UK Student faces US trial (TV Shack)

[C.J]

Just heard this on the news, the creator of TV Shack has lost his case, and is being extradited to face trial.

23 year old student. Up to 5 years he'll get too.

What's your thoughts on being extradited, for simply linking content, not hosting it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ce-us-trial-over-tvshack-website-6289235.html

 

[Adam.]

Just read this.

Wasting alot of time IMO.

 

[sargey]

Stupid boy IMO.

Even though he wasn't hosting the files, he would have a fair idea what he was doing was wrong, or there would be loads of websites doing it.

It's harsh, but you shouldn't play with fire etc...

 

[Adam.]

Weren't most of the videos uploaded to youtube though?

(I never actually used the site)

 

[The Boosh!]

Lol he went to my uni

 

[Rob]

Extradition for just linking? BS if you ask me, just trying to make an example of the poor lad.

 

[Beef-Mc]

I imagine if he hadn't continuously rehosted the website he might have had more leniency.

 

[Tom]

I dont care, but he shouldn't be extradited.

 

[jimbo666]

Extradition for just linking? BS if you ask me, just trying to make an example of the poor lad.

I agree. In my opinion, this is quite a 'new' thing to courts and prosecution. I'd imagine they're trying to get some case law for future matters in this area.

 

[Ben]

Poor lad, from my hometown.

 

[Chapster5]

Just stupid to be honest, Waste of tax payers money doing it.

His site was merley directing people to external content.

Google does it... Search for watch FILM online free and hundreds of sites pop up. Surely google is in the wrong there aswell?

Although he did setup another site when his first one got shut down, then put f*ck the police up on it. Thats going to anger the law and for such a petty thing they are going to pull him up on it.

World gone mad...

 

[Spiezels]

I thought we were sorting this extradition s**t out with the yanks.

Iirc it's much easier for them to extradite British nationals to the US than it is for us to extradite theirs here.

Sometimes we really do pander to the septics.

 

[Krispwee]

Presume Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be next to face the US courts then with this kind of ruling.

Oh wait.

 

[Revels]

Presume Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be next to face the US courts then with this kind of ruling.

Oh wait.

Google is totally different.

WarezBB. That site is f**king huge. What about them?

He knew exactly what he was doing and reaped the benefits. Now it comes to punishment time and he's acting innocent. They closed his site down and he moved and re-opened it. Nobody to blame but himself.

 

[Deeg]

This case aside, our extradition treaty with the US is ludicrous.

 

[SamP]

Google is totally different.

Principle is the same though? His fault tbh, set the site up in norway under a shell company if you're going to do it.

 

[Revels]

I remember reading something about a dedicated site vs a search engine etc. So they aren't directly liable.

 

[Stava]

This may seem like a silly question, but why does he get extradited to the US? He was in the UK when he ran the site, no?

 

[SamP]

This may seem like a silly question, but why does he get extradited to the US? He was in the UK when he ran the site, no?

Team America: World Police. US pressured Norwegian authorities to illegally search/seize piratebay servers in 2006, hence why they're now distributed massively.

 

[Revels]

This may seem like a silly question, but why does he get extradited to the US? He was in the UK when he ran the site, no?

Because it was US copyright laws that he broke.

 

[Stava]

Ah right, cheers.

 

[SimonR.]

There are do many sites like this though they won't stop them even by making an example of him.

 

[mas]

The lad is a huge car enthusiast, his Mini Cooper S is a work of art.

He's on the mini torque forum, and a well respected member on many others. There is a petition to help his appeal which you can sign I believe somewhere on the net.

Im sure he knows that he has done wrong, but extraditing a 22 year old lad to a country where he hasn't even committed a crime is ridiculous.

 

[chris_p]

All seems far too harsh IMO. It's very easy to mr heinseight and say 'what he's doing is illegal be should goto prison' but in reality he is just a young lad doing something proactive in his spare time, yes it's a legal loophole but nobody would expect getting exported to another country and 4 years in jail! All wrong. People get far less punishments for beating the s**t out of someone in the street for no reason.

Pics of the mini?! Id happily sign a petition for the boy as I for one would be cacking myself if I were in his boots!

 

[dk]

The lad is a huge car enthusiast, his Mini Cooper S is a work of art.

He's on the mini torque forum, and a well respected member on many others. There is a petition to help his appeal which you can sign I believe somewhere on the net.

Im sure he knows that he has done wrong, but extraditing a 22 year old lad to a country where he hasn't even committed a crime is ridiculous.

Eh? He has committed a crime in that country, that's the point!

And I agree, it's his own fault for persisting with the site after he'd been given a pretty serious warning by having it taken down. It's not like he's being extradited to Iraq or something, it's a pretty civilised country the US, rather there than somewhere like Dubai. He's not exactly going to get the death penalty, yes they are going to make an example out of him, but he had enough warnings it seems.

