Theresa May confirms extradition of TVShack founder Richard O'Dwyer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/13/t...-richard-odwyer

 

The home secretary, Theresa May, has signed an extradition order to send the TVShack founder, Richard O'Dwyer, to the US to stand trial for alleged copyright offences. O'Dwyer, 23, set up the website, which the American authorities claim hosted links to pirated copyrighted films and television programmes.

 

May's decision comes as David Cameron arrives in Washington to meet Barack Obama. It is expected that the UK-US extradition agreement and the case of Gary McKinnon, accused or hacking, will be raised on the margins.

 

A Home Office spokesman said May took the decision after "carefully considering all relevant matters".

 

Westminster district magistrates court cleared the way for the Sheffield Hallam University student's extradition in January when it ruled there were no remaining statutory bars to his removal. He could face a maximum sentence of five years in jail in the US, compared with only two years in Britain.

 

O'Dwyer's mother, Julia, from Chesterfield, said he had been "sold down the river". A petition against his extradition has been signed by almost 20,000 people.

 

She said: "Today, yet another British citizen is being sold down the river by the British government. 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 extradition law."

 

A Home Office spokesman said that the American authorities had alleged that substantive criminal activity in this case had happened in America, and requested his extradition.

 

The case was brought by the US immigration and customs enforcement agency, which claims that TVShack.net earned more than $230,000 (£147,000) in advertising revenue before a warrant was obtained and the domain name was seized in June 2010. The website was said to have collected and catalogued links to websites containing illegal copies of films, TV programmes and music.

 

The Westminster district judge found the allegations were comparable to offences under British copyright law and it was appropriate for a trial to be held in the US. It is expected that an appeal will be lodged in the high court against both the home secretary's decision and the ruling by the Westminster district judge.

 

O'Dwyer will not be sent to the US immediately. An appeal is likely to lead to a lengthy delay.

 

The case is under the 2003 Extradition Act, which enshrines the UK-US agreement, and which was recently used to send Christopher Tappin, a 65-year-old British businessman, to the US for trial on charges of alleged arms dealing. A decision by the home secretary is also awaited in the case of McKinnon, the alleged computer hacker, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

 

Julia O'Dwyer said: "The US is coming for the young, the old and the ill, and our government is paving the way. By rights it should make for an interesting conversation between the Obamas and Camerons aboard Air Force One – but I'm not holding my breath. If Richard appears to have committed a crime in this country, then try him in this country."

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Another Brit sold down the river to maintain the "special relationship" with the US... You know, a "relationship" is supposed to be about give and take, seems to me that we do all the giving and the Yanks do all the taking.. The 2003 Extradition Act is extremely one-sided, and was sold to us by Blair and Co under the caveat-of-the-day back then of "terrorism".. Yeah, right... In the nine cases where this act has applied, only TWO have actually had any connection whatsover to alledged terrorist offences... And, yes, it was a law, a very bad law, brought in under the previous Labour Admin.

 

So, what have the "Coalition" done to re-negotiate things...? Err, nada, zilch, zip, bugger all.... Theresa May just let the Yanks grab Richard O' Dwyer and give him a one-way ticket to the US under COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT laws... Are you shitting me...?? What does that have to do with terrorism...? Or Arms dealing..? Or, really, any kind of serious crime that we would understand, like, for example, murder, racketeering, people trafficking, drugs trafficking..... You, know SERIOUS crime... Amd when we want one of theirs, well, err, nope, the US is under no obligation to hand over any of their citizens in this incredibly one-sided deal...

 

This is an absolutely disgusting ruling, but then, what to expect, it seems like any Government we vote for is always going to be America's little poodles...... "Great" Britain...?? What a joke.....

Last time I check most of Europe, Canada and every other country not directly under the influence of the RIAA/MPAA (I was gonna say DC but we all know who pulls their strings) has ruled that LINKING to infringing content (which is what TVShack did) is perfectly legal.

 

 

If I was them I'd appeal it all the way to the European level then argue that they shouldn't be extradited for something that isn't a crime in the EU.

 

 

The American's are only going after 'pirates' because they are a soft target because GOD FORBID the RIAA/MPAA should innovate to compete better in a digital world. Given that EACH copy of digital content you get from them has no cost to it anyway (Ignoring the cost of production which for TV/Flims is most recuperated through the Box Office/Advertising) there is absolutely no way these arseholes can justify selling a film on iTunes for a tenner. If anyone is the pirates here it certainly isn't the people who torrent....

Different tack, but related. Here we have an example of precisely the sort of thing I'm talking about in my comment

 

U.S. commander defends moving massacre soldier out of Afghanistan

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/commander...5476/story.html

 

KABUL — A senior U.S. commander defended on Thursday moving a U.S. soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians out of Afghanistan to a military detention centre in Kuwait, saying it would help ensure a proper investigation and trial.

