[Gllug] VACANCY: Linux Systems Administrator

[Chris Vine]

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:46:47 +0000
Dimitrios Siganos <dimitris at siganos.org> wrote:
> On 21/03/12 10:23, Jason Clifford wrote:
> > No it doesn't. The law is no different for foreign companies. All
> > employment within the UK is subject to UK (and EU) law not US law.
> 
> You obviously haven't been reading the news lately:
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335
> 
> It would seem obvious that a Briton could/should not possibly have to
> worry about breaking US laws while operating in Britain. Alas, that
> doesn't seem to be case.

As it happens, if there really was a conspiracy to infringe copyright,
then that is an offence here in the UK as well as in the US, albeit one
that the police here probably don't spend as much time worrying about.

But there are many grey areas and oddities in relation to extradition
from the UK, because a lot of it depends upon individual treaties
negotiated between different states, and many do not necessarily
require the conduct complained about, if it were to have been done
in the UK, to be an offence in the country of residence (England and
Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) of an accused UK subject as well
as in the requesting country.

As an aside, note also that within the UK there are three separate legal
jurisdictions and the law in Scotland in particular can be different
from other parts of the UK (the law in Northern Ireland is very similar
to that in England and Wales) although an arrest warrant issued against
a UK subject for an offence committed in, say, England can be executed
throughout the UK, and civil judgements of, say, Scottish courts can be
enforced throughout the UK.

The Extradition Act 2003 provides uniform procedures for extradition,
but what comprises an extraditable offence depends on the individual
treaties.  The EU has a uniform extradition framework directive to get
some uniformity on that as well.

The curious feature in the O'Dwyer case is the reach of US law in
respect of copyright infringement, which then feeds into extradition.
That reach has mainly arisen because of the internet, and the fact that
US citizens can download illegal content from servers located in other
countries.  If US citizens could not download the content alleged to
have been made available by Mr O'Dwyer, very probably an offence in US
law would not arise.

Note also that because of the internet the courts of England and Wales
have excelled in exporting their law of defamation to other countries.
A google search into the Ehrenfeld case (note the spelling) is
instructive: that case led Congress to pass the SPEECH Act of 2010,
aimed at our own Mr Justice Eady.

Chris
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