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Game Pirate Sentenced To Jail Time
A man charged in a case separate from the much-publicized anti-modder raids last month has been sentenced to ninety days in prison, another nine months of work furlough, and five years of probation. "Police seized over 1,000 pirated game discs during the raid on Brown's home, along with 'numerous' mod chips. Ric Hirsch, Vice-President of Intellectual Property Enforcement at the ESA, said, 'Sentences that include jail time send a clear message that violating intellectual property rights is a serious crime with significant consequences and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'"
I hope they cleared a few of those pesky rapists and murderers out of the prisons to make room for the awful, awful crime of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT!
I feel safer now. Nothing scares me more than the thought of walking down the street and having my IP stolen at gunpoint.
Well, it has never been successfully tested.
Now they're going to stop intellectual property theft with the threat of jail time! Just like they did with murder, rape, breaking and entering, counterfeiting, and all of those other crimes! I feel safer already.
A ton of policemen who could've done something useful (like finding some people who do actually rob and steal, in the actual sense of the law) for society were kept busy to stick a guy in the can who doesn't affect me or 99% of the population in the slightest.
And for what? 90 days of jail. Whoo boy. He must be a really tough criminal! I dunno about your country, but 90 days is about what you get when you drive with the subway and refuse to pay the fine. For the third time. After being tried and told that paying the fee of 60 bucks is PROBABLY more interesting for you.
In other words, the damage this guy did must've been somewhere around 60 bucks. At least we now have found a reliable value for IP.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
should not serve jail time. Also, I have no comprehension of why owning mod chips should be illegal.
That said, he did break the law when he pirated games, and it is entirely just that he should be brought up on charges. However, the punishment should fit the crime.
Brown was facing 10 counts of felony offenses, including grand theft, computer crime and trafficking in counterfeit products. In August, Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of counterfeit trafficking and today received a one-year sentence, the first 90 days to be spent in prison and the rest in work furlough. He was also given five years probation and a fine of $100,000, and will be required to pay $10,000 in restitution to the ESA.
Which sounds to me like its for selling pirated copies of games. I don't see an issue here. Don't sell copies of games, and you've got a lot less (or maybe nothing at all) to worry about.The people doing this don't give a rat's ass what your opinion is.
The only way to make them stop is to insist with all force necessary.
If you're not willing to get your hands dirty to stand up to this scum then no one HAS to care what you think..so why bother shaking your little fist and writing scathing condemnations?
Cut word lines
Cut music lines
Smash the control images
Smash the control machine.
- William S. Burroughs
I would love to see some RIAA high priests locked up (even for 90 days). Big media has truly done more to hurt us than any pirates.
It's important to note that he was a "mod chip seller," not a normal Joe who downloads pirated games and then plays them on his modded consoles. The grand theft charge was dropped in the plea, of course.
U.S. law makes copyright violation a crime -- for the distributor. It has yet to pass laws against the distributee. And won't, otherwise you could be prosecuted for buying a plagiarized book at the bookstore.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
For what it's worth, the police involved were doing their jobs and doing them correctly and efficiently. Sure, you can disagree whether or not IP infringement (in whatever form) should or should not be a crime, but as of right now it is one. A police officer, presented with a crime in plain sight, cannot (and, I would dare to argue, should not) ignore it because they disagree over whether or not it should be a crime.
Their job is to uphold the law. They did so. There is nothing wrong with that.
If you're angry, then I seriously suggest that you write your Representative(s) and Senators.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
If you're going to pirate, don't do it for profit. I can't support piracy for profit, sorry.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
Actually, that was a pointless rambling.. I sincerely doubt the ESA would do something so laughably foul.
The comments (so far) on this story are unbelievable. If you don't want to buy the game, then don't buy it. If you don't want to pay for the game but you steal it to play it anyway (or sell/distribute it illegally), then suck up the consequences.
