This is an interesting one. An Australian man, who’s never set foot in the US, and who’s infringing activities all occurred within Australia has been extradited to face trial for intellectual property theft (that is, software piracy) in the US — and has, actually, already plead guilty.

It’s interesting because while the man has clearly done wrong, it’s also pretty clear that the US has no (or should have no) jurisdiction to try him. He’s never been there — everything he did, he did in Australia. Why then shouldn’t it be an Australian court that tried him (as he requested? It’s not like their copyright laws are particularly lax.

The reason, as far as I can see, is quite simple. The US has had enough of those other countries and their different laws getting in the way of it perusing it’s own commercial interests and is looking to establish its own laws (and courts) as the de facto global standard. This is a pretty safe precedent case for them, since the suspect is clearly guilty, and what he did was illegal in his home country anyway, but that shouldn’t lessen the worry the world feels about this result. Why should we, as non US nationals — outside the US — have to worry about whether our activities are legal by US standards?

It’s not even like they’re trying to hide their agenda; US Assistant Attorney-​General Alice Fisher has said

This extradition represents the (US) Department of Justice’s commitment to protect intellectual property rights from those who violate our laws from the other side of the globe.

As though it goes without question that they have the right to enforce their laws on the other side of the globe. I’m usually pretty reluctant to use the phrase US-​imperialism, but to me this sure looks like a spade.

Obviously, it’s a long way from “that bad” yet. This one case doesn’t establish a precedent, and even if it did it wouldn’t need to influence the actions of other nations, but nevertheless we should be wary; every time something like this happens it becomes a little less of an exception, and a little more like normal practice. After the 1,000^th extradition of someone the US says has done something wrong, how many people will be outraged about the 1,001^st? How long before it’s just assumed that US’s extradition requests are reasonable and above board? How long before other national governments stop even bothering to check?