The case has attracted considerable publicity within the UK because UK authorities have not charged O’Dwyer with any UK offense; and it is not certain that he has committed any offense in the UK. He is nevertheless being extradited to the US, where the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) claims that TVShack earned $230,000 (£147,000) in advertising revenue before it obtained a warrant and seized the domain name in June 2010.
O’Dwyer’s website, TVShack, did not host any illegal material, but it did provide links to that material. One of the principles at the heart of the debate is whether a conduit is liable for the material it channels. Some argue that this would have far reaching effects. It could imply that postal services are responsible for the content of the letters they deliver. It would certainly imply that Google and other search engines are responsible for the content of their search results.
In an earlier case involving the website TV-Links in 2010, Judge Ticehurst “ruled in detail for the first time in a Crown Court in relation to Section 17 of the European Commerce Directive 2000, stating that Section 17 indeed applied and afforded TV-Links a complete defense in criminal proceedings in England and Wales for their linking to other web sites. In a nutshell and to coin a familiar phrase, the site was deemed a mere conduit of information.”(TorrentFreak).
But at the beginning of this year, District Judge Purdy took a different view in relation to TVShack. "There are said to be direct consequences of criminal activity by Richard O'Dwyer in the USA albeit by him never leaving the north of England. Such a state of affairs does not demand a trial here if the competent UK authorities decline to act and does, in my judgment, permit one in the USA,” he decided. “I reject all challenges advanced to this request. No bars or other challenge being raised or found,” he added, “I send the case to the Secretary of State.”
On 13 March, Home Secretary Theresa May approved the extradition.
2600’s interview with O’Dwyer’s mother will be broadcast in Off The Hook, which airs every Wednesday night at 7:00 PM EST in New York City on listener supported WBAI 99.5 FM.