Furious Afghan civilians and members of parliament have demanded the staff sergeant be tried in Afghanistan over the shooting, one of the worst of its kind since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harbouring al-Qaida leaders.

 

"This is really about being able to ensure that we can execute this investigation and the judicial proceedings fairly and properly," said Lieutenant-General Curtis Scaparrotti, the second most senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

 

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect was moved to Kuwait, while NATO said only that the soldier was spirited out of Afghanistan late on Wednesday.

 

Asked about the possible impact on ties with Afghanistan, Scaparrotti said: "We informed the government that we were going to move the individual, and their response was that they understood that. That is what we had done under the protocol that we used throughout in serious incidents."

 

The killings in Kandahar province on Sunday have raised questions about Western strategy in Afghanistan and intensified calls for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops, most of whom are scheduled to pull out by the end of 2014.

 

Relatives of the dead villagers and Afghanistan's parliament demanded the American soldier be tried in Afghanistan under Afghan law, although President Hamid Karzai has called only for an open trial process.

 

"This is against our demands and we strongly condemn the moving of the soldier out of the country," said Shekiba Hashimi, a member of parliament from Kandahar, who is also on the government's investigating team.

 

"If he is not tried and punished in the country, people will rise up against the Americans," Hashimi said, pointing to fury that boiled into deadly riots last month after U.S. soldiers inadvertently burned copies of the Koran.

 

Scaparrotti also said an Afghan man who emerged ablaze from a stolen pickup truck as an aircraft carrying U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta landed at a base in Afghanistan on Wednesday had died from burns suffered in the incident.

 

It was an extraordinary security breach inside a military base in Afghanistan's south and coincided with the beginning of an unannounced two-day visit by the Pentagon chief.

 

The airfield incident and the Kandahar massacre underscored the instability in Afghanistan a decade into an increasingly unpopular war, and are the latest in a series of events that have fuelled anger among Afghans over the foreign presence.

 

The Afghan, a contractor who worked as a translator, had apparently tried to ram the truck into a group of U.S. Marines standing on a runway ramp at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, Scaparrotti said.

 

He told reporters travelling with Panetta that he doubted the man had any idea the U.S. defence chief was arriving at the heavily guarded base. Panetta and his delegation were unharmed.

 

It appeared the contractor had been carrying some kind of container that may have contained fuel. A military dog was let loose on the driver and helped restrain him after he crashed the truck into a ditch, an official said.

 

"Those who were (there) described to me that (there was) a puff of smoke, and then the individual came out engulfed in flames. The security detachment there doused the flames and we took him for medical care," Scaparrotti said.

 

"I personally don't believe that it had any connection with the secretary's arrival," he said. "My personal opinion is yes, that he had an intent to harm, that he tried to hit the people on the ramp."

 

BOMBS, THREATS, PROTEST

 

Panetta is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Afghanistan since the shooting rampage in Kandahar, which is next to Helmand and the birthplace of the Taliban.

 

He told U.S. troops after he arrived that the massacre must not deter them from their mission to secure Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline for the withdrawal of most foreign combat forces.

 

Tension has risen sharply since the killings and the burning of copies of the Koran at the main NATO base in the country last month, adding urgency to Panetta's visit. Panetta was to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders.

 

The Taliban have threatened to retaliate for the shootings by beheading U.S. personnel, while insurgents have also attacked Afghan officials investigating the incident. But it is civilians who invariably bear the brunt of surges in violence.

 

On Wednesday, at least nine people were killed in two separate bombings in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

 

They followed demonstrations on Tuesday in an eastern Afghan city where protesters called on Karzai to reject a strategic pact that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain beyond 2014.

 

NATO leaders gathering in U.S. President Barack Obama's home city of Chicago on May 20-21 will decide the next phase of the planned transition to Afghan forces, which is already under way.

 

In Washington, Obama said after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron he did not anticipate any sudden change in plans for the pace of withdrawing troops.

 

Obama described the Kandahar massacre as tragic but emphasized at a briefing with Cameron that both nations remained committed to completing the Afghan mission "responsibly".

 

"In terms of pace, I don't anticipate at this stage that we're going to be making any sudden additional changes to the plan that we currently have," Obama said.

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One rule for the Brits, another for the Yanks..... We hand over Richard O' Dwyer on demand, they spirit out one of theirs to a safe military installation in Kuwait... So, a guy who commits a supposed "crime" in the UK has to be tried in the US for some reason, but a soldier who commits a war crime in Afghanistan is spirited out of the country instead of facing trial and arrest in that country that any other person would given the severity of the crime committed.. Theresa May, how about actually GROWING A FUKKIN PAIR and indefinitely suspending our incredilby one-sided extradition arrangement with the US until this bast*rd is handed back to Afghan authorities for arrest and trial...? Actually, howabout getting rid of our one-sided extradition treaty with the US altogether.......