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ESA Sent Takedown Notices For 45 Million Infringements In Fiscal 2009

Posted by Soulskill on from the can't-say-they-aren't-trying dept.

eldavojohn writes "The Entertainment Software Association has released this year's fiscal report (PDF), putting out their numbers to level the finger at new targets. Following up on last year's published report, this one has a whole bunch of new numbers to ponder. The top five P2P game piracy countries this year are: Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. The ESA's anti-piracy program notes, 'Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.' But don't worry, they've expanded to other countries. 'The ESA sent takedown notices to ISPs covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide.' They also strive to show they are actually doing things, like endorsing 43 bills aimed at regulating content or controlling access to video games — with not a single one of them making it into law. They did put some into effect at the state level; mostly making it a crime to sell mature games to minors. You can also find their activities localized to you, as this report has sections arranged by state and country. Conspicuously absent this year are any global numbers of what piracy cost the entertainment industry, so unfortunately Ars Technica will have to find someone else to audit, although Venture Beat has a good breakdown."

58 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Go go by Dyinobal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ' They also strive to show they are actually doing things, like endorsing 43 bills aimed at regulating content or controlling access to video games -- with not a single one of them making it into law. They did put some into effect at the state level; mostly making it a crime to sell mature games to minors.

    Go go nanny state!

    1. Re:Go go by ijakings · · Score: 2, Funny

      Surely you mean Go Go Gadget Nanny state!

  2. It's a crime to modify your own hardware by selven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And here I was thinking that kind of thing is reserved for cyberpunk dystopias.

    1. Re:It's a crime to modify your own hardware by 7-Vodka · · Score: 1
      Not really. There's no reason it has to be 0% or 100%.

      The patent system works really well for physical inventions like if you invent a better pogostick and you want to patent that design.

      It works horribly for business plans and software...

      Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Like most things in life, the elegant solution is not as simplistic as your statement.

      --

      Liberty.

  3. Fact checking? by VGPowerlord · · Score: 4, Informative

    They also strive to show they are actually doing things, like endorsing 43 bills aimed at regulating content or controlling access to video games -- with not a single one of them making it into law. They did put some into effect at the state level; mostly making it a crime to sell mature games to minors.

    You have that backwards. The ESA is against these laws because it would limit their sales numbers. They're the ones suing to have these laws repealed.

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    1. Re:Fact checking? by Toridas · · Score: 1

      The summary has it backwards. Or whomever wrote it doesn't know the meaning of "endorsed."

    2. Re:Fact checking? by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      I thought they might have not understood "endorsed" either, but the next sentence is implying the ESA got some laws passed at the state level.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    3. Re:Fact checking? by Toridas · · Score: 1

      Ok maybe the summary writer just doesn't understand English very well then.

  4. Woo! by LBt1st · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.'

    I feel so much safer now knowing the streets are clean of those terrible video games.

    1. Re:Woo! by westlake · · Score: 1

      I feel so much safer now knowing the streets are clean of those terrible video games.

      In the American system, violent crimes are almost always prosecuted at the state and local level.

      The federal government usually takes the lead in the prosecution of economic crimes with an interstate or international dimension.

      GTA IV grossed $500 million in sales in its first week of release.

      The geek can't hype the game industry as a high tech employer - a $10 billion dollar economic powerhouse - and expect the feds to ignore the pirate - the counterfeiter. Video Game Industry

  5. So this works out to what... by KarrdeSW · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1.427 notices per second assuming they work constantly...
    Course they probably don't work weekends or holidays: more like 2.075 notices per second with taking time off. Oh... wait! They only work 9 to 5, right? Assume an hour for lunch... that takes it to 7.143 notices per second!

    I don't really know how long an individual notice is in words, or how many are sent through email. We can probably assume that for any given delivery it gets printed out at least once... so that makes about 5400 trees worth of copy paper.

    Once again, assuming it only takes one page, and assuming they are using a relatively efficient printer... this works out to what? $1,800,000 worth of ink just to print all this out once?

    I guess it really didn't say 45 million notices, just infringements. So I guess I'm also assuming from all this that one infringement = one notice. I'm sure that I'm also being conservative that one notice also only takes one page.

    1. Re:So this works out to what... by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Its pretty reasonable, lets say you have a ROM site that has every NES game on it, that there is over 600 games. Knowing that most ROM sites have more than one console and pretty much all the games for at least a single console, its not that unreasonable to claim 45 million "infringements".

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    2. Re:So this works out to what... by KarrdeSW · · Score: 1

      Its pretty reasonable, lets say you have a ROM site that has every NES game on it, that there is over 600 games.

