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.'"

Comments

THANK GOODNESS!

[glindsey]

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!

Re:THANK GOODNESS!

[Anonymous Coward]

. . .wearing the bracelet makes sex less fun and all that. . .

I happen to like handcuffs, thank you very much!

Re:THANK GOODNESS!

[Spy der Mann]

This reminds me of a joke (now in my journal).

There were three guys in prison... two muscular, bearded and looking really badass.

One of the ruffians asks the other: "So, what did you get prison for?"
"I killed 10 people - cut their arms and legs with a pocket knife, just for the fun of it. You?"
The other guy answers: "I caught my wife with another man. Burned the hell outta' them".

Then they stare at the third guy - a wimpy kid with glasses sitting in a corner. "Hey kid, what ya here for?"

The kid answers in a depressed tone: "I pirated stuff from the internet".
The two ruffians gasp, back off and start sweating.

Whew

[Selfbain]

I feel safer now. Nothing scares me more than the thought of walking down the street and having my IP stolen at gunpoint.

Re:Whew

[MrNiceguy_KS]

This was a game pirate! Forget having your IP stolen at gunpoint, this man would have sailed up to you, hit you with a couple of cannon broadsides, boarded your ship, then stolen your IP, (possibly at gunpoint -flintlock pistol- but more likely at cutlass- or hook-point,) drink your rum, and then force you to walk the plank.

Please don't trivialize game piracy by mistakenly thinking it's just a matter of having your IP stolen.

Re:Whew

[Creepy Crawler]

If you hold me at gunpoint, IP.

Woo!

[maihardu]

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.

but

[Pasajero]

I don't know you, but the paranoid in me likes to make 25 backup copies of each game I own, just in case...

misleading?

[Anonymous Coward]

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).