O’Dwyer family defiant against the MPAA

JULIA O'DWYER, the mother of Richard O'Dwyer, the student at the centre of the TV Shack extradition case, claims that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is being "vindictive" and unfair in its pursuit of her son.

O'Dwyer is responding to a document apparently leaked from the MPAA that aims to paint her son in a very bad light, and spin the media in that direction.

"It's rather worrying that the MPAA is behaving in this unnecessarily vindictive way, trying to portray Richard as someone he is not in order to further their own interests," she said to The INQUIRER in response to the range of accusations in the document.

"Richard has fully cooperated with the police at all times and has never told a lie - lying is something he just won't do. In contrast the MPAA peddles misinformation about the details of the alleged conduct."

She said that while Richard is accused of ignoring takedown requests, posting up content as opposed to the links that were on TV Shack, and being uncooperative with the authorities, the opposite is true. In her view the MPAA insulting her son, and Jimmy Wales, who launched a petition to save him from extradition, is just not on.

"Making personal and derogatory remarks about Richard and about such a highly regarded person as Jimmy Wales is both unprofessional and ridiculous and does not portray the MPAA in a very good light," she added.

"The public support including support from people in the film and music industry as well as the academic institutions and tech community is being greatly underestimated. Snatching students from their university bedrooms is certainly not going to endear the MPAA or the US DoJ to parents with student offspring who use the internet or the academic establishments." µ