      This is a good point.
      So then you just have to wonder how slimy the lawyers are and whether or not they want to drown these people in paper. I suppose we could fit 600 games on a few pages, but why bother when we have document templates and laser printers :)

    3. Re:So this works out to what... by sowth · · Score: 1

      No, more likely, they use spam-bots which look at file names and if it "matches" a game they are "protecting" (such as doom3.zip), then they send a DMCA complaint and call it an "infringement." Much like the other copyright "protection" associations.

  6. Double edged sword... by Darkness404 · · Score: 1

    Don't they realize by restricting access to games they lose new talent? In general most kids have an idea what they want to do when they are around 15, they might not know which exact field, but at least a general idea (law, medical, computers, etc.) and by restricting kids access to "mature" games that are very often considered some of the better games they play crappy games and might not be interested in learning do develop video games.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:Double edged sword... by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Perhaps game devs should tone down the violence then. It's getting absurd how much violence is going into games lately. It's no longer enough to show a blood splat and have the enemy fall over, no, you have to show all the organs being ripped out in every detail.

      Anyway, there are plenty of videogames that are both good and not M rated. Nintendo is known for making great games that you can give to a child without having to freak out.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Double edged sword... by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I doubt that whether a game is "mature" or not in any way correlates to quality. Yeah you have your Metal Gear Solids and GTA3s that are violent and excellent. But you also have games like Manhunt that are violent for the sake of violence, without any really redeeming gameplay value. And you also have E rated games like Ocarina of Time, Pikmin, Ikaruga, etc. I'm not sure how the last three could be improved upon by including mature themes in any way.

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      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    3. Re:Double edged sword... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      First you say this:

      Perhaps game devs should tone down the violence then. It's getting absurd how much violence is going into games lately. It's no longer enough to show a blood splat and have the enemy fall over, no, you have to show all the organs being ripped out in every detail.

      then this...

      Anyway, there are plenty of videogames that are both good and not M rated. Nintendo is known for making great games that you can give to a child without having to freak out.

      If there are plenty of videogames that are both good and not M rated, then what's the problem?

      I've worked in the game industry for well over a decade now. I have yet to work on a game that wasn't Teen-rated or lower, and I've made no special effort to do so. The simple fact of the matter is this: like you said, there are a HUGE NUMBER of great Teen-rated or lower games out there. And yet a small number of M-rated games get so much of the attention. Why are you blaming developers for that?

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    4. Re:Double edged sword... by Darkness404 · · Score: 1

      Nintendo -used- to be known for that. But seriously, since the GameCube, Nintendo finally figured out how to make everything they touch gold again so we get crap games with no replay value and that are little more than tech demos (Wii Sports anyone?) or repeat the same formula over, and over and over again to the extreme (how many Mario Party games are we up to now? 9 in 10 years?). While they do make some stellar games (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) their better games are often their more violent games.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    5. Re:Double edged sword... by Darkness404 · · Score: 1

      I don't think that I've ever played a truly excellent FPS that wasn't rated M or at the very least T. About the only two exceptions would be Portal which is more of a puzzle game, and Chex Quest but that was a mod of Doom II which was rated M. Had Zelda not done a few things to avoid getting a T rating, I have little doubt that it would be rated T (green "blood" rather than red blood, etc). The two most looked at games recently are FPS games and sandbox games. Both of which usually have M ratings.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    6. Re:Double edged sword... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      FPS games are a pretty narrow genre, albeit a popular one. By definition, it involves the player running around with a gun and shooting things. That tends to get at least a T, and if it involves shooting people, probably an M.

      That's sort of like saying: "All the fighting games I've looked at seem to involve a high degree of physical violence." Technically true, but it doesn't really mean anything when cherry-picking one specific genre which is, by definition, probably more violent.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    7. Re:Double edged sword... by westlake · · Score: 1

      The simple fact of the matter is this: like you said, there are a HUGE NUMBER of great Teen-rated or lower games out there. And yet a small number of M-rated games get so much of the attention. Why are you blaming developers for that?

      There are a small core of developers - Rockstar comes first to mind - that push the M rating to extremes - beyond the limits of public tolerance - generating a backlash that sweeps across the entire industry.

      It has become almost impossible to introduce genuinely adult themes into video gaming because the "M" rating universally translates as blood, gore and adolescent soft-core porn: The button mashing sex play of "Hot Coffee."

