📸

WHO YOUR
FRIENDS ARE

Freed from prison, Dotcom returned to the house on the hill above the mansion, where Mona had taken up residence. If he walked to the edge of the garden, he could look down on the life he once had. And although he was free of prison, liberty to roam the internet was still denied. One of a string of bail conditions was that Dotcom stay offline.

Visitors to the mansion, until the restriction was lifted on April 2, were asked by security guards to surrender laptops and phones before driving up to the house. The door to 5H carried a sign reading: "No smartphones and internet devices." Inside, computers were disconnected from anything which might provide an internet connection. If information needed to be transferred, Dotcom used memory sticks.

The constraint was a severe inhibition for a group to whom connectivity was natural and internet use came as reflexively as a muscle twitch — and in Dotcom's case, probably more so. Swapping notes between the group, researching case law and even accessing their own legal filings became a logistical exercise involving navigation of bail conditions, schedules of those involved and traffic. If there were papers to be delivered, instead of attaching the document to an email and sending it from the central city to Coatesville, it would have to be downloaded onto a stick and driven across town. Alternatively, visitors to 5H or those not covered by the order, could drive away from the house, access the internet and receive emails, then disconnect, save the documents to a memory stick and return to the house.

Dotcom was also determined to pursue his musical adventures. The bail conditions which kept him confined to the house didn't stop artist

📸