The arrest was followed by an extradition battle with the U.S. Government which ended a few months ago. Richard was granted amnesty after he signed an agreement to pay compensation to rights holders and not to breach copyright in the future.

However, this hasn’t stopped the former TVShack admin from starting a new TV and movie streaming venture.

Richard informs TorrentFreak that he’s working on Filmhub, a new project that will enable TV and movie enthusiasts to stream and discover video content from the major networks and studios. His selling point is a ‘discovery engine’ that makes personal recommendations, allowing people to cut through the trash.

“It could be described as a hub to manage everything you’re watching and wish to watch. What you like and dislike. And importantly delivering Movie & TV suggestions personalized to your own taste and current mood, with features to connect with others and share your opinions,” Richard tells TorrentFreak.

The content will come from authorized sources including Netflix, Amazon and Lovefilm and by offering a one-stop destination for video enthusiasts Richard hopes to fill a gap in the current legal offering.

“As of right now offerings are scattered, simply put it’s a mess. Some services are good for viewing, some for information, some for opinions. The aim with Filmhub is to bring everything into a single reliable source the community can build upon,” he says.

Being a great film and TV fan himself, Richard believes that such a tailored community will give the public a better viewing experience. He also encourages the community to suggest features they want to see, such as a mobile app that’s currently in the works.

Passion for film and TV is one of the main reasons why the former TVShack admin is starting another video hub.

“In the end the reason for returning to this is the emotional connection to film and television. No other medium can make us laugh, cry, jump and send chills down our spines. That’s why I feel it’s important to help more people to discover good content to their individual taste,” Richard says.

Of course he hasn’t forgotten about the events of the past two years. The same companies whose content he will be promoting wanted to see him in a U.S. prison after all. But in hindsight he also learned from the whole ordeal.

“Looking back overall it’s a great shame, but I have no regrets since the whole experience has improved myself both technically and personally,” Richard says.

Since his arrest the Internet has seen an increase in copyright enforcement initiatives and a push for more censorship. Richard hopes that these censorship efforts wont stifle innovation and that the “free” Internet as we know it will remain intact.

“Since it began, online censorship has increased not only in the US but in other nations as they are slowly brought into line with the industries’ will. This damages the Internet as a whole and isn’t what it was designed for. Hopefully we’ll still have an Internet to connect with in 10 years time.”

Richard is thankful for all the people who have supported him throughout his legal battle and he hopes to reward them by providing a great new video platform.

“Thanks goes out all the supporters from many countries. Hopefully this new project is a way to give back to everyone,” Richard concludes.

Filmhub is still in development but those interested in early access can sign up to be notified when it goes live. Definitely a project that’s worth watching.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Ever since the student and his mother, Julia, have been fighting an extradition battle to the U.S., where authorities wanted him put on trial for criminal copyright infringement offenses.

In March this year UK Home Secretary Theresa May approved the extradition request from US authorities. But seemingly against all the odds, last month it was announced that a deal had been struck to avoid Richard being tried in the United States.

The so-called deferred judgment agreement requires that Richard does not breach copyright in the future and orders him to pay compensation to rights holders. That amount was revealed today as £20,000, which represents the profits generated by TVShack between December 2007 and November 2010.

The agreement itself was hammered out between Richard’s legal team and U.S. authorities last week, but would not be completed until the student had appeared in court in the United States in a hearing scheduled for this week.

A few hours ago came the news that everyone had been waiting for, delivered by Richard’s mother who has worked tirelessly to fight the extradition.

“In New York now,” Julia told TorrentFreak. “Have just been to the court for sign off of deferred prosecution agreement…..so no extradition! Woo !”

Speaking outside the court with The Guardian, Richard said that the procedure had been very swift.

“The judge read out the terms of the deferred prosecution and I agreed to them and that was that,” he said.

While Richard said that he was very pleased that the U.S. government had decided to drop the case against him, he protested his innocence and criticized the UK government for doing little to help him.

“I still believe that I never committed any crime,” he said. “It really is a pity that the UK government didn’t try and resolve this without us having to come all the way over.”

That sentiment was echoed by Julia, who is thankful that the ordeal is now over but is disappointed by the inaction of the UK government.

“It’s just a pity that the British authorities couldn’t have allowed us to sort this out in the UK in a similar manner,” she said.

Of course, while the matter is now effectively over, there has still been a human cost.

“It’s been quite destructive to life really,” she said. “It messes up your finances, it messes up your relationships and causes stress.”

Offering a “a big thank you” to everyone who supported him throughout his ordeal, Richard said he was hoping to get back to normality soon.

“I’m just looking forward to getting back to university really, and seeing all my friends,” he said, but not before “a little celebration tonight.”

Richard and Julia will fly back to the UK today and will no doubt be looking forward to a peaceful Christmas – together, as a family.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The UK student has since fought a looming extradition to the US. In March, Home Secretary Theresa May officially approved the extradition request from US authorities, but today the news broke that O’Dwyer will stay a free man.

The former TVShack administrator signed a deferred judgment agreement with the U.S. authorities, the BBC reports this morning. As a result, O’Dwyer’s extradition is off the table. He will not be prosecuted in the U.S. but has agreed to pay a small sum compensation to the rightsholders.

A high Court Judge was informed that Richard’s mother Julia O’Dwyer will have to travel to the U.S. to complete the deal.

