A piece related to my article yesterday about the MegaUpload seizure was just brought to my attention.
UK student Richard O'Dwyer is facing copyright infringement charges in the US for running TVShack.net, a site that provided links to movies and television series infringing copyright.
On the 13th January, Westminster Magistrates Court confirmed that the 23-year-old could be extradited to the US for trial.
This case highlights broader policy issues about US-UK extradition relations, not to mention US attempts at extending its jurisdiction for enforcement of alleged copyright infringement offences.
Courtesy Sophos' Naked Security Blog
Mr. O'Dwyer's site was seized way back in 2010, and shortly after, US officials requested the extradition of O'Dwyer from the UK to face piracy charges.
It appears that ICE was able to seize and charge O'Dwyer due to the (tenuous) link of his address, which was registered as a ".net" gTLD with ICANN (based in the US).
Now, the observant among us would have that lightbulb atop our heads suddenly flash to life: Is this not what SOPA/PIPA were to achieve?
Combined with the seizure of New Zealand-based MegaUpload, the US government (DOJ, ICE) have not only the means to seize and shut down property on the internet, but to charge the individuals who run the sites.
MPAA CEO Chris Dodd has threatened (Fox Link, beware) to pull funding for Democratic campaigns if the industry doesn't get SOPA/PIPA. A guilty-before-proven method to instantly remove perceived offenders, ostensibly foreign ones.
But with more cases coming to light about how copyright is actually getting enforced internationally, SOPA/PIPA are more clearly a backdoor for censorship and a complete removal of our remaining personal liberties. All Democrats should think long and hard about what they want in the upcoming election: cash, or votes. Because as we saw with Meg Whitman, the two don't necessarily correlate together.