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Pirating UK Student to be Extradited to the US

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foxman

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“Pirating” UK Student to be Extradited to the US



Richard O’Dwyer, the UK-based ex-administrator of the video linking website TVShack will be extradited to the US to face copyright infringement charges. Despite public outrage Home Secretary Theresa May approved the extradition order today. The 23-year-old student has never visited United States, but now faces several years in a US prison.


richard-tvshack.jpg



Last year Richard O’Dwyer was arrested by police for operating TVShack, a website that carried links to copyrighted TV-shows.
Following his detention in the UK’s largest prison, the site owner fought a looming extradition to the US, but without success.

After a UK judge gave the green light to extradite the student two months ago, Home Secretary Theresa May officially approved the request from US authorities today.


Julia O’Dwyer, Richard’s mother, is severely disappointed with the decision and says that her son has been “sold” to the US. The extradition may disrupt his life for years.
“Today, yet another British citizen is betrayed by the British Government,” she said.


“Richard’s life – his studies, work opportunities, financial security – is being disrupted, for who knows how long, because the UK Government has not introduced the much-needed changes to the extradition law.”



The extradition is controversial because under certain circumstances merely linking to copyright material isn’t an offense in the UK. In 2010, linking website TV-Links was deemed to be a ‘mere conduit’ of information and its admins were acquitted.


In the US recent court rulings are of a totally different kind. There, Richard O’Dwyer faces the same fate as several other operators of linking sites that were recently on trial.



In January, Ninjavideo founder Hana Beshara was sentenced to 22 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation, 500 hours of community service and ordered to repay nearly $210,000. Fellow admin Matthew Smith received 14 months in prison, two years supervised release, and was ordered to pay back just over $172,000.
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25 comments
thats not the issue, according to UK law he did nothing against the law, its really weird he would be extradited to the US.
Its like a coffee shop owner in Amsterdam would be extradited to the US for selling marijuana.
Basically in the UK, you have to be careful not to break any US law, think about that when you buy a beer for a 16 year old, before you know it, your extradited to the US.
 
This is really disappointing i cant believe our government has sold a British citizen out and handed him over, im really getting tired of the us pushing their weight into other countries forcing their law against everyone else

I vote all websites block us traffic if this is the kind of shit they are doing
 
maloxi said:
one day china will invade usa
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doubt it, but China are not scared of the US

shadow.prx said:
This is really disappointing i cant believe our government has sold a British citizen out and handed him over, im really getting tired of the us pushing their weight into other countries forcing their law against everyone else

I vote all websites block us traffic if this is the kind of shit they are doing
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they are the "world police" afterall :))
 
I hate to rain on everyone's parade but the case that everyone is relying on so heavily (that apparently legalises linking) is not at all strong. Ask any solicitor or barrister (I have) and they will tell you the same.

While I agree that this is incredibly wrong, it is also time to get the facts straight with regard to linkings legal position in the UK.
 
Even though he resides in the uk his website was hosted in the U.S.

Also, "Blocking" all usa traffic would kill tons of sites revenue. Most foreign countries don't convert sales nearly as well, since those people don't have the money and/or just simply don't pay for those services.
 
Its nothing to do with where the site was hosting. There are two main arguments here:

1) tvshack used the .net TLD and this gives the US authorities jurisdiction as they have successfully argued.

2) The site was accessible by US citizens and as such, technically means that he has committed a crime in the US. At least, that is how many people, by that I mean the courts, are interpreting it these days.

The only way to avoid reprisals if you run a large site, and especially if you are in one of the countries with a dreaded US extradition treaty, is to make sure you can never be found.
 
"Linking" .. as in "posting" is not illegal in the UK... but when you have a website that you run and administer, allow links to be published, made public and accept payment to infringe copyrighted material, then it is illegal in the UK. This guy did no worse than what the majority of young guys have done that started off in the warez scene. He just was one of those poor innocents that thought he would never get caught! Its also a another case of the UK jumping on the back of the US to help itself in other areas when they really dont give two figs about net piracy! If you were to ask Mr.D.Cameron (UK Prime Minister) what his views on Piracy were.... he would answer... I have only seen POTC 1 and 2... My mate is still downloading part 3 for me! XD
 
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