Megaupload founder and web tycoon Kim Dotcom is launching registration for his New Zealand political party on Monday. Tickets for his 40th birthday, coinciding with the launch, went in minutes, with more than 15,000 people planning to attend.
Dotcom, born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, told The Associated Press
in an interview published Tuesday that he is founding and funding
the party, but will himself not stand as a candidate. From Monday
a party website and mobile app will be launched, and will begin
registering members. By law, New Zealand requires 500 paid-up
members to be registered before a party is formed.
While a resident of New Zealand, Dotcom is not able to stand as a
candidate for political office as he does not have citizenship.
“The party website with information about our vision &
candidates will launch with another BIG event on Jan 20, 2014.
Second raid anniversary,” Dotcom announced in September. He
followed it up with a tweet posted Tuesday: “We are going to
make politics exciting.”
“My political party will activate non-voters, the youth, the
Internet electorate,” he added.
My new political party won't be named Mega Party. We are the Internet Party. Here's our logo for the first time. pic.twitter.com/0bkhRV5oQV
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 14, 2014
Dotcom’s 40th celebration on January 20 – the day before his
birthday – initially had 2,000 free invitations available to the
general public. However, the run on invites meant that it reached
full capacity within a matter of minutes, forcing Dotcom to
switch venues after the number registering to attend through the
twitter tag #PartyParty broke the 15,000 milestone.
Its new base, in Vector Arena in Auckland, can hold over 20,000.
At the show, Dotcom will also be launching his new “Good
Times” album.
The thousands-strong party will mark the two-year anniversary of
the FBI and New Zealand authorities’ raid on Dotcom’s house. The
search saw Dotcom arrested and his assets, including a luxury car
collection, seized, with Dotcom himself being accused of
conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
The US government has been seeking to get him extradited, with
his hearing first delayed until April, and then July. Dotcom’s
ongoing legal battles have also seen him suing a New Zealand spy
agency for spying.
Dotcom has been deeply and vocally critical of global
surveillance practices. “Depending on how well it tickles the
fancies of some of the more radical, marginalized, and
disillusioned voters and non-voters, the so-called Mega Party
could have a huge impact on who forms the next government,”
wrote Bryce Edwards, a political commentator and lecturer at the
University of Otago, New Zealand. However, Edwards also stated
that the new party is “far from certain to get into
Parliament.”
Megaupload was a haven for file-sharers until it was shut down by
the US government in 2012. At the point of its closure, it was
getting some 50 million users on a daily basis. Since its
closure, Dotcom has founded a new file hosting site, called Mega.