Whether the FBI already has managed to decrypt Dotcom's data is another story

Jul 3, 2014 14:30 GMT  ·  By

According to a ruling given out by a New Zealand court, the FBI cannot get its hands on Dotcom’s encryption keys.

The judge has decided that if the local police manages to obtain these codes, they must not be handed over to the FBI because the copies of the computers and drives should have never been sent to the United States in the first place.

The entire story goes back to the famous raid that took place on the mansion where Dotcom lives. 135 computers and drives, alongside various other property, were seized then.

A few months later, in May 2012, Dotcom’s lawyer asked the court to give him access to the data stored on the equipment in order to prepare the defense. At the time, the FBI objected saying that some of the data was encrypted.

Dotcom refused to hand over the encryption keys unless he was given access to the data. While the situation remained in an impasse since then, the move did manage to reveal the fact that the New Zealand authorities had already shared the content of the drives with the United States.

The Internet magnate said that he would hand over the keys to the authorities if he were given access to prompt files contained on the drives, which would help jog his memory, as it had been quite a while since he used the long keys.

The court agreed to do this, but Dotcom had an extra stipulation. He said he’d only reveal the passwords if the data wasn’t going to get shared with the United States.

The judge’s decision solidifies the understanding, which means that Dotcom has won a small battle. The internet mogul isn’t necessarily thrilled by this, however. “NZ Police is not allowed to provide my encryption password to the FBI. As if they don’t have it already,” said Dotcom, who obviously doubts the United States has been idle all this time and hasn’t employed its best hackers to crack down his defenses.

Dotcom has been fighting against the illegal seizure of his assets for years. Recently, he managed to obtain a small win, as the court decided that he could gain access to his seized assets, more than two years after they were confiscated. Dotcom rejoiced since he also gained access to the multiple bank accounts holding millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, the Crown decided to appeal the decision, which means that it’s going to be a while longer before the new legal battle is dealt with.