Alrighty then sports fans, I'm back. There's been quite a bit of stuff happening and I really hope that I can catch up with it all. So here we go. I'm going have a pick at TVShack and MegaUpload, which have been the focus of the media recently. So, let's start with the earlier story of TVShack shall we?
TVShack was a very popular streaming site for TV shows, movies, music videos and the like. It was a fairly unique one in the way it operated. TVShack was not simply a link site, that is to say a site simply with a list of links to streaming videos of the content, they went half a step further. Although they did not host any of the videos themselves, but instead embedded the videos into their site. What was really the problem here was the nature of the videos posted.
By now I am sure you have guessed, or more likely know, that these videos were illegal copies of movies and TV series. On June 30 2010, the domain TVShack.net, amongst others, was seized and replaced with what many would call an "evil message from the man." Of course, TVShack.cc (.cc is the TLD for the Cocos Islands, which is an Australian territory) was created as a replacement (see bottom of this article) with all the same content on it, remember that there were videos embedded in the site. A few short months later in November, British police paid a visit to the creator of the site, one Mr. Richard O'Dwyer of Sheffield.
The site was brought down and Mr O'Dwyer was arrested on charges of copyright infringement. Further the United States requested that he be extradited to face trial in America. Of course his lawyers stated fervently that the site contained no infringing content, but merely links to said content, which reported as such by the media. You'll note that I stressed on the fact that he embedded (again with the stress) the content on his website. For all intents and purposes that is pretty much the same as hosting the content yourself.
Now I have been searching long and hard for literature on this subject and frankly, I am a bit disappointed. Practically every article I have read so far maintains, sometimes in very strong words, that site simply linked to infringing content, which is false. There is then the further assertion that the "dual-criminality" argument required for extradition fails as he did not download any of the content himself. Well, I can neither confirm nor deny this, but if he did watch any of the links on his website, which is quite possible, a copy of the video will have been stored on his computer, thus counting as a download.
Now, I say it's quite possible because of how TVShack worked. Users would submit links to the site for consideration. These links would then be checked by the moderators to ensure that they were indeed what they said. Once checked, the video would then be embedded in the site. So, if Mr. O'Dwyer did watch one of these videos, then it would technically be a download.
No, I'm not trying to point out technicalities to prove the case against him, I am pointing out counter-arguments to the technicalities proposed by his lawyers. Well, long story short, it was recently ruled that he shall be extradited to the States. A lot of people cried foul that this was done at this time due to SOPA/PIPA, but it has been an ongoing case for a while, he appeared before a magistrate in June 2011.
Long story short, the magistrate ruled that he may be extradited. It is my understanding that if found guilty he stands to get up to 10 years in prison, but we will simply have to wait and see how it goes.
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