Richard O'Dwyer petition hits 160,000 signatures

[MichaelMcGuire]

A petition launched by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to halt the extradition to the US of Sheffield Hallam University student Richard O'Dwyer has garnered 160,000 signatures in less than five days.

O'Dwyer, 24, faces up to 10 years in US prison for alleged copyright offences relating to TVShack.net, a website that provided links to places where users could watch TV shows and films online.

Wales's petition, which calls on the home secretary, Theresa May, to revoke her permission to extradite O'Dwyer, has picked up more than 75,000 signatures in the last 24 hours alone after being circulated among US supporters of Change.org.

The petition is now the fastest-growing Change.org petition in the UK. In the Guardian article that launched the campaign, Wales said the extradition represented a battle between the film industry and general public.

"Given the thin case against him, it is an outrage that he is being extradited to the US to face felony charges for something that he is not being prosecuted for here," Wales said. "No US citizen has ever been brought to the UK for alleged criminal activity that took place on US soil."

Continue reading here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/29/richard-odwyer-160000?newsfeed=true

Please sign the petition below
http://www.change.org/petitions/ukhomeoffice-stop-the-extradition-of-richard-o-dwyer-to-the-usa-saverichard

[struggle4progress]

1. ... About 164,000 people have signed the online petition in just five days. O’Dwyer’s supporters ...

argue that as the site, which linked to other sites that streamed pirated television programmes, did not host material itself, he should not face any charges and should therefore not be extradited ...

164,000 join fight to block extradition
Published on Saturday 30 June 2012 01:50
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/164-000-join-fight-to-block-extradition-1-2385407

[MichaelMcGuire]

2. I'd also say 10 years is also ridiculous (nt)