Thought the act seems to be an infringement od Copy ,it sounds silly to ask for the extradition og the student from the UK to US.
If the site were earning money he could have been let off with a stricture.
Wikipedia supports the student.
I have a doubt-which sites can we Link legally?
Most of the sites in the Cyber space have to be closed down going by the yard stick applied by the US authorities.
The argument for the Defense that the student acted as a ‘Search Engine’ to the Site’ is interesting.
By the same Logic all Copy Righted may also escape from Copy Right Infringement.
Quite confusing.
British student has created a site allegedly linking to copyrighted content. That was enough for the United States to demand his extradition. Now Richard O’Dwyer’s, the ex-owner of TVShack, may face an American court over his online activities before repeated domain seizure.
Apparently, when O’Dwyer launched TVShack, he didn’t imagine that he would face extradition demands from the United States, but that’s precisely what has happened. His service, having an original name of TVShack.net, was a very popular site for Internet users to search for links to entertainment content. However, TVShack.net was seized a year ago by federal officials as part of their “Operation In Our Sites” campaign. This, however, didn’t stop the site operator from continuing his activity, and the service quickly re-emerged as TVShack.cc, which was also seized by the authorities in four months. After this, TVShack never came back again, only leaving clone websites behind.
Now the site operator is out on bail after being arrested. He is reported to not face a court in the UK until September. But as far as the United States is concerned, this is not enough. Some UK newspapers reported that the US demanded that O’Dwyer face a court in the United States for linking to copyrighted content. Meanwhile, the Computer Science student is in disbelief over the charges, but quite anxious about the impact the issue may have on his studies, as O’Dwyer has 2 years left of his degree. Unsurprisingly, the guy is frightened by the prospect of being extradited to the US, let alone the disruption to his future career and education.
O’Dwyer’s mother claimed that the decision to put him on trial in another country was nonsense, explaining that her son had a talent for web design, while being foolish in misunderstanding the implications of copyright.
Meanwhile, the terms of the guy’s bail include not entering ports or airports, as well as not applying to register new domains. Earlier this week, the site founder appeared before the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court at a preliminary hearing, where his lawyer argued that the extradition demands made by the United States violated his client’s fundamental rights and there was no basis for extradition at the first place, because the site server wasn’t based in America at all.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has started a petition against the extradition of British student Richard O’Dwyer, who faces being sent to the United States over alleged copyright infringement.
Currently, the Change.org petition – begun on Sunday – had already amassed more than 28,000 signatures. The petition targets prime minister David Cameron, deputy PM Nick Clegg and home secretary Theresa May, who signedO’Dwyer’s extradition order in March.
O’Dwyer ran a website called TVShack that did not host copyrighted material itself, but rather acted as a search engine linking to sites that did. The 24-year-old computer science student, first arrested a year ago, does not face prosecution in the U.K. Even if it were to be proved, copyright infringement is a civil matter there.
However, the U.S. argues that some of its citizens accessed copyrighted material through TVShack, so O’Dwyer should be extradited there to face criminal charges of copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
In “war on terror” arrangements highlighted by the cases of Gary McKinnon and others, the U.S. can demand that the U.K. extradite its citizens stateside, without having to show evidence of the crime they are accused of committing. The U.K. cannot demand the same of U.S. citizens.
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