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I blame my partner. There I was having a perfectly nice day off, pootling my way through the Sunday newspapers and finding such intriguing articles as the fact that Britain has invaded all but 22 countries around the world over the centuries (France is the second most prolific invader but also has the dubious distinction of being the country most invaded by Britain, apparently).
Then he has to go and say "well, if the US ignores other country's laws, why should we be subject to theirs?". The following is the unavoidable result.
I had made the tactical blunder of sharing two articles with him. The first was an excellent interview in the Independent with news supremo and financial subversive, Max Keiser; the second was an article I found in my Twitter stream from the indefatigable Julia O'Dwyer about her son's ongoing legal fight in the UK.
The connection? Unfortunately and rather inevitably these days - extradition.
Richard O'Dwyer is the Sheffield student who is currently wanted by the USA on copyright infringement charges. Using a bit of old-fashioned get-up-and-go, he set up a website called tvshack.com, which apparently acted as a sign-posting service to websites where people could download media. Putting aside the simple argument that the service he provided was no different from Google, he also had no copyrighted material hosted on his website.
Richard has lived all his life in the UK, and he set up his website there. Under UK law he had committed no crime.
However, the American authorities thought differently. O'Dwyer had registered his website as a .com and the US now claims that any website, anywhere in the world, using a US-originated domain name (com/org/info/net etc) is subject to US law, thus allowing the American government to globalise their legal hegemony. The most notorious recent case was the illegal US intelligence operation to take down Megaupload and arrest Kim Dotcom in New Zealand earlier this year.
This has already resulted in foreign websites that attract the wrath of the US authorities being taken down, with no warning and no due process. This is the cyber equivalent of drone warfare and the presidentially-approved CIA kill list.
As a result, not only was O'Dwyer's website summarily taken down, he is now facing extradition to the US and a 10 year stretch in a maximum security prison. All for something that is not even a crime under UK law. His case echoes the terrible 10-year ordeal that Gary McKinnon went through, and highlights the appalling problems inherent in the invidious, one-sided UK/USA Extradition Act.
So how does this link to the Max Keiser interview? Reading it reminded me of an investigation Keiser did a few years ago into the extraordinary rendition of a "terrorist suspect", Abu Omar, from Italy to Egypt where he was inevitably, horrifically tortured. Since then, 23 CIA officers have now been tried under Italian law and found guilty of his kidnapping (let's not mince our words here). The Milan Head of Station, Robert Lady is now wanted in Italy to serve his nine-year sentence, but the US government has refused to extradite him.
So let's just reiterate this: on the one hand, the US demands EU citizens on suspicion that they may have committed a cyber-crime according to the diktats of American law, which we are all now supposed to agree has a globalised reach; on the other hand, US citizens who have already been convicted by the due legal process of other Western democracies are not handed over to serve their sentences for appalling crimes involving kidnapping and torture.
I have written at length about America's asymmetric extradition laws, but this is taking the system to new heights of hypocrisy.
Just why, indeed, should European countries religiously obey America's self-styled global legal dominion and hand over its citizens, presumed innocent until proven guilty, to the brutal and disproportionate US legal system? Especially when the US brushes aside the due legal processes of other democracies and refuses to extradite convicted felons?
It appears that the USA is in a hurry to reach and breach Britain's record for foreign invasions. But in addition to old-fashioned military incursions, America is also going for full-spectrum legal dominance.
Follow Annie Machon on Twitter: www.twitter.com/anniemachon
Richard O'Dwyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mother of TVShack's Richard O'Dwyer says plan to give UK citizens ...
U.S. Pursues Richard O'Dwyer as Intermediary in Online Piracy ...
Richard O'Dwyer supporters buoyed by Gary McKinnon case | UK ...
Richard O'Dwyer | UK news | The Guardian
Is Richard O'Dwyer set for US extradition?
TV Shack Admin Richard O'Dwyer “Almost Certain” To Be Extradited To US
Mother of TVShack's Richard O'Dwyer says plan to give UK citizens new ...
Richard O'Dwyer came up with TV share site TVShack.net
In 2010 he was asked to close it down, he refused.
In June 2010 it was closed down along with several other file sharing sites.
Within day O'Dwyer moved operation to TVShack.cc The main page of the new version included the cover image from a rap single called “F*** the Police”,
In Nov that too was closed down
The police knocked on his door that month.
Is this man a really such a victim and here's something else left out. It is a very lucrative business upto June 2010 O'Dwyer earned over £140,000
Even after this he moved location to
Berners-Lee had the kindness to make this resource free for all and that is how the Americans repay said kindness. Still, Obama will see to it that they lose their footing on the international stage by damning them to a debt never seen before.
The web runs over/on the Internet which is an American invention and has been around for a lot longer.
The States invented darpa net which was a simple system for exchange of messages within the military. WIthout Berna's Lees gift to the world of the web based protocols, the modern web would not exist, and your pathetic government would be unable to bring any action of this kind.
By the way, we created America in the first place. Wheres the gratitude? Perhaps you should pay us for Freedom of Speech, use of the English language, use of English Law and of modern day democracy. If you want, we could spend the rest of the day listing things you should be grateful for.
It is all but certain that you are a benefit receiving immigrant living in England. It must really grate, living here and sponging off white tax payers, the very people you despise.
I see you are a fan of the evil hook hand! Do you know he too had to rely on the good natured white man to feed and clothe both he and his entire family? In most societies, scrounging is considered disrespectful, especially when the scroungers are terminally lazy. Your society is obviously not very advanced.
A word of advice, do not expect English people to stand up for you lot, your problems are your own.
Manners are obviously lacking in your upbringing; you are hugely indebted to us and yet there is never a word of thanks or any appreciation. Make the most of it; the money pot is nearly empty and when a tipping point is achieved, people like you would be best off to go back to the medieval desert from whence you came.
Plenty of immigrants live in the UK, abide by the law, work, pay taxes, and contribute to society. No problem.
Sadly, some immigrants think it acceptable to move to a foreign country and then proceed to stir up as much trouble as possible, inciting terrorism, preaching hatred of the society in which they reside, whilst all the while claiming tax funded benefits from said country that they express such hatred of. PROBLEM!
Unfortunately the UK is inept at dealing with these nasty pieces of work due to not being racist, but being terrified of being accused as such. Your double standards are absolutely disgusting.
If they had stayed in the dump they were born in, they would never have been extradited. Perhaps you should think about that! In fact, given that you sound likely for deportation, why don't you go back to your gutter of birth while the going is good.
Oh, I forgot, you would have to actually work to survive back there.
Very good question indeed.
have any british politicians rec'd money directly or indirectly from the usa ..........
the best legal system money can buy.............................
heres an idea lets amend the extradition treaty with the united states.....................so its fair and just..
Create internationally (perhaps payable to the UN but collected by ISPs) an Internet Tax of $1 per Internet connection per year, and stop persecuting the so-called “Internet Pirates”.
This tax will generate (on the latest figures, but increasing exponentially all the time) $2,267,233,742 per annum.
Take $267,233,742 for administration and that still leaves $2billion.
Give $1billion to the movie industry – let them fight over how it should be divided.
Split the other $1billion 3 ways between the music, games and ebook industries.
What percentage of the $2billion goes to each of all four industries can always be negotiated between them. Rather they use their lawyers against each other than against users of their products.
Everyone whose raison d’etre is to make money – makes money with no effort or lawyers’ fees.
Everyone who wants to relax to a movie or a music collection or a good book, can download what they can find without fear of going to jail – for only a dollar a year.