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'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case 
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'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case

A Sheffield student can be extradited to the US to face copyright infringement allegations, a judge has ruled.

Richard O'Dwyer, 23, set up the TVShack website which US authorities say hosts links to pirated copyrighted films and television programmes.

The Sheffield Hallam University student lost his case in a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

If found guilty in a US court he could face up to five years in jail.

Mr O'Dwyer's lawyer, Ben Cooper, indicated during the hearing that he would appeal against the ruling.

Mr Cooper said the website did not store copyright material itself and merely directed users to other sites, making it similar to Google.

He also argued that his client, who would be the first British citizen to be extradited for such an offence, was being used as a "guinea pig" for copyright law in the US.

But District Judge Quentin Purdy ruled the extradition could go ahead.

Mr O'Dwyer's mother, Julia O'Dwyer, from Chesterfield, has described the moves by US authorities as "beyond belief" and described Britain's extradition treaty with the United States as "rotten".

Speaking before the hearing, Mr O'Dwyer said he was "surprised" when police officers from the UK and America seized equipment at his home in South Yorkshire in November 2010.

However, no criminal charges followed from the UK authorities.

The case was brought by the US Customs and Border Protection agency, which claims that the TVShack.net website earned "over $230,000 in advertising revenue" before US authorities obtained a warrant and seized the domain name


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335

I imagine Google, Bing and Yahoo will be also be had up on this charge?

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Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:00 pm
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It's quite clear that particular website had a particular purpose, which is an important consideration - especially when trying to draw comparisons with generic search engines.

However, the major problem I have with this case is that UK authorities took no action, effectively paving the way for his extradition; the cynic in me wonders whether such a decision was deliberate.

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:03 pm
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Oh. Let's just assume for a second that he is guilty..... Why isn't he being tried in the UK for breaking copyright law?

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:19 pm
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l3v1ck wrote:
Oh. Let's just assume for a second that he is guilty..... Why isn't he being tried in the UK for breaking copyright law?

I expect because the penalty under UK law is pitiful, so the government's bowing to pressure from the US.

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:23 pm
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Linux_User wrote:
l3v1ck wrote:
Oh. Let's just assume for a second that he is guilty..... Why isn't he being tried in the UK for breaking copyright law?

I expect because the penalty under UK law is pitiful, so the government's bowing to pressure from the US.


I also suspect the copyright being registered in the US also has impact

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:09 pm
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UK crimes should mean UK time

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:13 pm
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So when is the UK going to sort out that damn treaty with the U.S.A? Probably never. :x

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Sat Jan 14, 2012 9:01 pm
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pcernie wrote:

Depends on where the machine was physically located that served the site, if country laws apply to visitors of the site.

One big cluster**** and a lot of money for the solicitors though

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:58 am
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pcernie wrote:

It is an international crime... The US are prosecuting him for stealing US works.

The UK could prosecute him for UK infringements. If he also had French, German, Italian, Australian etc. works linked through his site, I would expect them to try and extradite him as well.

At the end of the day, he must have known that the site was illegal.

I also feel this is a much better response than SOPA, PIPA or the Open Act that are currently being considered in America. They should go after the source of the problem and not try and destroy the fabric of the internet.

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:22 am
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big_D wrote:
It is an international crime... The US are prosecuting him for stealing US works.

He hasn't stolen a damn thing. Nobody is even claiming he has.

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At the end of the day, he must have known that the site was illegal.

Certainly so, but what he's done isn't a crime in pretty much any part of the world. It's debatable if it's a crime in the US. However the treaty under which he is being extradited requires very little in the way of cause to activate. Put it this way, the amount of justification required for someone to be extradited under this treaty is not even enough to get someone charged, either in the US or the the UK. The ready does not conform to the standards we expect our justice systems to conform to.

That, and the fact the treaty is one way - note the case where two US air force pilots attacked British forces in Iraq and the US refused to allow them to come to the UK to take part in court proceedings, so it's OK for them to drag people across for setting up a web site, but we can't drag people across for manslaughter. The treaty is unfair and unjust and that's why this is a story, not really the details of what he actually did.

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I also feel this is a much better response than SOPA, PIPA or the Open Act that are currently being considered in America. They should go after the source of the problem and not try and destroy the fabric of the internet.

The internet is not valuable above society or the people in it.

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:20 pm
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big_D wrote:
pcernie wrote:

It is an international crime... The US are prosecuting him for stealing US works.

The UK could prosecute him for UK infringements. If he also had French, German, Italian, Australian etc. works linked through his site, I would expect them to try and extradite him as well.

At the end of the day, he must have known that the site was illegal.

I also feel this is a much better response than SOPA, PIPA or the Open Act that are currently being considered in America. They should go after the source of the problem and not try and destroy the fabric of the internet.

People should not be extradited for "crimes" which are not crimes in the United Kingdom. Under English Law copyright infringement is a civil tort.

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:14 pm
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If the crime had been restricted to the UK, then yes. But what he was doing was affecting rights holders in other lands.

I don't see this as much different to Nike, Rebok, Chanel etc. getting shops and factories etc. closed down. In most cases, those crimes are treated locally, because they are carried out locally. In this case, the crime is being "carried out" globally, so I don't see anything wrong with the rights holders affected wanting the prosecution to take place in their jurisdiction.

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:43 pm
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big_D wrote:
If the crime had been restricted to the UK, then yes. But what he was doing was affecting rights holders in other lands.

He hasn't committed a crime. His actions are in breach of civil law, not criminal law. Which makes it a case for litigation, not prosecution. People should not get extradited for civil actions. It's ludicrous. What he has done may be immoral (almost certainly) and may have lost several large corporations money (debatable) but it is simply not a crime.

big_D wrote:
I don't see this as much different to Nike, Rebok, Chanel etc. getting shops and factories etc. closed down.

Selling counterfeit goods is a crime. Making counterfeit goods is a crime. Telling somebody which market stall they are available at isn't. You can't just go making the law up as you go along. Aside from the blatantly obvious fact that he hasn't been involved in any sort of counterfeiting, so it's actually pretty irrelevant as an example.

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In most cases, those crimes are treated locally, because they are carried out locally. In this case, the crime is being "carried out" globally, so I don't see anything wrong with the rights holders affected wanting the prosecution to take place in their jurisdiction.

Yes, because 200 years of international trading law and the Berne Convention were so useless, we need to just tear them up and do whatever comes immediately to mind :roll:

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Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:06 pm
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TBH I'm highly disturbed by the idea that someone may do something on the internet which is not a crime in the United Kingdom, but then gets extradited because it's a crime in France, the US etc. British citizens who are resident within the United Kingdom & have committed no crime in said Kingdom should not be subject to the laws of other jurisdictions.

Also big_D, UK law makes a very important distinction between Trade Marks & copyright infringement.

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See, with Gary What'shisface, I think he should go as the computers he hacked were in the USA.

In this case he shouldn't as the USA has no link to this at all.

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