Hi, I'm Ryan Levy.

Welcome to Cyber reasons's malicious life. It's the middle of the night and the dark waters are brewing underneath.

Black foam floats across the ocean and ominous sign of what's coming your way. There's no soul in sight. The vast sea is vacant from where you are to the sky's edge.

Large clouds are hovering down and the full moon sends its bright light rays, finding a gap between the clouds.

Suddenly a majestic pirate ship is revealed. Dark sails, a black flag and frightening shadows of fugitive sailors tending to their evil deck and leading their malicious vessel to its next prey. This legend of naval piracy, the undying legend of pirates, lives to this day in

Hollywood and in our own shared imagination.

In fact, history's vicious pirates lend their names to a new kind of criminal.

Those new pirates aren't navigating hidden seas and stealing golden lutes.

Instead, they illegally share stolen files and break copyright laws.

Our story today deals with a man who might just be the greatest internet pirate in the history of the World Wide Web, the leader of file sharing crime ring.

According to himself, he is more of an internet freedom fighter,

a fugitive on the run from vindictive, overly powerful governments.

Though his motivations and self-claimed innocence are a matter of fierce debate, there's no doubt

about one thing, his success.

He has had many names. People called him Kimball or Kim Tim Jim Wester

and sometimes they even called him by the pompous nickname,

his Royal Highness, King Kimball the first ruler of the Kimpire.

Mostly, he is known as Kim.

But his mother, she called him Kim Schmitz.

Kim's life led him to New Zealand's most expensive mansion, to gigantic aquariums and sport cars,

luxury beds and automatic weapons.

But they began in the quintessential dull country, Germany.

...