Real, actual, non-fictional people's salaries are based on the fact that if people play these games (or music, or movies) then they will pay for them. If you don't like the way the market works due to levels of compensation, etc. then feel free to get your media from those that offer it freely or at a rate you agree with and who base their economic plans on that fact.
However if it's a commercial product and you steal it, then go to jail and shut up. You broke the law. Quit whining, quit the straw man style "rapists and murderers" blathering and learn something for a change. If you advocate open source and freely available media, quit giving our community a black eye by encouraging theft and cheering on pirates. If the new media model is going to work, it will work by being a better model, not by undermining the current system we have. Undermining rather than supplanting only encourages harsher laws and more intense DRM which will make the transition harder to accomplish in the end. Like I said, unbelievable.
...if he had OVER NINE THOUSAND!!! pirated games.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
> Police seized over 1,000 pirated game discs during the raid on Brown's home, along with 'numerous' mod chips
Hmmmm. You mean he wasn't doing it just for the intellectual challenge of legally reverse-engineering it to understand it?
Marge Simpson: Now I've heard everything!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I don't know you, but the paranoid in me likes to make 25 backup copies of each game I own, just in case...
If he was making these copies to SELL, then yeah, I could imagine over 1,000 CDs. At $5~10 USD each (average street vendor price), that adds up to some serious cash fast, especially if you can start running copies of the latest movies and software.
My pro-Death Penalty argument is basically the same as your rabid dog argument. Sidestep the moral issue entirely. It's not about whether or not this person deserves to die or be killed, or whether or not we have the moral right to kill him or her, or eye for an aye, or any of that crap. It's simply that they have proven that they are unable to function in society, and so we preserve society by removing them from society.
Permanently.
The problem comes in when you understand that the legal system makes mistakes, and you take into account the fact that the person you are so blithely condemning to death may not have done the thing that they were convicted of. That's a pretty big deal. Lot of societies view it as a deal breaker.
So, instead, they put them in prison forever on the off chance that they might be wrong.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
OK, I suppose I'm a little behind the times and I apologize for that. I also don't wish to start a flame-war here and I do believe that some people have pretty heated opinions about this.
There are mod chips for my Prius. There are performance mod chips for lots of cars. While they may invalidate an owner's warranty (in some cases) one has purchased the car and is willing to install it and take a chance that maybe, perhaps, they either won't pass their vehicle emissions inspection or they may wear the car out a little sooner.
So why is it illegal to make or sell a mod chip to make a game console work differently? If it invalidates one's warranty, well that's the chance you take--you cannot take the console back and get warranty service on it.
I cannot see or understand a law that would prevent you from doing a mod on your PSP or X-Box. After all, you bought it; if you mod it it's yours so who cares?
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
He was a counterfeiter. He should be thrown in jail with the rest of the drug dealers, prostitutes, con men and other smalltime ne'er-do-wells until he sobers up. This kind of thing must be pursued and stopped for the health of the industry, and the rule of law in general.
This is going after the dealers instead of going after the junkies, and it's the right way to go. I applaud the San Diego police (and prosecutors) for going after folks are causing true harm.
On the other hand, the punitive fine ($100,000 - ten times the awarded damages of $10,000) seemed absurdly steep. Without knowing the man's means, it's hard to believe that this was a fair judgment. It's a warning sign when the jail time and the punitive fines are so completely incongruous.
--
Toro
>If you're going to pirate, don't do it for profit. I can't support piracy for profit, sorry.
Is anyone else picturing Blackbeard and Captain Hook standing in line at the IRS with their 501(c) forms in hand, discussing their tax exempt status?
"Arrrr, we be a powerful Recreational Club we be!"
- "Avast ye lowly deckswabber, we make a fine Fraternal Beneficiary Society we do!"
"So it be a life of Charitable Givin' for ye?"
- "Aye! Donate me hearties, Yo ho!"
"Well blimey, if I don't stuff that in me canon and fire it."
