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Seller of Counterfeit Video Games Gets 30 Months
wiredmikey writes "The FBI reported this week that Qiang 'Michael' Bi, of Powell, Ohio was sentenced to 30 months in prison for selling more than 35,000 illegally copied computer games over the Internet between 2005 and 2009. According to a statement of facts read during Bi's plea hearing, agents executed a search warrant at Bi's house and found multiple CD duplicators and more than 1,000 printed counterfeit CDs. Some of the CDs were still in the duplicator. During their investigation, agents learned that Bi would buy a single copy of a game, illegally duplicate it and sell the copies on eBay.com and Amazon.com. He also set up a website for customers to download the games they bought. Bi accepted payment through eBay and PayPal accounts in his name and in others' names."
What was he possibly selling in 2005 that had no reg code or drm???
It still blows my mind that people can be capable enough to run a little outfit like this, and yet be so amazingly dumb. You know you're going to get caught when you sell this stuff from the US, under your own name, on big name websites.
So this guy gets 30 months for physically duplicating AND SELLING stuff, while Jammie Thomas et al get smacked with million-dollar fines for downloading a few handfuls of unpaid tunes for their own personal enjoyment? Maybe THIS guy should be the one getting smacked with million-dollar fines, considering he might have made millions from what he was doing.
Agents and officers with the FBI Cybercrime Task Force, and U.S. Postal Inspectors are credited with the success of the case.
Er, no--credit monitoring software at the company he worked for!:
New monitoring software at Nationwide Insurance spelled the beginning of the end for an employee who had been counterfeiting and selling computer games for five years. The software alerted Nationwide officials to a spreadsheet that Qiang "Michael" Bi had sent from his personal e-mail account to his Nationwide e-mail account. The spreadsheet listed eBay accounts, credit-card numbers and false identity information that Bi used in a lucrative counterfeiting scheme.
The spreadsheet listed more than 50 eBay and PayPal accounts, all with different names. Bi told investigators he used other people's information on the accounts because eBay and PayPal had suspended his accounts and do not allow a new account with the same name and address as a suspended account.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Interestingly enough "bi" (sounds like "bee") is Mandarin Chinese for a particular part of female reproductive anatomy, which is frequently used as a pejorative. In fact, following an adjective like "sha" (stupid), "zhuang" (pretentious) or "ma" (mother's) it is the bread and butter the Chinese swearing vocabulary. “Qiang Bi" would translate to “tough c---", which would be an asset in prison.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
From TFA: He was sentenced to six months each for the mail fraud and copyright infringement crimes and an additional 24 months for the aggravated identity theft.
No trademark infringement? I doubt he was passing these off as the real thing, i.e., counterfeiting.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Drug runners? What is this, the 1970's? Pot/Meth is grown/cooked in houses/trailers. In other words, someones house. I read about meth and grow houses getting busted all the time. The only reason this is news is because it's a copy-write bust. These are rare, at least in the States.
are you aware that, what you sample above, is not even a tiny dot on a fly that lands on a huge pile of bullcrap, compared to what is happening in usa-mexico drug lane ? are you aware that, the drug cartels just next to your mexican border, are now equipped with SO expensive weapons that, their average equipment level is more than the average equipment of an u.s. army front line soldier ? do you think that is possible with just running a few hidden stashes of drugs to and fro from the border ?
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When spoken with a different tone it's also the word for a pen. My mandarin teacher used to freak out if we used the wrong tone. When asked why he couldn't explain without letting the cat out of the bag. Luckily the exchange student filled is in. Man, there was no learning to be had that day.
Governments multi-task - a concept that also seems strangely foreign to the geek.
Well said.
Why is it anything accomplished by government is always a waste of time and money just because something else (speakers pet project) is not accomplished first?
Its a hell of a lot easier and less expensive to take down a disk duplicator when the aggrieved copyright holder calls you up and tells you exactly where the disks are coming from and files an official complaint, than it is to invade yet another country to get Osama.
Who would want a government capable of solving all problems simultaneously and in the right sequence to satisfy every citizens priorities.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I think that "they" would catch anybody advertising on eBay and Amazon just as easily without regards for their field of criminal activities.
I heard several stories like this one before. One took place in the area where live. The guy they caught was advertising just about everywhere and he had a very similar thing going on in its home.
I think that he is the only guy ever charged with counterfeiting CDs around here. I have even heard cops saying on the news that they did not have the resources to start investigating every garage sale and such to verify the integrity of every CD sold and its provenance.
So I think that the guy just had as many chances of getting caught as any of the other criminals you mentioned given the level of precautions he was taking to run his business.
In cases like this ones, the police just have to take action whatever the infraction is. The infraction is too obvious and closing the case involves a pretty low budget compared to what a long term and more sophisticated investigation would require.
Usually, it is only a matter of one person reporting him to the police.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
He'd be an involuntary "organ donor". You don't even have to sign a donor consent form...
Two soldiers take an arm each, stand there, and a third soldier blasts one shot from a Kalashnikov to the back of the head.
Then, they move onto the next, uh, donor, while the army medics harvest your organs.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I can live another day knowing that less potential profit is being stolen (which is totally possible even though it doesn't even exist in the hands of the copyright holder anyway). It's really nice to see that petty things that should be up to the copyright holder to attempt to stop are being handled by the police (who don't have anything better to do).
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
counterfeit (tr. v.) 1. To make a copy of, usually with the intent to defraud
He defrauded the copyright holder for certain.
He may also have defrauded the buyer who may have thought they were buying legitimate goods.
Duplicating copyrighted material is both counterfeiting and infringing. So I'm at a loss to see your distinction here.
BTW:
Have you ever seen anyone advertise something as unauthorized copies?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
That and the fact he was ratted out by his employer for using company email addresses to move his secret lists of accounts.
Lets face it, the cops were handed this case on a silver platter.
Go here.
Arrest him.
Confiscate 300K in ill-gotten funds.
Have a beer.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Ah, good old westlake. Taking millions of slashdotters, rolling them into one ponderous abstraction and then putting words in their mouth ... that just never grows old for you, does it?
At least you've stopped capitalising the words, as if The Geek was some improbably enhanced superhero, and you his kid sidekick. I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies.
Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
Are you aware that, for every copyright imprisonment, hundreds of dealers and smugglers are arrested? Are you aware that you're full of shit when it comes to the "equipment" of the cartels?
Ok, those were rhetorical questions: I'm sure that you are aware - you're just intentionally ignoring any facts which are inconvenient to the "OMG DA FEDS SUCK" "argument".
Who would want a government capable of solving all problems simultaneously and in the right sequence to satisfy every citizens priorities.
Apparently "god" does it in "heaven". Which is one of the reasons I don't accept such stories; I find it difficult to believe that even an omnipotent being would simultaneously be able to please a group of democrats and a group of republicans. Needless to say, I expect even less from a human government.
tl;dr, but from the first couple sentences you seem like a complete lunatic, and from the lack of capitalization and the poor punctuation it seems unlikely that you're capable of making an intelligent point. Sorry to have bothered you.
Come on. Any of the settlements offered to Thomas-Rasset are outrageous, at different levels of outrageous.
They are all so far from fair that I just can't imagine that you genuinely believe that "a few thousand dollars" be "a pretty fair price". I must assume that you are a RIAA shill.
Setting aside the possible sleaziness of this particular guy; seen from another perspective it's pretty fantastic how much resources and time we waste on seeking out and punishing people for reorganizing a tiny bunch of molecules on worthless pieces of plastic.
Are you really implying that copyright law shouldn't be enforced because there are worse things going on in the world?
There are serial killers out there, but I sincerely hope the police make some sort of effort at catching the guys who stole $4,000 worth of tools from my father-in-law last week.
Whatever your opinion on copyright law, you've got to admit that copying another person's work and SELLING IT without them getting a cut is a dick move and shouldn't be tolerated.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
Fraud involves deception. He didn't even contact the copyright holders, so how could he have deceived them?
A counterfeit is something made to fool people into believing it's the real thing. If his sales showed pictures of DVD-Rs with Sharpie writing on them, for example, it would be clear that they were not the originals, and thus they would not be counterfeits. If, on the other hand, he printed the CDs to look like the originals, and printed up cases/boxes, and described then on his auction page as the real thing, then they would be counterfeit. It's all about whether the buyer knows that they are not official.
i take it you didnt dare read the linked article.
In 1989, the United States invaded Panama as part of Operation Just Cause, which involved 25,000 American troops. Gen. Manuel Noriega, head of government of Panama, had been giving military assistance to Contra groups in Nicaragua at the request of the U.S.—which, in exchange, allowed him to continue his drug-trafficking activities—which they had known about since the 1960s.[12][13] When the DEA tried to indict Noriega in 1971, the CIA prevented them from doing so.[12] The CIA, which was then directed by future president George H. W. Bush, provided Noriega with hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as payment for his work in Latin America.[12] However, when CIA pilot Eugene Hasenfus was shot down over Nicaragua by the Sandinistas, documents aboard the plane revealed many of the CIA's activities in Latin America, and the CIA's connections with Noriega became a public relations "liability" for the U.S. government, which finally allowed the DEA to indict him for drug trafficking, after decades of allowing his drug operations to proceed unchecked.[12] Operation Just Cause, whose ostensible purpose was to capture Noriega, killed numerous Panamanian civilians, but was successful in removing Noriega. The operation pushed Noriega back into the town asylum along with Papal Nuncio where he surrendered to U.S. authorities. His trial took place in Miami, where he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
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It is a dick move only because Western European society in the early modern era starting seeing it as a dick move. In Ancient Rome, an audience member would transcribe a poet's recital, have dozens of copies made by amanuenses, and then sold in the marketplace with no money going back to the poet. There's not a single instance of anyone complaining. Martial lampooned a guy who would put his own name on these copies, but plagiarism is distinct from mere copying. There continue to be cultures all over the world to this day where people don't understand copyright at all. Try explaining it to them, and they'll think you're a lunatic. If successive generations see increasingly less value in copyright, we're only returning to a state before what would see a freakish aberration of several hundred years.
Yes, various cultures have also believed it was noble to own slaves or perform human sacrifice. But I think that the nature of this issue, whether respecting copyright is objectively moral or a mere government fiat with the hope of encouraging production*, ought to be carefully examined instead of simply assuming without question that copyright must exist.
(This, incidentally, was the view of the American Founding Fathers. They had an acute sense of natural rights -- endowed by the Creator and only recognized by the government -- but did not consider copyright among them.)
Slashdot provides the stories its audience wants. The site does survive on ad revenue, after all; you want to keep telling people what they hear. The continual stream of positive stories about filesharing that Slashdot has posted over my decade on the site suggest that a large enough percentage of readers enjoy trading music, films and ebooks that a generalization like "You Slashdotters..." is understandable.
As if you would know what goes on at the U.S./Mexico border, troll.
It is because you are a paranoid, sociopathic troll.
Well, if we discount the prominent and vocal pro-rightsholder contingent, maybe. But yeah, it's understandable, if just a little lazy, and I'm sure we all do it from time to time.
In westlake's case though, it's not enough to project his straw man arguments onto merely the whole of Slashdot; he has to rewrite the opinions of "The Geek", as though every technically minded, mildly obsessive individual from petrolheads to stamp collectors must unarguably hold those exact opinions needed to make westlake's rant of the moment seem justified.
I wouldn't mind so much, but it's always struck me that there's something of the geek in the compulsive way he returns to those same stilted patterns of argument. Which would make him guilty of the very sins he decries on this board, at least to the extent that his logic holds up in the first place.
Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
I think you underestimate the amount and value of the equipment carried by your average US soldier.
The patriot act pushed meth manufacturing mostly into Mexico.
Hahaha, you'd like to think that, wouldn't you? There's so much meth being produced in California you'd think it was our primary export. I live in a town where a lot of it is produced. They expend absolutely zero effort on tracking them down and busting them because it's easier and cheaper to catch pot growers and there is less risk of being shot at; even the Mexican gang members tend to just fade away into the woods.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
He made over $700,000 on these counterfeited games.
He actually turned in over $360,000 IN CASH after being caught.
He was not a petty guy just making some copies for his friends etc.
So yeah, seriously, don't try and compare this guy to any fair use idea whatsoever, it's just going to hurt the whole fair use argument if you use him as an example.
It's guys like this that make it hard for the rest of us who just want to backup a game or install on another PC.
I'm a bit puzzled at the Editor's choice of a word - I'm sure that if I bought and played the game, it would work in the same way as the 'real' one - and the game was ~copied~, not 'created to resemble' as the word counterfeit implies. Yet I do understand that many are tiring of the word 'pirate'...
No, no sig. Really.
ThePromenader
its because you american right wingers are bigoted psychopaths who cant face truth. when you check my comments, moron, you will notice that all of them had been chain downmodded even if they were giving out FACTUAL information with links and references of information to the wrongdoings of united states, from united states government ITSELF.
bottom line is, you morons cant face the truth. its too much. here, again :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_drug_trafficking
CIA DOES DRUG TRAFFICKING AND SUPPORTS PETTY DICTATORS WITH DRUG MONEY.
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How is linking to Wikipedia sociopathical ? The CIA does drug trafficking or at least it did, were is the trolling in that statement, flamebait maybe but trol, no way !
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
When you banish anyone who thinks about not liking the way you do things it should be reasonably easy to please everyone who is left.
A buddy of mine who currently lives in Sacramento told me about a nature walk he took while in in elementary school in California:
These trees have been here for hundreds of years... and that's a meth shack, over there... if you look to your left, you can see a stream that runs off from a nearby natural spring... and there's another meth shack...
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
That's pretty much the story of Cobb mountain, except the PG&E guy estimates that 3 out of 5 houses are growing weed, and only 1 out of 5 is producing meth. The remaining house is vacant.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Copyright is a societal construction. It doesn't matter what other societies do. We, as a group of people, in this society have all decided to agree that copying other people's work without their permission is a dick move. That people in China don't feel that way is immaterial to me. I don't want to live in China. Now, you may say that those other countries have saner laws. But I know that the vast majority of those countries have nowhere near the entertainment industry that we do.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Is that actual value or the price they paid to buy it?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
hahahaha... oh man, that's a good one right there... I'll have to pass it along to my buddy! ;D
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Never been to Spokane, WA, have you?
What do you do for a living?
They had an acute sense of natural rights -- endowed by the Creator and only recognized by the government -- but did not consider copyright among them.
But they did consider not being ripped off by your government or your fellow citizens to be a right (they were most eloquent about the rights to one's property and works - just read the mountains of papers, letters, and other supporting documents produced by those wise fellows). What they didn't like was having to operate a press under the authority of the crown.
instead of simply assuming without question that copyright must exist
It's one of the most examined topics in the last couple hundred years. It's been the subject of endless academic hand-waving, court proceedings, legislation, contest, findings, and journalistic scrutiny. The rationale is well established and tested, and the basic ethics and good sense of it are plain as day, even if you don't feel like doing the paperwork.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
its simply they cant handle the truth. doesnt matter how solid it is.
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If the program isn't modified in any way, it's not counterfeit. The problem that someone wasn't compensated for the copy isn't counterfeting.
A counterfeit coin or paper bill actually has no value (unless the copy is so perfect, that nobody can tell!)
A pirated program has value, because it runs.
He committed fraud upon the customers, who thought they were getting the real thing.
Have you actually read TFA? (Of course not, what was I thinking!?!).
He was convicted of fraud. In a court of law. By a Judge and Lawyers that actually HAVE law degrees. Stop arguing about fraud. He pleaded guilty. He is guilty. That ship has sailed.
