Join Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales: Protect Internet Freedom And Seek Justice for Richard O'Dwyer 12JUL12

The American government is way off base with this one. If Richard O'Dwyer has committed a crime in another country then let the the movie and TV industries go to court there. The problem is he hasn't committed any crime, so the courts in the U.K. will not prosecute. Enter the greed of the American entertainment industry and their need for another example of "online piracy" for their campaign to get Congress to pass SOPA and PIPA or similar regulations eliminating a free and open internet. Please join this campaign from Demand Progress telling the British government not to extradite Richard O'Dwyer to the U.S. and telling the U.S. to drop their persecution of Richard O'Dwyer. 

Hi, I am Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and if you care about justice and the future of the Internet freedom, Demand Progress and I need your help. 

This will only take a few seconds, but you can really help us change things for the better.

Richard O'Dwyer is a 24 year old British student at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He is facing extradition to the USA and up to ten years in prison, for creating a website – TVShack.net – which linked (similarly to a search-engine) to places to watch TV and movies online.

O'Dwyer is not a US citizen, he's lived in the UK all his life, his site was not hosted there, and most of his users were not from the US. America is trying to prosecute a UK citizen for an alleged crime which took place on UK soil.

The Internet as a whole must not tolerate censorship in response to mere allegations of copyright infringement. As citizens we must stand up for our rights online.

Please click here to join me in demanding that British authorities refuse to extradite O'Dwyer, and that US officials cease persecuting him.

When operating his site, Richard O'Dwyer always did his best to play by the rules: on the few occasions he received requests to remove content from copyright holders, he complied. His site hosted links, not copyrighted content, and these were submitted by users.

Copyright is an important institution, serving a beneficial moral and economic purpose. But that does not mean that copyright can or should be unlimited.

It does not mean that we should abandon time-honored moral and legal principles to allow endless encroachments on our civil liberties in the interests of the moguls of Hollywood.

This is but one of several recent attempts by the US government and Hollywood to expand the definition of copyright infringement to include those who simply link to other sites that are accused of housing infringing content.  

Please click here to join us in standing up for Richard O'Dwyer and Internet freedom.

Those who are being prosecuted face huge fines, and multiple years in prison.  These actions represent an unacceptable attack on Internet freedom -- and one of questionable legality.

Congress should act to reign in US prosecutors and protect Internet freedom -- and the UK should refuse to extradite O'Dwyer.

Richard O'Dwyer is the human face of the battle between the content industry and the interests of the general public.

Earlier this year, in the fight against SOPA and PIPA, the public won its first big victory. This could be our second.

This is why I am petitioning the UK's Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer, and asking the United States to end his prosecution. 

I hope you will join me -- please click here to stand up for Richard O'Dwyer and Internet freedom.

Thanks.

- Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder

PS- We'll only win if we get as many people as possible to pressure the authorities.  Please forward this email or use these links to get your friends involved:

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