Slashdot Mirror
Game Makers Accusing Innocent People of Piracy In the UK
eldavojohn writes "It's a topic that a lot of game makers like Atari don't want the public hearing: game makers wrongfully accusing clearly innocent people of piracy. From the article, 'According to Michael Coyle, an intellectual property solicitor with law firm Lawdit, more and more people are being wrongly identified as file-sharers. He is pursuing 70 cases of people who claim to be wrongly accused of piracy and has spoken to hundreds of others, he told the BBC.' If only a few are coming forward after receiving extortion letters ('Pay £500 OR ELSE!'), what's the actual number of those out there being wrongfully accused?"
Lawyers figured out this is a way to print money. Why am I not surprised?
Its cheaper to pay them off than hire a lawyer and defend yourself. Many have no other choice.
Send out letters, receive money. Such a deal. Par for the course for for lawyers.
Crazy isn't it. It's like they've looked at the RIAA, seen the public attitude toward them and said "Yes! We want a slice of that animosity and hatred!"
Stuff like this is why I've largely stopped buying anything from mainstream publishers. I refuse to enable their greed and avarice anymore.
Support the independent game developers!
As disgusting as I find that (and saying that as someone who is regularly disturbed at night be drunk teenagers), it still doesn't equal a nationwide curfew for everyone.
A curfew for kids is actually taking the parents rights away to decide whether their kids are mature enough to be out past 10 pm. So it does go in a similar direction. Still, it's a far cry from a curfew for all adults.
But... They include copy protection on their games, and continue to make it more and more aggressive.
How is this software piracy of which they speak even possible? I mean they wouldn't include the protection and ruin gaming for their legitimate customers if it didn't work... Would they?
*quietly waits for the sarcasm tag to be added to the html standard*
What a racket the copy protection business is. What other industry could thrive so much on failure?
Most places have a curfew in the code for minors that is selectively enforced(if the kid looks like hes up to trouble). We have one in Frederick MD and most people don't know about it.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
What other industry could thrive so much on failure?
Weather forecasting
What?
I BUY all my games. I even have games that were only installed for an hour or less and are sitting on my shelf. This DRM crap, these accusations, this treating the customer as a criminal is fucking outrageous. I bought Far Cry 2. I could have downloaded it at least a week before it was even released. And, yet, me--the legal customer doing the right thing--has all these stupid DRM restrictions. I can accept that. If worse comes to worse I will get a pirated version of the SAME GAME, because I paid for the damn thing and I will play it on my computer any damn way I fuc*ing feel like. Why am *I* being punished for giving the game companies money? It's one of the most ridiculous situations in the gaming society. My LEGAL copy of Doom 3 I cannot play online 'cause someone (probably using a keygen) has MY serial number. I am sick of it. I am sick of the game companies hiding behind this masquerade. I am sick of being treated like a 2nd class citizen because I do the right thing.
I'm gonna sue because someone else used my IP address of 127.0.0.1 in their anti-piracy logs.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
Why should all minors suffer just because some are idiots? If some are doing something illegal, you can give them a selective curfew, if not, then they should be allowed to go out whenever they wish.
You know you are getting old when your instinct is to argue with that. And then I remember how much fun I had as a highschooler after midnight and then I side with the kids--and then I *really* think about how much fun I had as a kid after midnight and then I realize that there is no way they need to be out that late.
Just callin' it like I see it.
There is also no way that I need to decide which doctor I want to see... beside me liking having a choice.
There is also no way that I need to decide what clothes I want to wear. Someone else could do it for me and I still wouldn't suffer cold or make a fool of myself by walking around in the nude.
The fact that someone LIKES to do something should be enough of a point not have a discussion about who needs to do what. As long as a person, no matter the age, does not influence someone else's life overly negatively, they should be allowed to do whatever they please.
Since we are talking about kids that don't have the same kind of responsibility and rights as adults do, their guardians should be the ones to set the rules. Not the state.
You certainly aren't a lawyer. "Only the CPS can prosecute anyone"? WTF? That's the most retarded statement I've ever heard in my life. The CPS prosecutes on behalf of the state. Anyone else can privately prosecute. You can also be sued. Back to IANAL 101 for you.
-10 points for accusing the BBC of "misinformation" when you're talking total shit yourself and the BBC are accurate. And -5 for everyone who modded you up.
I sell CDs in a bricks and mortar store in the UK , and TWO separate extortion agencies charge me over £100 a year each for the privilege of playing music in a shop that is making them money anyway. One licence is to pay tribute the owner of the copyright on the lyrics/composition, the other is to pay tribute the owner of the copyright of the performance. It's a fucking joke, but these assholes have the blessing of the establishment, so i have no choice. I don't for one minute think the people greedily gobbling the hard earned money of my small business are the people who wrote or performed this music.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
What, precisely, is the downside for ATARI's troll? Yes, they could have to pay [taxed/controlled] defense legal costs. But the defendant would have to put up all the money first, then try to recover the judge's award included in the verdict.
Please tell me again, what is the downside? Judges may well fume. But they can do nothing. The letters are not extortion, but an "offer to settle" that might even be excluded from evidence as such!
The UK legal system mostly works because of self restraint. And poorly when that fails. Sometimes you can find a barrister who doesn't mind egg on his face. Solicters live there.
The situation with regard to music licensing is insane in the UK. The pub near my mother got fined about a year ago because they had the cheapest kind of live music license, which only allowed solo or duet performers. One evening, there was someone in the audience who knew the performers and was invited to join in for a few songs. When the pictures hit the press, someone from the council saw them, checked the license allowed it, and fined them.
A friend from my salsa class recently opened a cafe and wants to have dance evenings occasionally. She can't yet though, because the total for all of the licenses she needs (apparently you need a license to let people dance in your cafe - WTF?) comes to around £3000 and she's unlikely to make that much extra profit from them. Some of the license money goes to the copyright cartels, some to the councils. Unfortunately no one is standing for council election on a platform of encouraging small businesses by reducing license costs, yet people wonder why the city centre is gradually losing all of the small businesses to massive chains.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
First, it's for teenagers. Then it's for sex offenders. Then it's for convicted felons. Then you need to carry your identification papers with you at night to prove you're not one of them. Then being seen far from your house at night is grounds for arrest due to reasonable suspicion that you're up to no good. Then far means anywhere outside your front door.
Sometimes, the slope really is slippery.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Duh, teenagers are sex offenders by default!
Pedophilia, underage sexual abuse, child porn. And that's before they get out of bed in the morning!
There is also no way that I need to decide which doctor I want to see... beside me liking having a choice.
In case you are under the impression that you can only see your 'assigned' doctor in the UK, this is not the case. You can ask to see another doctor when you book an appointment (either a specific doctor, or any male/female doctor). You don't need to give a reason.
Since we are talking about kids that don't have the same kind of responsibility and rights as adults do, their guardians should be the ones to set the rules. Not the state.
A agree entirely, and I'm amazed that California of all places has a curfew for teenagers. The nearest we have to that in the UK is an ASBO (anti-social behaviour order), which forbids individual petty criminals from certain acts -- for instance, banning them from a public place they vandalised, or imposing a curfew. You need to be arrested, taken to court and found guilty to get one though. It's meant to be better than sending people to prison etc.
You'd be amazed how many 14-year-old boys find underage girls attractive.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"