'Piracy' Student Loses Extradition Case

A judge has ruled that a Sheffield student can be extradited to the US to face allegations of copyright infringement after he set up the popular online streaming service – TVShack.
Richard O'Dwyer set up the TVShack website which US authorities say hosts links to pirated copyrighted films and television programmes.
The 23-year-old student lost his case in a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday last.
If found guilty Mr O’Dwyer could face up to five years in jail. His defense is however saying that his website does not host copyright material but simply redirects 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.
The case was brought by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 in June 2010.
This news comes at a time when the Spanish government has approved tough new piracy laws: the US looks set to follow suit.
New legislation could see websites deemed to be trading in pirated material blocked within ten days has been given the nod by Spain.
The legislation has created a government body with the power to block websites who are infringing piracy laws.
(LB)