TV Shack Update

I wrote a post about Richard O’Dwyer a few months ago (http://www.tugsearch.co.uk/blog/?p=3918) when the US were initially trying to get the TV Shack creator extradited over there. It seems that the Home Secretary Theresa May has sided with the US and O’Dwyer will now be facing copyright infringement charges under the US legal system.

The TV SHack website was a host to countless pirated TV shows and films and back in June 2010 the US decided they had had enough and seized the site domain.

TV Shack earned around £150,000 in advertising revenue before it was removed by the US. Richard tried to claim that he was no different to Google. He did not store the material on his site, he simply provided directions for anyone who was looking for the pirated material. However the US did not agree with this reasoning.

There will no doubt be many individuals who disagree with the decision that has been made. But at the end of the day pirated material is costing the industry millions and sites such as TV Shack can not deny that they are at least contributing towards, or supporting an illegal act.