Humungous web nutter Kim Dotcom (nee Schmitz) has been granted bail by a judge in New Zealand, who ruled that any funds he might use to flee the country have already been seized by the authorities. North Shore district court judge Nevin Dawsom ruled that Dotcom did not appear to be hiding any financial assets that could potentially be used to escape the country.

Dotcom had been held since 20th January, when he was arrested and Megaupload was shut down.

With the US attempting to extradite him to face charges around facilitating illegal downloads of copyrighted material, Dotcom confirmed to reporters outside the court that he would be fighting their efforts. Megaupload is accused of costing the film and music industries $0.5bn in lost revenue.

"I am relieved to go home to see my family, my three little kids and my pregnant wife," he said to reporters. "I hope you understand that that is all I want to say right now."