Megaupload Boss Pleads Innocence

The founder of the file-sharing website megaupload.com has plead not guilty to charges of Internet piracy and money laundering. Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, told a New Zealand court that authorities were doing their best to portray him as a dangerous criminal. His lawyer Paul Davison said: “Mr Dotcom emphatically denies any criminal misconduct or wrongdoing.” Authorities in the USA want to extradite Dotcom on charges of abusing intellectual copyright by allowing millions of his site’s users to illegally download movies and songs. They say he made $175 million by distributing copyrighted content. Megaupload's lawyer said his client simply offered an online storage service.

Kim Dotcom is a German national who now lives in a huge mansion amid sprawling grounds in New Zealand. He and three others were arrested on Friday at the request of the FBI. His arrest coincides with a heated debate in the U.S. Congress about new laws to protect intellectual copyright. The Wikipedia website had earlier gone offline for 24 hours in protest at the proposed legislation, called the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect Intellectual Property Act. Police had to cut Dotcom out of a hidden room he had locked himself in. They also found a loaded gun in his house. Police confiscated 18 luxury cars from Mr Dotcom, with license plates including "HACKER", "MAFIA", "STONED" and "KIMCOM".

(23rd January, 2012)


Related video:

http://online.wsj.com/video/who-is-kim-dotcom/166D9783-B916-49B4-8D4D-400671163E30.html

Reading activities:
1. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.
1.     founder                                         a.    depict
2    aka                                                 b.    just
3.    portray                                          c.    suggested
4.    content                                          d.    citizen
5.    simply                                           e.    argument
6.    national                                         f.    creator
7.    amid                                             g.    removed
8.    debate                                          h.    material
9.    proposed                                      i.    in the middle of
10.    confiscated                                  j.    also known as

2. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.     The founder of the file-                      a.    storage service
2    plead                                                  b.    gun
3.    portray him as                                   c.    copyright
4.    charges of abusing intellectual            d.    of the FBI
5.    offered an online                               e.    debate
6.    a German                                          f.    sharing website
7.    at the request                                    g.    plates
8.    a heated                                            h.    national
9.    a loaded                                            i.    not guilty
10.    license                                             j.    a dangerous criminal

3. LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE:

The founder of the file-sharing website megaupload.com has plead (1) ____ guilty to charges of Internet piracy and money (2) ____. Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, told a New Zealand court that authorities were doing their best to (3) ____ him as a dangerous criminal. His lawyer Paul Davison said: “Mr Dotcom emphatically      (4) ____ any criminal misconduct or wrongdoing.” Authorities in the USA want to extradite Dotcom on charges of abusing intellectual copyright (5) ____ allowing millions of his site’s users to illegally download movies and songs. They say he made $175 million by distributing copyrighted (6) ____. Megaupload's lawyer said his client simply offered an online storage service.
Kim Dotcom is a German (7) ____ who now lives in a huge mansion amid sprawling grounds in New Zealand. He and three others were arrested on Friday (8) ____ the request of the FBI. His arrest coincides (9) ____ a heated debate in the U.S. Congress about new laws to protect intellectual copyright. The Wikipedia website had (10) ____ gone offline for 24 hours in protest at the proposed legislation, called the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect Intellectual Property Act. Police had to cut Dotcom out of a hidden room he had locked himself in. They also found a (11) ____ gun in his house. Police (12) ____ 18 luxury cars from Mr Dotcom, with license plates including "HACKER", "MAFIA", "STONED" and "KIMCOM".

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
1.     (a)     non            (b)     no             (c)     not                     (d)     never
2.     (a)     washing     (b)     laundering  (c)     airing                  (d)     drying
3.     (a)     portray      (b)     portal         (c)     porter                (d)     port
4.     (a)     attempts    (b)     pushes        (c)     evaluates           (d)     denies
5.     (a)     at              (b)     of               (c)     by                     (d)     from
6.     (a)     glad          (b)     insides        (c)     content              (d)     materialism
7.     (a)     border      (b)     national       (c)     human              (d)     German
8.     (a)     at             (b)     of                (c)     is                      (d)     so
9.     (a)     from         (b)     with            (c)     at                     (d)     as
10.    (a)    earlier      (b)     earliest         (c)     early                (d)     earlyish
11.    (a)     load         (b)     loads          (c)     loading            (d)     loaded
12.    (a) confiscating  (b) confiscation    (c) confiscate            (d) confiscated


ANSWERS:

SYNONYM MATCH:
1.     founder    a.    creator
2    aka    b.    also known as
3.    portray    c.    depict
4.    content    d.    material
5.    simply    e.    just
6.    national        f.    citizen
7.    amid    g.    in the middle of
8.    debate    h.    argument
9.    proposed    i.    suggested
10.    confiscated    j.    removed 

PHRASE MATCH:
1.    The founder of the file-    a.    sharing website
2    plead     b.    not guilty
3.    portray him as     c.    a dangerous criminal
4.    charges of abusing intellectual     d.    copyright
5.    offered an online     e.    storage service
6.    a German     f.    national
7.    at the request     g.    of the FBI
8.    a heated     h.    debate
9.    a loaded     i.    gun
10.    license     j.    plates


LANGUAGE WORK
1 - c     2 - b    3 - a    4 - d    5 - c    6 - c    7 - b    8 - a    9 - b    10 - a    11 - d    12 - d

Related grammar point:

 http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/alle_grammar.htm