The Internet Mogul: Kim Dot Com

LOOK ALIKES

The two have nothing in common, save for the fact that they're both Internet sensations by their own right. Not to mention, they look like twins. Tim Dot Com allegedly runs ran an Internet empire built around shared material from movies, while Numa Numa or Gary is happily making a living out of his personality thanks to his Numa Numa video.

Kim Dot Com has recently been on the spotlight for being the subject of an FBI raid on his mansion for racketeering and piracy among other things. The scenario that was painted seems to be one fit for the Mexican drug barons, rather than the founder of a file sharing website.



The Secret Stuff that Internet Dreams are Made of?


Is it tech savvy, hacking panache, personality or the sheer desire to attain unfettered success that granted these two the status?



For Kim Dot Com aka Kim Schmitz, apparently according to Wikipedia, it was insider trading and piracy as evidenced on the webpage of Megaupload.com.

The New Zealand press is having a party reporting on the Spy-thriller esque raid that happened on the Kim Dot Com mansion.

• $30 million dollar mansion (Rented)
• Lavish parties on a yacht with topless women and people spraying champagne
• $6 million dollars worth of luxury and vintage cars

My personal encounter with Megaupload

The first time I ever encountered Megaupload was when I wanted to watch episodes of 24 and Lost online. You see, I don't have a television set nor do I have a cable subscription. Living here in the outskirts of Lipa city, there's a very limited scope of things that I can do to entertain myself that would cost so little.

Anyway, Megaupload relied on small blogs that are annoyingly plastered with numerous advertisements. 

For instance, I personally do a search on Google for "watch 24 season 4 episode 1 online free" and the site that comes up has the word "tv" or "24" on it. For example:

From there, I go to one of the sites and see this:

Clicking on the ads, takes me to a page that is surprisingly localized - meaning it's targeted specifically for me. The assumptions are: 

• Since I want to watch 24 online for free, I must be one of the more financially challenged users of the Internet. Ergo, I need money.
• I came to the site via Google, ergo, I have a certain affinity or liking towards the search engine. I trust Google, hence, I would be inclined to satiate my need of earning money by clicking on a trustworthy source such as the ad displayed above.
• I came from the Philippines hence, the site that I am brought to, features a story from the Philippines about twerps who make money online by doing so and so stuff for whoever it is who is running the whole shebang. 

I don't really know whether these small sites are affiliated with the Kim Dot Com fiasco but if they were, the execution of their system is quite exhaustive and complicated. They feature both technical skills such as search engine ranking skills as well as social engineering skills. Combine the two and presto!

You have this: