It now appears that Richard O'Dwyer will be able to settle his case without being forcibly extradited. According to the BBC story linked above, O'Dwyer appears to have negotiated a "deferred prosecution" agreement. He pays a small fine, makes a formal appearance, and the matter goes away.

While I (and about a quarter-million other sane people who signed Jimmy Wales' petition) am naturally pleased that he won't be forcibly extradited, this does not solve the central problem. A foreign national was prosecuted in the US for allegedly breaking US law despite never having been in the US, nor having any of his computer equipment in the US. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has become the Cartel's INTERPOL, and vast amounts of resources were wasted on a guy charged with linking to other online material. Neither ICE nor the Cartel is known for having a sense of proportionality and there's nothing in this resolution to stop them repeating this behavior.

TorrentFreak notes that there may be other similar deals in the works and the truest line goes to Loz Kaye of the UK Pirate Party, who noted that, "The US cannot be allowed to be the copyright cops of the world."