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Comment by jschuur | Hacker News Reader

Unless you're a South American drug lord, I don't think that's how security guards work. You don't get to just shoot wildly at anyone approaching, unless you're being shot at.

If Kim had trigger happy guards like that, that alone would seem a little suspicious. Who was he afraid of?

For that matter, this is a pretty paranoid panic button setup:

“I was on my bed, once the banging started, I pressed an alarm button that is situated right at my bed which was installed in case of an emergency. When I press that it automatically sends a signal to all security guards including Mr [Wayne] Tempero’s room including SMSs to everybody informing them there is an alert.

Perhaps that's just standard operating procedure for a multi-millionaire.

Full story in text: http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-What-really-happened-in-the-Dot...

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Alarm-Buttons and panic rooms are not so uncommon and often installed in houses of much-more low-key persons then Kim Schmitz. A family friend purchased a house (not a mansion, just a bigger house in a suburban neighborhood) here in germany that was formally owned by a CEO of a mid-sized tech company. And there is a panic button in every room, as well as a hidden room. Why should such a system be uncommon in, from what I remember, the biggest mansion in NZ? I guess it was already there when he bought the place.

To be fair, his actual name is Kim Dotcom, as ridiculous as that is.

I suspect he might change it again to spite his American tormentors. We might see "Kim LOL USA SUX" or "Kim Vote-Pirate-Party" in the news.

Kim Nohollywood?

Kim Unamerican?

I mean... is it really that paranoid?

Would it have been much different if instead of a button, it was an intercom system, and Dotcom queried his staff as to what the banging noise was?

In one way it does seem comically super-villain-esque, but then, i wouldn't say that Dotcom's impulses were anything more dramatic than anyone hearing unusual noises in their home. It's just, most of us don't have a staff to query, or a saferoom to evacuate to.

No less paranoid than moving to New Zealand?

Ha. As a NZer I'm not quite sure how to take that. It's pretty much sheep, some locals, and copyright infringers down that way.

Having a gun for protection in NZ is unusual. That said, he's reached a station in life where some hired professional protection for himself and his family seems relatively sane.

What's paranoid about moving to NZ?

> If Kim had trigger happy guards like that, that alone would seem a little suspicious. Who was he afraid of?

Afraid of exactly this scenario where one early morning, heavily armed men were storming his home where his wife and kids were?

I'd have been terrified.

If your wealth is ostentatious and/or you believe you own enough assets to target thieves, I suspect it's not very paranoid at all. For a normal everyday joe, probably.

But while things like this happen, it seems sane if you have the money: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184641/Waterboarded...

> this is a pretty paranoid panic button setup

It is not terribly uncommon for agents of the US government to forcibly enter homes and kill the residents, often under mistaken circumstances. And as this story shows, their reach is extremely broad.

So, I certainly wouldn't classify it as paranoid, in this day and age it seems like common sense.

This woman might have benefited from such arrangements: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-19160222

I've just read a story recently about an American shooting a sales agent for "tresspassing"...so yeah.

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