 

[Tom]

Extradition is pointless. He's already been investigated here and all charges were dropped.

 

[mas]

Eh? He has committed a crime in that country, that's the point!

He's a UK citizen, with a website hosted on UK servers. Pointing to content such TVShack is not a crime in the UK, but in the US that type of website is. It's un just.

Guns are legal in America. Should we have extradited all those in possession of a fire arm?

I don't think what he was doing was right, I'm pretty sure he knows it's illegal. But the UK should protect their citizens and have them investigated on our own soil.

 

[dk]

He's a UK citizen, with a website hosted on UK servers. Pointing to content such TVShack is not a crime in the UK, but in the US that type of website is. It's un just.

Guns are legal in America. Should we have extradited all those in possession of a fire arm?

I don't think what he was doing was right, I'm pretty sure he knows it's illegal. But the UK should protect their citizens and have them investigated on our own soil.

What a ridiculous comparison, guns are legal in this country too as long as you have a license.

He broke a copyright law in the us, using us content, it's completely different, doesn't matter where he is, he still broke the copyright law of that country. And we just happen to have an agreement with that country.

So because bin laden never went to the us, he shouldn't be made accountable for the terrorist attacks as he was based outside of the us? (a very extreme comparison, but you seem to like those )

 

[mas]

Yes guns are legal in this country if you have a license. So was his website?

His website did not host content, he did not sell links.. He made profit from advertising through the site... I'm sure he knew the content was illegal which he was pointing to, but he didn't create the stuff. Surely the authorities should pursue those who are actually ripping/copying and uploading the content?

Yes, give him a slap on his wrists and shut it down. But to let our government ship him off to another country?

 

[Stava]

Just to throw something else out there, as I really don't get why Big Brother America get to prosecute British people who did something wrong, in Britain.

There are no download/copyright laws in Cyprus. You can download what you want.

So should everyone who downloads films in Cyprus be sent to America? It breaks American copyright laws...

Genuine question too.

I have a feeling that he has only been sent to America because of our 'special' relationship.

 

[dk]

That's not an excuse though, not making it himself, the people who sell stolen goods on haven't necessarily stolen them, thermopile who sell fake clothing, didn't make them themselves.....

The problem is that this sort of thing is a very hot topic at the moment, and the only way to stop it really is to show people that they mean business, and this sort of thing won't be tolerated, it's the only way people will think twice if they know something like this could happen. It's going to get worse, ISPs are now cutting access to certain sites etc.

They have to make a stand, this guy was warned several times, the average person who have the site shut done once and think, ok, I got caught, that was a close shave, this wasn't the first time for him, his persistence needed dealing with, otherwise he'll just do it again if he gets away with it again.

 

[dk]

Just to throw something else out there, as I really don't get why Big Brother America get to prosecute British people who did something wrong, in Britain.

There are no download/copyright laws in Cyprus. You can download what you want.

So should everyone who downloads films in Cyprus be sent to America? It breaks American copyright laws...

Genuine question too.

I have a feeling that he has only been sent to America because of our 'special' relationship.

They aren't after the people who download films, they're after the people who make it possible!

The police don't want to arrest drug users, they want to arrest the drug dealers.....

 

[mas]

But to stop 'drug dealers' you need to go the source. Which is this case, its the people who steal/rip/create and upload the content?

If you put it in that context, here is a scenario.

dk - Drug User
Richard O'Dwyer - A Friend
Ting Tong - Head of drug cartel

One sunday afternoon, dk realises that he's ran out of crystal meth. But, his usual contact isn't available.... he speaks to his friend Richard O'Dwyer who points him in to the right direction and tells him where he can get some. Ting Tong is more than happy to produce the meth and supply it to him...

Who should get stung, Richard who told him where to get it or Ting Tong for creating & supplying the meth?

 

[dk]

Anyone higher up the food chain than the user really, if they could then of course they'd be going after the people who produce the content in the first place, but they person who's making it accessible to people is the guy in question, if he wasn't in the loop then the content wouldn't be as accessible, he's the distributor (the drug dealer, he doesn't make it) which is probably just as important to take out as the person making the content.

 

[SimonR.]

Just a question. Why isn't YouTube being taken to court?

 

[dk]

because they actively remove any content to be found or highlighted to them as being copyrighted material.

 

[richy22]

Rofl there are s**t loads of films in YouTube

 

[dk]

and if you report them they will remove them.

if the studio owning them highlighted it they would remove them.

do you know how many videos are hosted on youtube?

theres only so much they can do with millions of people uploading things

 

[SimonR.]

The only way to combat this is to ban media storage and playback websites.

 

[Revels]

The only way to combat this is to ban media storage and playback websites.

Someone like Rapidshare/MegaUpload make a f**k ton of money from storing files. A massive percentage of those files is going to be illegal. How these sites aren't more accountable I have no idea.