Interwebs, Save Your Anger for Kim Dotcom

For the second week running, I find myself feeling compelled to stray from the core subject matter of this blog to express a personal view outside my area of professional expertise.

It seems likely that anyone who is interested in intellectual property and the internet would be familiar with the events which took place last Thursday just outside Auckland, New Zealand, involving a dramatic raid on ‘Dotcom Mansion’ (pictured), the arrest of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom (nee Schmitz), and the seizure of various allegedly ill-gotten gains, including guns, millions of dollars in cash, and luxury cars worth around US$5 million.  If not, there is plenty of coverage to help you get up to speed, such as New Zealand Arrests Over Megaupload Shutdown and Kim Dotcom: Megaupload Founder Arrested In New Zealand from the Huffington Post.

Predictably, there has been a huge outcry from opponents of internet censorship, blaming everyone from the Hollywood movie studios, to an overzealous US Department of Justice, the US government, the FBI, the New Zealand authorities, and anyone else with a vested interest in not having their copyright works ripped off and distributed for free throughout the internet.

But if all of this ends badly for freedom on the internet – and it is entirely possible that, one way or another, it will – in my opinion the blame should be laid squarely at the feet of those actually responsible for the current situation, i.e. Kim Dotcom and his fellow principals at Megaupload.

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Tags: Copyright, Extradition, New Zealand, Personal, US

UK Court Allows Extradition of Alleged Copyright Criminal

This is one of the rare postings in which I slip a little off-topic (and into the first person) to write about something which is outside my area of legal expertise, but nonetheless of particular personal interest.

You may have been following the news – or, at least, trying to, considering the poor quality of some of the coverage – about 23 year-old UK citizen Richard O’Dwyer, who is studying ‘games software development and interactive media’ at Sheffield Hallam University.  He is also accused – with others – of operating a website, firstly from TVShack.net, and subsequently from TVShack.cc, which aggregated links to third party websites from which copyrighted first-run and other movies and television programs could be downloaded or streamed.  It is not alleged that TVShack actually hosted any pirated content itself, however O’Dwyer appears to have admitted to earning approximately £15,000 per month from advertising on the site.

TVShack.net was one of the sites closed down when US Immigration and Customs officials ‘seized’ the offending domain names in June 2010 (the US Attorney’s media release is still available, in PDF format).  If you attempt to access the site now, you will first be presented with the notice that heads this article, and then be redirected to this guilt-inducing YouTube video explaining the human consequences of piracy.  The US authorities have since been tenaciously pursuing those said to be behind the seized domains.  O’Dwyer has become the most high-profile target in recent days, as a result of an application by the US government for him to be extradited from the UK to face charges of copyright infringement in the United States.  If he is extradited, and ultimately found guilty, he faces a sentence of up to ten years in a US Federal penitentiary, of which he would necessarily serve at least 85% under US ‘non-parole’ laws.

And things are not looking good for O’Dwyer, with District Judge Purdy in the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, issuing a ruling on 13 January 2012 finding no barrier to grant of the US Request for extradition.  (Decision: The Government of the United States of America v Richard O’Dwyer – PDF).

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Tags: Copyright, Extradition, Personal, UK, US