BBC News - 'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case
Here is the C&P'ed Article, Not sure if there is already a discussion on this topic, but here is what it says.
<Quote>'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case
Mr O'Dwyer's mother criticised the UK's extradition treaty with the US
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 Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 in June 2010. </Quote>
So, Here is my issue with this to begin with. According to people who i have spoken to on this issue This 23 year old Is a English Born citizen; So what rights does any government not his own have to demand Extradition when they have no jurisdiction over that party. <- Source requested, only because i don't know enough about the Go between on the extradition treaty between the US and UK.
That Aside, How can HOSTING links be any different the Google, The guys site was not a file share site where you directly download Copywrited material, So In essence HOW is this breaking ANY CURRENT laws in effect. The only law that I know of currently is SOPA which at last check was put on the back burner. This being said It is an AMERICAN LAW, and NOT a U.K. Law and while the Recoil of that particular gun shot would be felt globally i and forced to question how the U.S. government could think they can police the internet.
Yes The U.S. does have large servers and company's like Google are based in the US but if the great old U.S.of A is going to start blacking out the internet your going to get more servers from Japan (which there is no extradition rights, and BTW where most Illegal Sat-service up-links are gotten from) Or other countries that hold no ties to the governments- So unless i have missed something glaring here it's more feather fluffing from the Big cock-hens down below.
At the end of the day, I think this is just one more example of being bullied by the big kid in the playground and the rest of the world going, Hey at least it's not me.
People cannot police the internet with out the full co-operation of the WORLD leaders not just the U.N. As servers can be hosted in several countries with Different law status and there is hardly anything that one can do about it then what Youtube has already annoyingly done which is make content unavailable to certain countries/Regions, but that is up to the site owners, and then the question is begged who gets the right to convict the 'felon'
Which brings me round to the beginning question.
If this 23year old is U.K. born, then why the hell does the states have any right to touch one of the u.k's citizens through THEIR law Process. Someone explain this to me please.
Here is the C&P'ed Article, Not sure if there is already a discussion on this topic, but here is what it says.
<Quote>'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case
Mr O'Dwyer's mother criticised the UK's extradition treaty with the US
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 Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 in June 2010. </Quote>
So, Here is my issue with this to begin with. According to people who i have spoken to on this issue This 23 year old Is a English Born citizen; So what rights does any government not his own have to demand Extradition when they have no jurisdiction over that party. <- Source requested, only because i don't know enough about the Go between on the extradition treaty between the US and UK.
That Aside, How can HOSTING links be any different the Google, The guys site was not a file share site where you directly download Copywrited material, So In essence HOW is this breaking ANY CURRENT laws in effect. The only law that I know of currently is SOPA which at last check was put on the back burner. This being said It is an AMERICAN LAW, and NOT a U.K. Law and while the Recoil of that particular gun shot would be felt globally i and forced to question how the U.S. government could think they can police the internet.
Yes The U.S. does have large servers and company's like Google are based in the US but if the great old U.S.of A is going to start blacking out the internet your going to get more servers from Japan (which there is no extradition rights, and BTW where most Illegal Sat-service up-links are gotten from) Or other countries that hold no ties to the governments- So unless i have missed something glaring here it's more feather fluffing from the Big cock-hens down below.
At the end of the day, I think this is just one more example of being bullied by the big kid in the playground and the rest of the world going, Hey at least it's not me.
People cannot police the internet with out the full co-operation of the WORLD leaders not just the U.N. As servers can be hosted in several countries with Different law status and there is hardly anything that one can do about it then what Youtube has already annoyingly done which is make content unavailable to certain countries/Regions, but that is up to the site owners, and then the question is begged who gets the right to convict the 'felon'
Which brings me round to the beginning question.
If this 23year old is U.K. born, then why the hell does the states have any right to touch one of the u.k's citizens through THEIR law Process. Someone explain this to me please.