    8. Re:Double edged sword... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Last I checked Wii Sports was EXTREMELY popular and it wouldn't be a stretch to say the majority of Wii sales happened because of it. What are Nintendo's more violent games? Prime 3 Corruption, Disaster and Battalion Wars? They're all pretty minor titles and if you add them up you don't even get half of Galaxy's sales.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    9. Re:Double edged sword... by Darkness404 · · Score: 1

      In general though popular games tend to have larger budgets and more impressive games. Every generation has its "popular" game, at first it was Pong, then it was Space Invaders games, then it was platformers, then it was fighting games/RPGs, etc.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    10. Re:Double edged sword... by Dan541 · · Score: 1

      When I face a restriction, such as drm i just download instead.

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
  7. Guess... by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    They haven't figured out that the RIAA/MPAA model doesn't work yet.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  8. Oh come on! by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, you know, don't pirate games, it will not be an issue.

    Look, this issue is fundamentally different than the RIAA/MPAA issue. Here we are not talking about making backups, or having reasonable control over something you bought and paid for. We're talking about pirated goods, like fake Gucci hand bags and what not. Selling fakes is wrong, unlike the RIAA/MPAA concept of "stealing", this hits closer to the real definition.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Oh come on! by the_womble · · Score: 1

      reasonable control over something you bought and paid for

      Like modding a console you own?

    2. Re:Oh come on! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I wouldn't be so sure about that.

      I got a copyright infringement notice for downloading a no-cd patch.

    3. Re:Oh come on! by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      What modding your own hardware should be illegal? K! So where's the refund store when you wear out your console?

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    4. Re:Oh come on! by Doctor_Jest · · Score: 1

      The fundamental difference between "piracy" and "infringement" is being subverted these days by the entrenched media conglomerates. A fake Gucci bag or a bootleg copy of a theatrical release sold for $5 on the street corner is considered criminal infringement (and has been for many decades). Making a copy of "1001 Duck farts" for a friend, or posting a torrent to a website where 500 people can get the duck farts over the tubes is not criminal, but civil. In terms of the law, it's a tort. Now, enter the RIAA/MPAA/BSA. They want infringement "without monetary gain" (the definition of what was "lost" doesn't get proven easily when you're dealing with P2P and Torrents) to be criminal. They want to put you in jail. They just can't get around that pesky freedom and Constitution thing (here in the States, I mean). Give them time.

      I do agree that the fake merchandise (cloned by Chinese government funded businesses at times) is stealing, and I applaud those who go after that type of infringement. I do not however, subscribe to the notion that P2P is just as harmful. That's just me. I've not found a compelling argument that would change my opinion of that. So "pirating" a game is not simply infringing on copyright (via bittorrent or P2P). The fundamental argument doesn't change w/r/t piracy, but it certainly eliminates most of what the BSA labels as "piracy" (and thereby attaching a criminal aspect to the infringement.) To me, this is a moral issue, and like someone once said "you can't legislate morality." It only ends up making criminals of us all.

      --
      It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
  9. Raids by pgn674 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    On page 20 in a big text box:

    Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.

    It sounds like you could get the same thing from raiding any dorm hall on my university campus. This is a sound bite, good for news media to repeat, and to me it makes what could be a completely legal community sound like a gang of high profile game-pirate-for-profit lords.

    1. Re:Raids by Dyinobal · · Score: 4, Funny

      They were dangerous I tell you! They had the cheat codes for all weapons and infinite ammo!

    2. Re:Raids by univalue · · Score: 1

      So where can I get the cheat codes for life?

  10. Top Five? by Bob+Esponja · · Score: 3, Informative

    I live in Spain and the 80% of my torrents peers are from EEUU. Uhmm! RIAA/MPAA and partners are pushing governement to convert in criminal actions the right to share contents. Now in Spain, for now, is legal to share, because we pay a tax for the 'private copy right': The right to made private copies and share-it.

  11. The European Space Agency did what?! by CdXiminez · · Score: 2

    Don't tell me there is another thing called ESA that is spoiling our Space Agency's good name...

  12. ESA? Oh, that ESA. by Rich+Klein · · Score: 1

    Well, better that the Entertainment Software Association does this than the European Space Agency. :P

    --
    -Rich
  13. Did they have to come in again? by hcdejong · · Score: 1

    Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.

    Did the PR flack reading the press release sound like John Cleese at all?

  14. The summary is just flat wrong. by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    You're right, it's completely backwards. The ESA fights these laws, it doesn't support them.

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  15. ESA by Kagura · · Score: 1

    There's one thing NASA has over the ESA. ;)

    1. Re:ESA by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      I also read ESA as the European Space Agency.

      Be careful with those acronyms please!

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:ESA by laejoh · · Score: 1

      There are only 17,576 tla's so collisions will occur.

    3. Re:ESA by tenco · · Score: 1

      Maybe ESA can send ESA a letter...

