Kim Dotcom, founder of file hosting services Megaupload and Mega, will move part of his operation to Iceland should new surveillance laws pass in New Zealand where his operation is currently based.
Dotcom made an announcement thereof recently, stating that by doing so he was trying to ensure his customers’ data was secure and that he thought Iceland was the best option.
He is currently in a legal battle with local security service GCSB, which a court has found was monitoring Dotcom illegally.
“The US government and the other Five Eyes partners (UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) have an agreement to push for new spy legislation that will provide them with backdoors into all Internet infrastructure and services. The NZ government is currently aggressively looking to extend its powers with the GCSB and the TICS act, which will force service providers with encryption capabilities to give them secret decryption access,” Dotcom told TorrentFreak.com.
Therefore Dotcom looks to smaller nations with few enemies, that don’t need large scale surveillance, to accommodate his business.
“Iceland is a friendly small country without enemies. They don’t spy on the world and they don’t care. It’s countries like Iceland that will see a rise in Internet services. There is a huge opportunity for smaller nations because the business that is going to leave the US is looking for a new home,” Dotcom added.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
