and hosting site allegedly used to share copyrighted materials. The U.S. government and New Zealand authorities took the site offline in January of this year and arrested DotCom and his colleagues for the aforementioned crimes.

Megaupload found Kim DotCom won't have to worry about the prospect of being shipped off to the United States to faces various charges related to the U.S. government's takedown of the popular file sharing and storage site. A New Zealand judge has pushed DotCom's extradition hearing to March of 2013. Naturally this will give DotCom more time to prepare for whatever lawyers for the U.S. government can throw at him.

Speaking to TorrentFreak, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom alleges that Vice President Joe Biden ordered the Megaupload shutdown at the behest of former Connecticut Senator (D) and current Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President Chris Dodd. He claims that he has information from a "reliable source" that the Megaupload case and the subsequent takedown of the file storage site was a "gift to Hollywood."

A New Zealand Judge has handed a partial victory to Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom today, ruling that part of the search and seizure that resulted in the shutdown and destruction of MegaUpload’s business and the arrest of Dotcom was illegal. The judge said that police went too far when they secured and then copied the contents of hard drives from some 135 computers under a "general warrant."

Lawyers for Megaupload won a legal victory in court this week against the U.S. Government and pushed ahead with requests to have the case dismissed outright and - barring that - release the seized assets of the company.

Parents in New Zealand and Australia are embracing the idea that video games can serve as great tools to engage and educate children, according to new research commissioned by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (iGEA).

A New Zealand Court has lightened some of the restrictions on Megaupload founders Kim Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato. Noting the four had "behaved commendably" since their release from jail, North Shore District Court Judge David Harvey granted Dotcom access to the Internet, limited access to a swimming pool near his home (that he owns) and two trips each week to Roundhead Studios in Auckland to finish an album. Yes, Dotcom is making a music album. Dotcom was released from jail in March, but had a number of heavy restrictions put on him.

Dulles, Virginia-based hosting firm Carpathia Hosting is tired of storing 25 petabytes of Megaupload data on more than 1,000 servers in North America because of the government's shutdown of the file-sharing site in January, and is asking a federal court to relieve them of their obligations and any liability.

According to New Zealand's High Court, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom may get all of the assets that police seized when they took him into custody in January (thanks to Bear-Dogg-X for the tip). On Friday, High Court Justice Judith Potter declared that the order used to seize Dotcom’s property was "null and void" after finding out that police filed for the wrong kind of court order - an order the High Court says should never been granted in the first place.

It's official: the U.S. government wants to extradite four members of Megaupload to the United States for a litany of charges including racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering. On Friday U.S. prosecutors filed extradition requests against four New Zealand-based defendants - including founder Kim Dotcom.

MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom has been given bail by a New Zealand court, with some restrictions of course. Dotcom was awarded bail after a judge determined that he wasn't a flight risk.

"I am relieved to go home to see my family, my three little kids and my pregnant wife,” Dotcom told reporters outside court. "And I hope you understand that that is all I want to say right now."

The New Zealand video game development industry grew by 46 percent, offering 359 equivalent full-time jobs in the 12 months to September 2011, according to the New Zealand Game Developers Association (NZGDA). The NZGDA surveyed 21 NZ game studios in September. Of those surveyed, the vast majority of these New Zealand studios were owned by people or companies that are from the region too, according to NZGDA chairman Stephen Knightly.

New research looking into the gaming habits of New Zealanders found that nine out of ten households in the country own a game playing device of some sort and nearly four in five parents with children ages 18 and under play games. In households that use video games, 38 percent said they used a mobile phone and 9 percent said they used a tablet device to play games. Around 51 percent of gaming households said that they owned a traditional game console.

The Nintendo 3DS game Dead or Alive: Dimensions has had its rating changed in New Zealand from a "PG" rating to "M" by New Zealand's chief censor Andrew Jack. Jack decided to re-classify the game last month after the Waikato Times newspaper alerted his office to its content. He subsequently issued an order that copies must carry an "M" label and a note indicating it contains violence and nudity.

Jack said the game had not passed through his office because the law does not require films and games already classified in the UK or Australia with an equivalent rating of G, PG or M to be reclassified in New Zealand.

The game was temporarily banned in Australia before receiving a higher rating. 

An M rating in New Zealand does not restrict sales to minors because it is an "only an advisory," according to Stuff.

According to TorrentFreak, New Zealand’s government is in a huge rush to push through legislation that will target citizens who share copyrighted material online without rightsholder permission over the internet. The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill, which unanimously passed its first reading in Parliament in April 2010, will put in place a 3 strikes-style rule, where Internet service providers will be required to send warning letters to alleged infringers at the request of rights holders.

According to Gameplanet.co.nz Mortal Kombat will be available in New Zealand. Australians are no doubt envious of the fact that NZ has a ratings system that goes beyond the 15+ age limit. The reboot of the Mortal Kombat series received a rating of R18: Graphic Violence in New Zealand, ensuring that the game will be released in the region in April.

Mortal Kombat will be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the April 21. The game releases here in the United States on April 19, 2011.

So far, Australia is the only country to refuse classification of the game (to my knowledge). We do not know why other than the tired mantra of "protect the children" being at play on some level. If you want to protect children MP's of Australia, give the games rating system the proper adult classification it needs: R18+, please.

A recent tip to Boing Boing from Michael Geist reveals some new leaks related from the New Zealand government about their skepticism of international copyright laws being pushed by a certain country. Specifically, the leaked documents reveal the NZ government’s doubts about the U.S.'s push to change the level of protection the country affords "technical protection measures" (TPMs, DRM, or digital locks).

The U.S. wants NZ to make jailbreaking illegal. Interestingly enough, while the U.S. pushes for new jailbreaking rules in other countries around the world, at home the U.S. copyright office recently suspended the restriction on jailbreaking iPhones for three years..

New Zealand’s “Hobbit Bill,” legislation designed to keep production of two Warner Bros. films based on  The Hobbit in the country, also has language pertaining to videogame makers.

Amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 states that workers involved with film production work “will be independent contractors rather than employees, unless they choose to be employees by entering into an agreement that provides that they are employees.”

The legislation came about, according to the New York Times, in response to a small actors’ union, the New Zealand Actors Equity, demanding that “producers bargain collectively with actors on the films.”

TechDirt points us towards a New Zealand man that was issued a cease-and-desist letter from Square Enix for his work on an open source version of the old game Carmageddon.

1am Studios Jeff posted about the c&d order on his blog, stating that Square Enix claimed to hold the copyright to his project’s “underlying code, text, audio and visual aspects of the game [Carmageddon]…”

Jeff wrote, "Obviously this is all a bit silly given we're talking about a game thats 13 years old and you can't buy anymore, but still, its a cease-and-desist letter."