Quote TFA:
According to a statement of facts read during Bi’s plea hearing, agents executed a search warrant at Bi’s house and found multiple CD duplicators and more than 1,000 PRINTED counterfeit CDs.
He represented these as real, there is no evidence he showed sharpie disks. You made that up.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
(This, incidentally, was the view of the American Founding Fathers. They had an acute sense of natural rights -- endowed by the Creator and only recognized by the government -- but did not consider copyright among them.)
This is an outright falsification, sir. They very well did believe in copyright because they put it in Article I of the Constitution:
They didn't believe in the longer terms of copyright that we now employed, but they certainly recognized both the right to and the value of copyright itself.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I think GP means that the Founding Fathers did not consider copyright to be a natural right. Hence why that particular phrase that you've cited is worded the way it is - note that it is not the statement of fact, but is given a rationale as to why it is there ("to promote the progress"). So it's not a fundamental right of the author, but rather a (supposedly) mutually beneficial arrangement to promote the interests of society as a whole.
While I have sympathy towards your view points (well, some of them, anyway), you should try conveying them in a language that is more polite, or at least less aggressive and insulting. Regardless of the substance of the message, it will be seen as trolling if the tone is like that.
I find it difficult to believe that even an omnipotent being would simultaneously be able to please a group of democrats and a group of republicans.
There's also libertarians.
But, well, that's why it's a Trinity!
Arguably, Slashdot provides stories that generate most page views (and therefore ad views). And the best way to do so is to bring up subjects on which there is no universal agreement in the audience, but rather two or more opposing sides that are nigh impossible to reconcile. That way you get a massive flamewar in the comments (especially when TFS has flamebaiting clues already, though in practice you can always rely on Slashdotters for some decent flamebaits even in the absence of any invitation), and that means people writing lots of comments, and then opening the story again to read replies to those comments, etc. For those who use email notification for replies, it's the emails themselves which have ads.
The usual assortment of divisive topics is: US politics (just mention "Left" or "Right" in the summary, and bingo), religion (and associated: creationism etc), and, yes, copyright & piracy. Those are the fundamental ones that remain the same for years; others are circumstantial (e.g. Wikileaks is a good flamebait recently, but probably won't last for long).
unfortunately it doesnt matter how you convey it. regardless of your language, you will see that if anything you put forth is not compatible with any certain radical party's views (regardless of what the party is), you get trollmodded or reacted in harsh words. out of the blue. this has been such in my experience in the last 1 to 1.5 months. i tried varying approaches to tone and manner, substance and language, yet result is the same.
no surprise though. it is no different in real life. regardless of how politely, nicely, smoothly you put any fact that contradicts a certain biased group's views, there is a certain break point at which they will go medieval. what the tone changes is just the time that that breakpoint comes. in addition, there are some trigger subjects that instantly tick their breakpoint, regardless of what you say.
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Information wants to be free.
Rent wants to be paid.
(Incidentally I'm British and an atheist, not that that should matter)
It's official. Most of you are morons.
You agreed to it at the same time and in the same way as you agreed to every other law on your society's statute books - when you didn't move to a different society.
Like it or not, your continued membership of that society is implicit approval.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Apparently "god" does it in "heaven". Which is one of the reasons I don't accept such stories; I find it difficult to believe that even an omnipotent being would simultaneously be able to please a group of democrats and a group of republicans.
You seem to assume democrats and/or republicans go to heaven. There's an easier explaination...
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I am out of it, and I'm damned happy about it. It's just one sad example of many, but a pretty damned big one.
Everyone knows this because the news is 20 years old, you idiot. And no, I am not American.
maybe because of the bold part, that you still do not know that there are bazillions of americans that do not know that 20 year old news.
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So what's your point? Other societies handle this differently? Great. We are in this society and a logical argument can be made why this should be illegal. It is illegal. Therefore the guy was punished. "But it's ok in other societies" doesn't really hold up all that well in court. If you want to argue that it should be legal to do this, fine. But then we wouldn't get to have a lot of the nice stuff we get because people wouldn't want to put effort in to something they couldn't make a living doing.
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