Image: WikipediaKim Dotcom has been granted permission to livestream his appeal against extradition to the United States on YouTube.Dotcom and three other men - Matthias Ortmann , Bram Van der Kolk, and Finn Batato - are facing money-laundering and copyright charges in relation to the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload.Newshub reports that Dotcom’s defence lawyer Ron Mansfield told the High Court in Auckland on Monday that conventional media reporting was unlikely to cover all aspects of the case and could be "unbalanced".Mansfield had made an application to stream the proceeding."This is a case of the internet age and as such has attracted significant academic and media interest," Mansfield said.Arguing on behalf of the US, Crown lawyers claim that Megaupload wilfully breached copyright on a large scale by hosting illegally-created movie, music and software files. The site aided and abetted users who uploaded popular illegal files by paying them financial rewards, the US said.Dotcom's lawyers have argued Megaupload was set up as a legitimate file-storing business, and that their client could not be held responsible for the illegal actions of some users.A New Zealand district court ruled in December that the men were eligible for extradition.Dotcom, 42, took to Twitter to praise the New Zealand justice system and announce that the hearing would begin tomorrow, once a cameraman was set up:
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I will post the live streaming link here ASAP. This is breaking new ground. New Zealand at the forefront of transparent Justice! Leadership!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 29, 2016
The livestream will be delayed by 20 minutes, to allow the court to prevent any suppressed material being published and copies of the footage will be removed from the internet at the end of the trial. Comments will also be disabled from the feed.The hearing is expected to last six weeks.Breaking News: Judge has granted live streaming! Success!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 29, 2016