Slashdot Mirror
Man Tunnels Into GameStop, Steals Games
An anonymous reader writes "Life imitates Minecraft: Computer game piracy is big business, but there are still those who prefer to get their games the old-fashioned way: by digging a tunnel into their local games shop and making off with as much stock as they can carry. At least, that's the slightly bizarre approach taken by a man from Greeneville, Tennessee, who was arrested late last week after being caught tunneling into his local GameStop store from an empty adjoining building."
Note that the link is thin, and the sources are behind logins and subscription links, so please post better URLs if you can find them.
Note that the link is thin, and the sources are behind logins and subscription links, so please post better URLs if you can find them.
Isn't that your job?
"Note that the link is thin, and the sources are behind logins and subscription links, so please post better URLs if you can find them."
Er, no? That's what I expect a story-poster to do for me? Or the editors? You know, those *paid* people?
Might as well say "Vague story happens but you can only read about it on other sites - help us do our job and find other people's coverage so we can post the link here!"
Seriously, as the days go buy, there's less and less reason to come to this site, and less and less reason to pay for a subscription.
He was just playing Dig Dug ;)
The boy just played far too much Minecraft.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
You get a lot more for a game in original packaging with unused serial number than you do for a CD-R labelled with a marker pen and crack instructions in a text file somewhere.
If he had been caught "pirating" those games, then it would be game over. He would be in debt forever with the multimillion dollar fine. But after this little burglary he will soon be out of jail and all out of debt, ready to enjoy life again.
Felony burglarly: State offense, 2-12 years in state prison, plus a $5000 fine. Likely at least two counts because two buildings were involved, but I'd expect the sentences to be served concurrently. Quite likely to be plea-bargained, and parole is available.
Criminal copyright infringement under the No Electronic Theft Act: 5 years imprisonment in pound-me-in-the-ass Federal Prison (plea bargain unlikely and parole unavailable), a fine of up to $250,000, plus civil penalties of up to $100,000 per work infringed.
Neither is likely to be much fun, but it looks like criminal copyright infringement still carries higher penalties. Note that if this is a second offense it goes up to 10 years imprisonment in PMITA Federal Prison.
Pay attention people: This is what actual theft looks like.
Found a link to the local paper. Not that hard to find. But light on the details.
Maybe so, but the real questions is...
Did they have Battletoads?
Tell me about it. Game and Gamestation do the same thing over here, as well as a bunch of the other usual retailers - HMV, the superstores, etc. and it was the final nail in me just not buying from them any more. It's bad enough that I have to worry about the fact that they stick the disk in some crappy cardboard sleeve tossed in a drawer (they don't seem to take particular care handling these things and they're a pain to return disks for scratches so you basically have to micro-inspect the disk in the store before you take it away), or that they've forgot to include all the manuals, DLC codes, etc that are meant to be with the game, and that's without even considering the fact that a less ethical employee might be selling multiplayer serials and such online - they're meant to be sealed for a reason! There's only one of the big high street retailers I can buy from now without them pre-opening everything (Argos, in case you wondered).
The dude just busted a hole in the wall. In my world, a tunnel goes underground, and I think the reason the story seemed so good is that was inferred.
It wasn't so much "tunneling", as it was "breaking through the drywall from the adjacent store", which he'd forcibly entered by prying a door open. Pretty sloppy job.
Eye patches are just for pirates that don't know how to treat a parrot.
My God! It's full of eval()'s.
I had a conversation with an avowed American "patriot" railing against the draconian laws of countries like Iran where infidelity can get you stoned to death. My counter was similar to this example. You Westerners have even more draconian laws that don't even make sense. In the Western world, copying and idea will get you thrown into prison and bankrupted. And in a capitalistic society, being bankrupted is equivalent to an amputation of the limbs or even death. It seems, copyright infringements is the equivalent of religious heresy in secular capitalist countries.