New Zealand PM apologizes to Megaupload boss

PanARMENIAN.Net - New Zealand’s Prime Minister has issued an apology to Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom.

According to BBC News, he said sorry because a New Zealand law enforcement agency was judged to have illegally spied on Dotcom.

The investigation was illegal because the agency is only authorized to spy on foreigners. Dotcom became a New Zealand citizen in 2010.

The spying was carried out just before police raids that shut down file-storing service Megaupload.

Dotcom's home and the offices of Megaupload were raided in January as part of an FBI investigation. It alleges that Dotcom was head of a group of Megaupload employees that profited from copyright piracy.

In June, a New Zealand court ruled that the search warrant used in the raids was illegal.

Prime Minister John Key apologized after an official report into the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) surveillance of Dotcom and his involvement with Megaupload.

The report was written by the Inspector General of Intelligence, the official overseer for New Zealand's spy agencies. It said the surveillance was illegal because Dotcom, who was born in Germany, had achieved permanent residency status.

In a statement, Key said: "I apologize to Mr Dotcom... We failed to provide that appropriate protection for him."

The apology came a day after Dotcom revealed more details of his next project, a music-sharing service called Megabox.