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Aaaaargh! Shiver me timbers, It woulda been more fun to make this pirate walk da plank me maties!! Aaaaargh!
Suddenly the 'Do what you want 'cause a Pirate is free' line doesn't seem to ring true, anymore.
I understand you're trying to be sarcastic with this remark but here's an interesting tidbit for you to chew on. Murder, rape, and various other petty crimes like bank or home robbery combined do not even come close to matching the financial burden intellectual property theft puts on our economy. This certainly does deserve a higher priority amongst the assortment of crimes that police have to deal with on a daily basis. That's not to say they should stop other investigations, but for you to suggest that this is far more unimportant is a fallacy and very misleading to other voters.
Think about the impact that crime makes, any crime, on society as a whole. A intellectual property holder has a right to control their assets just as much if not more than individuals. These acts of piracy are attacks on our way of life as well as our pocket books (yours included).
The reason the punitive fine is steep is because its so freagin hard and rare to catch people like this, so the only real way to work it out is to send a "message" by being rough on the punishment, hoping that you'll stop others in the process when they learn about it (which is debatable, but its the rational behind such judgements).
Though it does make sense. Copyright violations are a bit like underage drinking, especially for stuff like games. It has very very high peer approval, so people don't "feel" wrong when they do it (both sellers AND "junkies", as you call em). The idea that you'll never get caught is most of the reason these people do what they do...so it is possible that things like these WILL work.
Given mod chips, like VCRs have acceptable uses (playing import games, home-made games, backups (1 each max I think) of your games should the original break) it's fairly evident to a lot of us that calling a mod chip inherently bad and illegal is rather self-serving. What if Sony ever did go ahead with the burn-the-serial-of-the-console-into-the-disc plan, preventing legitimate resale of the games? I'd love to see them sue GameStop for hiring someone to create a workaround and selling them in every store.
Given the characterization of mod chip owners as pirates, can mod chip owners make a class action lawsuit against those mischaracterizing us over slander or libel? It's too bad the legal system is so expensive, it'd be nice to grab written testimony from a few hundred or thousand mod-chip owners listing what they've legitimately used the chips for, suing for... a public apology and admission that they lied to the public and lawmakers for personal gain.
they should fit well in with rapists and murderers, after all, they destroy a whole lot more peoples lives...
I don't think an absurdly steep punitive fine applied to a counterfeiter is going to have much effect on the P2P crowd either, but thanks for the clarification. I hadn't seen it as a deterrence action.
--
Toro
Their job is to uphold the law. They did so. There is nothing wrong with that.
Also known as "befehl ist befehl".
He just keeps very good backups of his game discs and mod chips.
On my way into work this morning I heard a news story that reminded me of your post. A woman in Wisconsin has been convicted of fraud, forgery, and embezzlement, to the tune of over $400,000.00. I was trying to find a link to the story on a local news site, but I haven't had much luck, sorry. If I remember correctly, she got 30 days in a minimum security facility, a monetary fine (I can't remember how much) and probation after that. As opposed to this kid who's damages probably wouldn't amount to even $40,000.00, gets 90 days in jail and a year of work release/jail time.
I'll meet you half way on your argument. Fiscal crimes that pose a risk to our currencies financial stability are serious. But our government does not usually treat them as such. White Collar criminals wind up in "club Fed" for short terms and a monetary slap on the wrist. That is, unless there is a lobbying group or political influence driving the prosecutor.
In any case, the kid's actions did not pose any significant risk to anyone's financial stability. Worst case scenario, he costs a small number of companies a few thousand dollars. Give him 510 hours of community service, a fair restitution bill, and call it a day. The almighty dollar is safe, the offended companies get their money back, and the kid won't have enough free time for the next year to get into any more trouble.
As opposed to having the kid suck up a cot in the local jail for the next year, a slot on the work release program that could be used for someone in more need, and the cost to the tax payers for hosting and feeding him.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs