'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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.