Wikipedia founder starts petition to block British student’s “piracy” extraditionJune 25, 2012 - 15:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The founder of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has started a petition seeking to block the extradition of a British student to the U.S., BBC News said. Jimmy Wales has shown his support for Sheffield student Richard O'Dwyer, who is contesting extradition to the U.S. to face copyright infringement charges. The U.S. authorities say the 24-year-old's TVShack website hosted links to pirated films and TV programmes. On the petition website, Mr Wales wrote: "Copyright is an important institution, serving a beneficial moral and economic purpose. But that does not mean that copyright can or should be unlimited. 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. The Home Secretary Theresa May approved Mr O'Dwyer's extradition to the U.S. after a court ruling in January. Last month Mr O'Dwyer was told that his appeal against the decision, which was due to take place in July at the High Court, would be delayed. Mr O'Dwyer's mother, Julia said: "It is obviously quite significant to have Jimmy Wales's support. He didn't do that lightly. He spent a lot of time talking to Richard. "It has concentrated efforts to get the message across to the government, because it is in their hands." Ms O'Dwyer, a Sheffield Hallam University student, previously said he was "surprised" when police officers from the UK and U.S. seized equipment at his home in South Yorkshire in November 2010. The case was brought by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which claims that the TVShack.net website earned more than $230,000 (£147,000) in advertising revenue before U.S. authorities obtained a warrant and seized the domain name in June 2010. Ms O'Dwyer, who set up a petition on gopetition.com, has gained more than 23,000 signatures opposing the extradition of her son. Earlier this year Wikipedia took its English-language site offline as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the U.S. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Armenia, Russia discuss life extension of Metsamor nuclear plant Issues regarding the extension of life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant were discussed in Yerevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |