Kim Dotcom (né Schmitz; born 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who lives in Glenorchy, New Zealand.
Dotcom rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a hacker and an Internet entrepreneur. He was arrested in 1994 for trafficking in stolen phone calling card numbers. He was convicted on eleven charges of computer fraud, ten charges of data espionage, and various other charges in 1998 for which he served a two-year suspended sentence. In 2003, he was deported from Thailand to Germany, where he pleaded guilty to embezzlement in November 2003 and after five months in jail awaiting trial he received another 20 months suspended sentence.
Dotcom is the founder and former CEO of the defunct file-hosting service Megaupload (2005–2012). In 2012, the United States Department of Justice seized its website and pressed charges against Dotcom, including criminal copyright infringement, money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud. Dotcom was residing in New Zealand at the time; at the request of US authorities, New Zealand police raided his home in 2012 and arrested him. Dotcom was granted bail and initiated legal proceedings to challenge his arrest and the police's search and seizure of evidence, a process that has stretched over a decade without resolution as of 2026.
In 2017, a New Zealand court ruled that Dotcom could be extradited to the US on fraud charges related to Megaupload. Dotcom denied any wrongdoing and has accused US authorities of pursuing a vendetta against him on behalf of politically influential Hollywood studios. In 2018, the New Zealand Court of Appeal upheld the lower court's ruling. Dotcom appealed to the Supreme Court of New Zealand, which ruled in 2020 that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States, but that he could challenge the decision through judicial review. His extradition order was eventually signed on 15 August 2024. Dotcom has remained free in New Zealand while continuing to pursue judicial review of his extradition order.
In 2013, Dotcom launched another cloud storage service called Mega, although he severed all ties with the service in 2015. He also started and funded the Internet Party. The party contested the 2014 New Zealand general election under an electoral alliance with the Mana Movement and contested the 2017 general election independently, but failed to win any seats at either election.
Read more...The January 21, 1974 was a Monday under the star sign of ♒. It was the 20 day of the year. President of the United States was Richard M. Nixon.
If you were born on this day, you are 52 years old. Your last birthday was on the Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 129 days ago. Your next birthday is on Thursday, January 21, 2027, in 235 days. You have lived for 19,122 days, or about 458,929 hours, or about 27,535,749 minutes, or about 1,652,144,940 seconds.
Date: 22 January 1974
By Tom Wicker
Tom Wicker
T Wicker comments on Fla's 'right to reply' statute, under which newspapers are required to publish replies from pol candidates who are criticized in eds or news columns; US Sup Ct has agreed to rev law, which has been challenged by Miami Herald; Herald criticized Pat L Tornillo, candidate for State Legi in '72, and refused to publish Tornillo lr in reply
Date: 21 January 1974
NY Daily News will install US's 1st 6-page-wide printing presses in prototype experiment designed to increase production by 50%; News pres and publisher W H James comments (S)
Date: 22 January 1974
By LES BROWN
Les BROWN
CBS TV program 60 Minutes on Jan 20 presents rept by Mike Wallace on press junkets, in which Wallace names CBS as giver of free trips to press and its leading anchorman Walter Cronkite as 1 who accepted junkets in past; CBS spokesman repts that co's policies with regard to sponsoring junkets for publicity purposes are under rev and could be revised; program raised paradox that CBS News reporters were forbidden to participate in junkets, while CBS TV network several times a yr offered free trips to out-of-town critics for publicity purposes; Cronkite says he would never accept trip that had conditions attached to it; declines to comment on whether he would accept free trips in future
Date: 22 January 1974
By PHILIP SHABECOFF
Philip SHABECOFF
White House on Jan 21 acknowledges that all members of White House staff have been told to rept all contacts with news media to press sec Ronald L Ziegler; White House press spokesman Gerald L Warren concurs; says that new policy did not come in form of directive from Pres Nixon; says it is not purpose of policy to 'intimidate' White House staff members from talking to press nor is move to be construed as form of censorship; White House press corp members have indicated that they fear new disclosure policy will have inhibiting effect on news sources; Bill Moyers, former press sec, says in phone int that while he was at White House staff was asked to keep press office informed about its doings, but under completely unstructured arrangement (M)
Date: 22 January 1974
By TOM BUCKLEY
Tom BUCKLEY
book on newsmen assigned to '72 Pres campaign, The Boys on the Bus, by Timothy Crouse, revd by Tom Buckley
Date: 21 January 1974
By LES BROWN
Les BROWN
Analysis of White House Telecommunications Policy Office Dir Clay T Whitehead's rept advocating cable TV's freedom from Govt control (L)