    4. Re:ESA by Fred_A · · Score: 1

      I also read ESA as the European Space Agency.

      I was fairly puzzled as well, figuring it must be getting awfully crowded up there :

      "take down those 45 million space probes at once !"

      I'm relieved it's just another bunch of clueless media cretins.
      Wait, no I'm not, it means there's yet another such stupid agency I've never heard of. How many such things are there ?

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  16. doesn't look accurate by samuX · · Score: 1

    page 16 (or 14) there are the top 10 isp supporting p2p piracy: Telecom italia is named twice at 11.6% and 1.6%... how come they are twice ? Iunet is named but the provider is named wind/infostrada . later in the page they named what they DID in December 2009 ... clearly a typo but.. does anyone re read it before publishing it ?

    1. Re:doesn't look accurate by aronzak · · Score: 1

      Hmm, this certainly doesn't inspire confidence in their methodology. Right there on page 14, after the diagram with two Telecom Italia's, it reads "In early December 2009, IP Policy staff circulated to Piracy Working Group members a draft plan for engagement on ISP Responsibility issues. "

  17. How many of them are for actual infringers? by seebs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We got one of those once. We host a mirror of the IF Archive (text adventures), including three games named Days of Doom 1, Days of Doom 2, and Days of Doom 3.

    Here's the local copy:

    -rw-rw-r-- 1 seebs users 116471 Oct 17 1999 Doom3.zip

    They sent us a threatening letter because they believed this was the retail version of Doom 3.

    I assume the rest are comparable.

    --
    My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
    1. Re:How many of them are for actual infringers? by noidentity · · Score: 1

      -rw-rw-r-- 1 seebs users 116471 Oct 17 1999 Doom3.zip

      They sent us a threatening letter because they believed this was the retail version of Doom 3.

      Clearly it's Doom 3 with some super-duper compression scheme that makes a CD-ROM or whatever compress down to under 200K. I think the NSA needs to be notified as well...

    2. Re:How many of them are for actual infringers? by hansamurai · · Score: 1

      You can compress anything down to 1-bit if you have the right decompression algorithm.

      --
      Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
  18. Did the ones sent to canada count? by PC+and+Sony+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    I've received several of these from my university. Each one has been forwarded back to the ESA, suggesting that they try sending them to people with the relevant nationality. I wonder if these are included in the report?

  19. ESA Sent Takedown Notices... by brianc · · Score: 3, Funny

    the European Space Agency did what!?!?

    --


    SIGLOST && SIGUNUSED && SIGQUIT
  20. What's wrong with modding hardware? by xkcdFan1011011101111 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They bought it, it's theirs. Sure they were pirating games and that's illegal, but there is nothing wrong with modding the hardware. I'll bet they learned a bit about electronics in the process. I'm sure they were aware that they voided their warranty.

    There is nothing wrong with modifying hardware you own!

  21. Death != death by tepples · · Score: 1

    How are cartoon depictions of death ethically superior to ludicrous gibs?

    Less-detailed depictions leave open the possibility that the "death" isn't really death. Pokemon, for instance, only faint, and death in most console RPGs comes to resemble fainting with fairly easy access to resurrection artifacts like Phoenix Down from the Final Fantasy series. Super Smash Bros. Brawl has hardening instead of death.

    1. Re:Death != death by tepples · · Score: 1

      Death is a part of life... accept it.

      But if your $50 game stops working because your character had an accident while you were still learning to control her, I don't think that would be popular.

  22. Re:Define piracy by sowth · · Score: 1

    Flamebait? After reading about these "copyright" associations for several years, it is obvious they want to define any product competing with their member companies as "pirate." How many times have they sent DMCA complaints about works which they do not own? Is this not a copyright racket?

  23. Doom is a trademark by tepples · · Score: 1

    We host a mirror of the IF Archive (text adventures), including three games named Days of Doom 1, Days of Doom 2, and Days of Doom 3. [...] 116471 Oct 17 1999 Doom3.zip

    October 1999? Both Doom and Doom II were out by then; wouldn't Id Software have had a legit trademark claim by then?

  24. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  25. Just wondering... are these Nuisance Complaints? by serutan · · Score: 1

    This may seem like trolling but I mean it as a legitimate question. If I repeatedly call the police to report that stuff has been stolen from the seat of my car, and they keep finding that I park my car on busy streets with the windows open, eventually they are going to stop responding to my calls. If the digital content industry insists on trafficking in materials that are extremely simple to copy and redistribute, why should the public pay good money to have the justice system process their endless complaints of losses? It seems more rational to tell them that if they can't protect their assets better they should get into a different line of business.