ESA happy about prison sentences for game pirates

Looks like Kevin Fuch'd up.

Tee hee.

That picture is absolutely perfect.

When will people ever learn? If you want to break the law, get into politics.

I didn't like the idea of prison time until I read how much they made... 8O Maybe prison is a fitting end...

Hmmm they seem pretty industrious, maybe if they could be pushed in the right direction they could do something pretty successful.

now if we can only do something about them pesky pirate downloaders... a jail sentence would be nice too, but i suppose that might be a tad overkill? i dunno.

Noone has a problem (except those "I don't pay for fake property!" hippie retards) with them going after people that are profiting from the hard work of others. Bootleggers should get the harshest penalty that is applicable.

Also... "ESA to Pirate: Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! HA-HA!"

Do you mean to say that breaking the law has potential consequences?! Seriously though, if you are making that much cash off stolen stuff you can't exactly be going a low-key route.

... :(

When I first heard about the punishment (before hearing about the crime) I thought it seemed harsh, but then I realized they sold some of these famiclones in local malls around here, and I wondered how they could get past the piracy crap and I even noticed how they renamed some games (to more popular names like Tekken). Yes, the guy deserves the punishment, in this case.

Thanks good I live in Mexico, xDDDDDD

Stupid bastards, getting a copy for yourself if you weren't going to buy it is one thing but making illegal copies and distributing them for your own profit? That's fucked up, that breaks copyright laws. You'd think those billions of warnings before videos would have tought them something.

@CJLopez

I "thanks good" you live in Mexico too.

Maybe they should put the people who keep churning out Sims 2 expansions in jail. That would stop their piracy altogether. Imagine if someone was dumb enough to buy everything at launch for that game.

The Sims 2: $50
University: $35
Nightlife: $35
Open for Business: $35
Pets: $35
Seasons: $35
Bon Voyage: $35
FreeTime: $35
Apartment Life: $35
Holiday Party Pack: $20
Family Fun Stuff: $20
Glamour Life Stuff: $20
Happy Holiday Stuff: $20
Celebration Stuff: $20
H&M Fashion Stuff: $20
Teen Style Stuff: $20
Kitchen and Bath Interior Design Stuff: $20
IKEA Home Stuff: $20
Castaway Stories: $20
Pet Stories: $20
Life Stories: $20

Total: $570. Disgusting.

That's probably the most appropriate picture for any article ever

Those guys deserved the sentence. They stole big. I think one or two games should give you a warning or fine. Not a prison sentence. I don't pirate games, so I'm good :)

I can picture it now. These two nerds getting butt-raped because they pirated games, serves them right

The ESA are a bunch of rats.

.... o0 ... *closes uTorrent*

Let me get this straight. A man makes above $300,000, which is well above what most people make in a year or a lifetime in some cases, and all he gets is 15 months in jail. Doesn't that seem a little light?

This story makes it sound as if the pirates here were lifting thousands of dollars worth of 0-day warez and selling them. In fact, the pirated games in question are NES titles. They're abandonware, and not currently sold by their owners.

Ok, granted, these guys are technically breaking the law (as are most of you, if you've ever downloaded ROMs and such for an emulator, or have certain trademarked characters appearing as an icon). And they're a step above the casual pirate because they're profiteering. However, these things are only illegal because of the perversion of copyright. Under original copyright laws, games this old would already have been forced into the public domain, and it would be, and should be, perfectly legal for anyone to reproduce and sell them, if they were willing to take on the financial risk in doing so (that's how old books get reprinted).

The fact that the publishers have no interest in publishing these games should indicate that they have long passed the point of fair compensation for these works. It doesn't benefit society to have these properties locked up forever, and it is *only* the law that prevents copies from being distributed.

So yes, under the current copyright system, these guys committed serious offenses and you can't say much else from a legal standpoint. But if anything, this should serve as a wake-up call to voters to block new copyright addendums, and for legislators to overturn the addendums that have been added in the past. Note that these laws make it so that YOUR grandchildren will likely be dead before Super Mario Bros enters public domain. And it doesn't answer this question: what did Shigeru Miyamoto's grandchildren do that they should be entitled to collect royalties from yours?

Current copyright law has nothing to do with fair compensation, it currently serves only to build IP dynasties and allows authors to renege on their part of the social contract. Copyright is not a human right. It is a government-granted monopoly that was created for economic, not moral, reasons. There is no moral right to stop people from copying things, only a right to receive fair (not "eternal" or "limitless") compensation for creating the work. As a non-violent crime that has only economic damages, the penalties should not include lengthy jail time. Send the guys to the poor house but let them keep their freedom and let them get jobs doing something productive. Sending these people to prison for years, where they'll be living off your dime as a taxpayer, where previously they were productive, non-violent, self-sufficient individuals, is not smart. The payoff for society will come at the end of those prison sentences, when we put two now-hardened criminals back on the streets because someone decided that this was a great tradeoff to get game publishers a few more bucks on their inventory of old games.

To me, this is another example of how the ESA is only interested in working for game publishers and not for you.

Don't drop the soap in the prison :)