It is unclear why the U.S. decided to accept an agreement, but there is little doubt that the public protests organized by O’Dwyer’s mother and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales played an important role.

Jimmy Wales’ petition alone was signed by more than a quarter million people and was covered widely in the mainstream media.

The MPAA, who are believed to be the prime instigators of the case, were not happy with these campaigns and will probably be disappointed by the deal. A few months ago leaked documents revealed that the movie industry group saw Richard O’Dwyer as a purposeful copyright infringer.

“O’Dwyer was not a mere ‘middleman.’ He profited heavily from this activity. To call him a ‘middleman’ suggests a lack of involvement in the illegal activity, which is simply not the case,” MPAA wrote.

“Being 24, posing for newspaper photo shoots in a cartoon sweatshirt, and having your mother and Jimmy Wales speak for you, does not mean you are incapable for breaking the law,” they added.

UK Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye on his turn welcomes the deal.

“This decision vindicates the Pirate Party’s view that the extradition request was disproportionate and unnecessary all along. It does not remove the underlying problem though. The US can not be allowed to be the copyright cops of the world. I hope that Richard and Julia O’Dwyer will be able to begin to rebuild their lives now,” he says.

Interestingly enough, Richard O’Dwyer is not the only administrator of a TV-linking site to negotiate a deferred judgment agreement.

TorrentFreak has learned that Brian McCarthy is working on a similar deal in part due to his medical condition. The owner of Texas-based sports streaming site ChannelSurfing.net was arrested in March 2011 after he had his domain name seized.

For Richard and his mother Julia today’s news marks the end of an uncertain and hectic period. They are being advised not to comment on the specifics of the deal just yet, but promised TorrentFreak that there will be plenty of news later.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Earlier this year UK Home Secretary Theresa May officially approved an extradition request from US authorities and ever since Richard and his mother Julia have battled against it. Their campaign has received high-profile support from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who characterized the case as a clash between civil liberties and the interests of the copyright industries.

Right now Richard is awaiting his appeal to the High Court against the decision of a judge in a lower court to allow his extradition to go ahead. That appeal is scheduled for December 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Julia O’Dwyer says the appeal will take place on a number of issues but mainly against the lower court judge’s decision.

“In order to proceed with an extradition the alleged conduct must be a crime punishable with more than 12 months in prison in both countries. Despite the Judge saying at the Oct/Nov hearings last year that we had a good strong legal argument supporting this (an opinion which was agreed by the prosecution Barrister), when considering his decision he strangely changed his mind and decided the other way,” Julia explains.

Since it was very similar in function, on many occasions Richard’s site TVShack has been compared to the now-defunct site TV-Links. The admins of TV-Links were also subjected to legal action but were cleared after a judge ruled that Section 17 of the European Commerce Directive 2000 afforded TV-Links a defense when it linked to other web sites. This ruling will form part of Richard’s appeal.

“We will be strengthening these arguments at appeal and as you might expect have sought expert IP opinion on the matter,” Julie adds.

Last week, UK Home Secretary Theresa May decided that alleged hacker Gary McKinnon would not be extradited to the US. She also announced that the government will make some changes to the existing extradition treaty, including the so-called Forum Amendment, which many viewed as good news for Richard’s case, but that’s not necessarily the case.

“This means that where an accused has committed all or a significant amount of the alleged conduct in the UK, then the courts will be able to decide whether they should be tried in the UK,” Julia explains.

“This is a major breakthrough and is what the campaigners for extradition reform have been fighting for for years. This would apply in Richard’s case but as the law has not yet been changed and I don’t know when it will, this is not likely to benefit Richard.”

While Julia notes that the UK government does technically have the power to apply the changes to Richard’s case, the McKinnon decision may mean that they choose not to.

“[The UK government] has just upset the US by keeping Gary Mckinnon here and they are already trying to sabotage any law changes planned by sending over a US Judge to give a lecture to the UK Parliament later this month,” she reveals.

Furthermore, while not a single US citizen has ever been extradited to the UK for a crime committed from the US, aside from the McKinnon decision Julia says that nearly all extraditions to the US of UK citizens (including those who have never set foot on US soil) have eventually gone ahead.

Faced with this bleak outlook, Julia informs TorrentFreak that she is “almost certain” that Richard will be extradited to the US. To this end she is now being forced to prepare for this worst-case scenario.

Fortunately, several people have already offered to finance or work for free on Richard’s case in the US but there are additional costs still to be met.

“There still remains the worry of financial costs in the US. There will be personal financial costs associated with travel to the US, accommodation and the cost of securing an address for Richard to live at in order to be allowed bail. These costs will have to be covered by me somehow,” Julia explains.

“What concerns me are the unknown additional costs which we could be faced with such as a large bail bond or an even more costly financial penalty running into hundreds of thousands of dollars if Richard were to be found guilty,” she adds.

To prepare for this eventuality, a supporter has set up a fighting fund for Richard on GoFundMe with an initial target of £25,000.

“This is a large amount to be raised and I know times are hard for many of us so with that in mind please donate only if you can afford to do so. Your online and public support has been invaluable and has helped get us through this dreadful situation,” Julia concludes.

The petition set up by Jimmy Wales attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures – the hope is that just a few percent of those people will donate one or two pounds, euros, or dollars each.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.