Somebody once pointed out that such link aggregation sites that operate outside the US seem to be getting in more legal trouble than similiar sites operating under a US domain and possibly on US soil. Is this true and if so, why?
In the U.S., copyright infringement is only a crime if done for money (because there is an element of fraud, i.e., selling goods that you do not own). Outside of the U.S., copyright infringement can be a crime even if no money is involved. Furthermore, a lot of the "rights" in the criminal justice system are actually features of only the U.S. system (i.e,. right to a lawyer, right to a fair trial, right to a jury) and are not actually shared by most other legal systems.
Except when Mickey Mouse comes up for expiration.