Videogame Pirate Gets Long Jail Sentence

Thanks to the San Jose Business Journal for its article discussing the sentencing of a notable videogame pirate to 50 months in prison after being found guilty on charges of "copyright infringement and... mail fraud." According to the piece: "[Sean Michael] Breen... admitted that he was a leader in the Internet-based piracy group known as Razor1911. Since the early 1990s, Razor1911 had sought to achieve a reputation in the underground Internet piracy community... as the leading distributor of cracked computer and console game software." A report at GameSpot has further details, noting Razor1911 "...acquired advance copies of [videogame] titles by posing as reviewers for fictitious game magazines and having them shipped to a derelict storefront address in Oakland."

Comments

Whoa...

[Pxtl]

I think I had some of their warez back in the day (considering posting anon now... fuck it). Still, I can see how the whole "posing as reviewers" thing could be crossing the line.

Sucks to be 'em. Still, seems kinda harsh - what's Ken Lay getting again?

Re:Too Harsh

[Curtman]

Depends how you define better I guess. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world from what I hear. There certainly seems to be more effective systems out there.

A few things I'd like to mention

[__aailob1448]

First of all, The severity of the sentence is due to the mail fraud breen engaged in. And quite a fraud it was: $600.000 (even if it's likely inflated) is no small amount of money.

Second, this is really nothing to applaud or rejoice over. The arrest of one or two dozen pirates does not even scratch the tip of the iceberg. The authorities know it but they still bust a group or two every couple of years for PR purposes. It does not affect the so-called "warez scene" at all. All game were pirated before this happened and all have continued to be pirated afterwards.

Third. I am very surprised to read that Razor1911 sold copies. To the extent of my knowledge, they are (Because they are still alive and kicking)a veteran and respected group in the warez scene and the one big No-No is the selling of pirated materials. In fact, Razor1911's nfo file (an .nfo file contains information about a given release and the logo and signature of the group that released it) states very clearly:

SUPPORT THE COMPANIES THAT PRODUCE QUALITY SOFTWARE! IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PRODUCT, BUY IT! SOFTWARE AUTHORS DESERVE SUPPORT!!

So either they are really big hypocrites or the press got it wrong (I'm gonna go with option B here...)

And of course, stealing is wrong, I don't condone piracy, don't have sex unprotected, yadda yadda...

Re:A few things I'd like to mention

[gl4ss]

nature of such groups is that they can't control themselfs totally, or every individual.

but yeah.. the arrests made barely a dent.. and those who were/are arrested were/are doing other criminal activities as well usually(ranging from cracking ftp's to be used as 'public ftp's or just plain _stealing_ gigabytes and gigabytes of bandwith from their work).

not that stuff wasn't always copied by somebody when it was possible for practically free(for the copier).. from university textbooks to vhs's cassettes of old tv episodes to ringtones(sometimes even out of perceived necessity as the one copying for himself can't either afford the real deal or it is not available, or is ridiculously priced).

Re:A few things I'd like to mention

[sobeks_eye]

All game were pirated before this happened and all have continued to be pirated afterwards.

That's possibly the worst grammar I've ever seen in a Slashdot post.

I like the way things are now with the piracy game. It's a safe way for kids to rebel against "the man", doesn't usually involve other vices, and is something you can grow out of when you get a job.

For me, software piracy was something I participated in until I was about 22, inertia carrying me past my teens. As a teenager, this was the only way I had at my disposal to get the latest games (back then the latest games were of the "Bolo" and "Rescue Raiders" variety).

As an adult, it actually cost me more in time and money to pirate games than it would have to just drop $40 on what looked the coolest. I had to invest in a CD burner, which was expensive at the time, as well as a Zip drive, and the media they required (also pricey at the time). Not to mention having a family to support meant that I had a lot more to lose than I did at 16. At 16 I was a punk with a chip on my shoulder, and never bothered to cover my tracks. Stupid. Lucky. But anyway, I grew out of it.

Video game companies will rail and demand justice, but the kids will still be given leeway with this vice.

The advanced copy grift was a different matter, though. First, it's a bad con -- that will always get you caught eventually. Second, it's an adult who is deliberately defrauding a company by posing as someone he's not. Screw him. I don't want him representing the software piracy market. He's a bad example. Give me back the whiz kids who buy a game (or shoplift it if circumstances warrant) and defeat the copy protection or write a crack. That's just good fun.

Re:He'll be missed

[AKnightCowboy]

LAN party I held two weeks ago would have been much more dificult without the Razor hacked version of Steam (For Counter Strike) since we weren't able to keep the internet connection up.

What do you need Steam for? The older versions of Half-Life and Counter-strike don't require an Internet connection. Why not just use the pre-steam version? Personally I tried going back to Counter-Strike after a 1 year hiatus playing BF1942 and when I found Steam was the only real way you can play these days I gave up. It sucks horribly. I guess that's one way to kill a game.

Good thing he didn't shoot anyone.

[cleancut]

He might have received a shorter sentence, and we wouldn't want that for such a naughty person!

I'm not claiming he didn't break the law, nor am I suggesting that he shouldn't "do the time". I'm just pointing out inconsistencies in sentencing, and how criminal geeks often get longer terms than murderers. *sigh*

Waitaminute - they SOLD the games?

[JonBovi]

The article claims that Razor "sold" over a half-million dollars of software - don't they mean "copied and gave away?" I've seen tons of Razor releases, but never heard about them making a penny off of it.

I know that the N.E.T. act makes it a federal crime to even _share_ illegal copies, but still, there's a difference, or at least there should be.

Re:...the cracker

[Holi]

and if you want a feature implemented, the Gimp is open source, you are free to add whatever features you want. Simple as that.
Oh yes, I think everyone would agree that programming a replacement for Photoshop is simple.

This I think is the most ridiculous argument for OSS that I always hear. Not all of us a programmers, especially the ones who need the advanced features of Photoshop. Just because I can look at the source does not mean I can understand it. Oh maybe you mean I should go out and hire a programmer to implement those changes, I somehow doubt that would cost me less then the $799.00 that it cost me to purchase Photoshop.

(admission of guilt follows)

I used to use an illegal copy of Photoshop while I was learning it. I am sure most slashdotters have. Now that I use it to earn a living I felt it was required that I go out and purchase a valid license.

And game companies never pirate?

[GonzoDave]

I used to work as a tester at an independent game company. I think we had one copy at the office of each of the games we played on the LAN at lunchtime. Pirate 3DS Max copies and plugins were in use. Talking to a few people who also work at a variety of studios, I've found that this is apparently a normal course of events. Hell, the developers of Farcry got raided a week ago for pirate software. Bearing this in mind, who are developers to complain about piracy?*


*Note, I'm not condoning it, but I think they need to take the mote out of their own eye first

Re:Doesn't bother me

[tprime]

For the different cracking groups (teams?) it is an ego based competition to see who can get the software cracked and available to the public the quickest. I wouldn't be surprised if any of the other big name groups do the same stunt, or have a connection with someone whose company really does the reviews. Hell, I would be willing to bet that some of the groups have connections inside of the development houses as well. Kind of makes you think about the Half-Life 2 "theft" differently...