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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.
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.
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.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?
-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
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.