TorrentFreak

The epic battle to stop UK student Richard O’Dwyer being extradited to the United States is finally over. His excited mother Julia contacted TorrentFreak from New York with news that all necessary paperwork had been signed and that a brief court appearance had effectively ended legal action against her son. Richard thanks all those who supported him and says he is looking forward to getting his life back on track.

Richard O’Dwyer, the UK-based ex-administrator of the video linking website TVShack, will not be extradited to the US to face copyright infringement charges. After a long and hard battle, spearheaded by his mother and supported by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, O’Dwyer struck a deal with the U.S. government. Instead of being extradited the student has signed a “deferred prosecution” agreement which means that he keeps his freedom in exchange for paying compensation to the copyright holders.

The recent decision not to extradite hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States was considered by some as a sign of hope for the predicament of former TVShack admin Richard O’Dwyer. But while there is still a High Court appeal around the corner, things still don’t look good. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Richard’s mother says her son’s extradition is now “almost certain” which is forcing her to plan for a worst case scenario in which he is sent across the Atlantic with little notice. Can you help?

Two individuals who worked with former TVShack admin Richard O’Dwyer on his now-defunct streaming links site helped ICE Homeland Security Investigations to identify him. The dealings of the unnamed individuals, one who did technical work on the site and the other who acted as a moderator, are listed in U.S. court documents obtained by TorrentFreak.

Following on from an MPAA memo that leaked yesterday, TorrentFreak has obtained an even more revealing document which shows that the movie group is experiencing problems finding “allies” to support the extradition of UK student Richard O’Dwyer. According to the “communication plan” the MPAA is recruiting “third party surrogates” to write op-eds and blog posts which back their position.

A leaked “memo” from the MPAA shows how movie industry insiders are being briefed to respond in media interviews on the extradition case of TV-Shack admin Richard O’Dwyer. In the talking points the MPAA describes the UK student as a deliberate criminal while mocking his wardrobe. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who launched a petition to stop the extradition, is called out as “presumptuous” by the movie industry group.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is helping Richard O’Dwyer, the UK-based ex-administrator of the video linking website TVShack, to prevent him from being extradited to the US for alleged copyright infringements. According to Wales, the case is an example of the ever-growing influence of the copyright lobby over the Internet. “Richard O’Dwyer is the human face of the battle between the content industry and the interests of the general public,” Wales states.