[Stranger43]

The problem here for the US is that nobody sane actually believes the universal standard some US judges insists exist, as a lot of commercial activity(as in pretty much every tech company in the US's non-US revenue) depends on the US respecting the view that no US court have universal jurisdiction.

This makes it extremely problematic if the US start going after a NZ citizens who have been cleared of the alleged crime by a NZ court.

[dane-pgp]

The mention of NZ citizens here prompts an interesting point. Dotcom is currently a legal resident of NZ but has not yet been granted citizenship. As I understand it, he has now lived in the country long enough to apply for citizenship, and if granted citizenship then he would be given more rights in terms of how his extradition is dealt with.

One requirement of the grant of citizenship is that the applicant is "of good character", which presumably means you haven't recently been convicted of a crime. As a matter of due process, I would hope that a mere accusation by a foreign government would not count as proof of someone's bad character. On the other hand, I also suspect that the executive is given quite a lot of discretion to withhold the granting of citizenship from anyone, and there is the matter of his 2009 dangerous driving conviction.

Does anyone know enough about NZ law to determine whether gaining the protections of citizenship is an avenue that is open to him?

[Stranger43]

He is a German citizen right? So even if the NZ government were to retract his residency he's still not on the next plane to the US.

Very few states exempt non citizens from the protections against government overreach, as most interpretations of UN's human rights treaties kind of forbids it, so even if he is not a citizen the NZ government still have to obey it's own laws in prosecuting a case against him(the US is notorious for non-compliance with treaties they themselves promoted when a treaty goes beyond the protections offered by the rather washed out US constitution).

The problem here is again that any action taken against Kim Dotcom by the NZ government in spite of it's domestic court case falling apart will be government overreach by just about any sane standard. so there is not a lot neither the US not the NZ authorities can do if the NZ court end up deciding that the he cannot be extradited to the US or convicted under New Zeeland law.

Diplomatically the problem is also that this isn’t a one of against a shady businessman but a part of a trend that have already seen the EU court nullify a data safe haven agreement due to the US court systems rather strange belief that it's not actually bound by any international treaties.

[nickelbackfan]

He was convicted of insider trading (I think) back in Germany, so they might not like that. Others have been able to buy citizenship though.