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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.'"
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.IMHO white collar crime should result in fines and possibly house arrest. Real crimes should land you in real prison. I think with as good as home arrest tracking devices are, they could let a lot of the lesser crimes folks out of jail and put them on house arrest with some other kind of punishment since house arrest, while totally a nuisance (on purpose of course) and wearing the bracelet makes sex less fun and all that, it still isn't the same kind of punishment.
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.
He didn't go to jail for owning mod chips, or having "over 1,000 pirated game discs" in his house. If you RTFA, you'll see he pleaded guilty to two counts of counterfeit trafficking. That's right, he was selling mod chips.
No one ever goes to jail for just having pirated materials (regardless of the law against it in some countries). The only people who get in trouble are people selling/distributing it.
God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his wisdom?
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.
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Toro