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Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

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Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#141

Post by worrycue »

marcodiego wrote: post #84
codezero wrote: post #62

I was a member of Razor back in the day. I noticed that he mentioned he wouldn't say how he got Quake released before release date. I can share how I participated in an early release: I had befriended the manager of Electronics Boutique because I bought frequently there for many years prior to getting into pirating games. He would give me games that arrived but weren't on the shelf yet. From there, it was uploaded to…

"...adults got sent to jail and had their lives ruined." I'm sure it is a polemic terrain, but I really wonder if this is fair. Eager to hear opinions.

I think the penalties of many laws weren’t made with fairness in mind but deterrence. The penalty goes up until crime rate comes down. It makes sense I guess, it’s not meant to be a trade - much less a fair one - but to stop/reduce crime.

Edit: That said, super heavy penalties for what are often victimless crimes might not be good for society overall - might be better to allow the existing offence rate for that crime.

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#142

Post by codezero »

ocardoso wrote: post #137
codezero wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Initial motivation was being a teenager without enough money to buy all the new computer games coming out. From there, it was partly just excitement using new technology that was relevant to the scene (Linux, high speed networks, cool ANSI art). In general scene cred was a big motivator. I also ran a BBS, and being well known in the scene also meant that artists made you great art for your board for free, which was a…

I didn't do any cracking, but I was a teenager in the late 90s and I share your thoughts on the way that computers and the internet eventually opened up my experience. I ended up making friends with any internet café owner in my city because that was the only reasonable place to use the internet before broadband. Thanks for sharing!

Happy to share! I ended up working for an ISP at 16 so I could have T1 access and free ISDN at home. I was lucky the scene provided motivation to teach myself Linux and sysadmin stuff, which is where my career ended up going at the time.

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#143

Post by dwater »

jandrese wrote: post #115
cortesoft wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I never understand people who get mad at ‘lenient’ sentences for crimes. There are no crimes I would commit where, say, 1 year in prison wouldn’t be a deterrent but 5 years would be. If the point of prison is to deter crime, then adding longer sentences isn’t going to change anything.

It is interesting to see the raw visceral reaction to the DC council attempting to reduce prison sentences for crimes committed in the city. Congress even got involved to make sure it didn't happen, which has not happened in decades. Apparently a 14 year sentence for carjacking is not enough deterrent, it must be 20 years according to Congress, the President, and even the mayor of DC.

That’s all politicking. There are lots of states with lesser penalties for the same crime including plenty of red states. Republicans just see this as another facet in the culture wars they can use to scare their constituents.

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#144

Post by nirvgorilla »

codezero wrote: post #62

I was a member of Razor back in the day. I noticed that he mentioned he wouldn't say how he got Quake released before release date. I can share how I participated in an early release: I had befriended the manager of Electronics Boutique because I bought frequently there for many years prior to getting into pirating games. He would give me games that arrived but weren't on the shelf yet. From there, it was uploaded to…

[dead]

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#145

Post by worrycue »

cortesoft wrote: post #52
sedatk wrote: post #26

I'm pretty sure that I'd have stopped with just probation, yes. Having the feds raid your house, confiscate all your gear, and put you through the hell of their investigations for a year was enough of a wake up call for me. The gap between a sufficient punishment and what he actually got is the harshest reality in all this. It's very similar to what people have gone through for small marijuana related offenses.

This is why I never understand people who get mad at ‘lenient’ sentences for crimes. There are no crimes I would commit where, say, 1 year in prison wouldn’t be a deterrent but 5 years would be. If the point of prison is to deter crime, then adding longer sentences isn’t going to change anything.

People do things because they get something out of it and most will weight the risk of penalties vs the benefit. A long sentence would probably be harder to justify in the minds of would be offenders.

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#146

Post by mlyle »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #140
mlyle wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naaah. If you're doing it for profit, and running a big duplicator farm or selling things online, it can make sense for it to be a criminal offense. But the laws are not crafted that well.

Why would that be the case. It's a breach of contract. They should repay the damaged counterpart if they can prove they had a sales contract in place.

> It's a breach of contract.

Says your own novel legal theory, which has as much basis as trying to tell the cop that's pulled me over that I'm a sovereign citizen.

> They should repay the damaged counterpart if they can prove they had a sales contract in place.

We give monopolies on copying to encourage production of high quality yet easily-copyable work. If someone can just immediately start selling the good without any of the production costs, that's no bueno for society. It's the free-rider problem.

Re: Shane Pitman, leader of the warez group Razor 1911: life after prison (2005)

#148

Post by projektfu »

wolverine876 wrote: post #95
projektfu wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, wages, salaries, payroll taxes and contractor expenses, along with most other expenses, are subtracted from gross profit to make net profit, which may undergo further reduction in various charges (depreciation, etc) before being subject to tax, and then various tax credits may be applied that reduce the corporate liability further. Double taxation occurs when a corporation is subject to corporate tax and then pay…

> Double taxation occurs when a corporation is subject to corporate tax and then pays a dividend, which is after tax, but counts as income to the investor. There are arguments to be made that this is fair or unfair. Even calling it double-taxation seems like BS. Generally, we tax at the point of exchange: income, sales, etc. Money moves around endlessly. It's taxed when the consumer pays the corporation (often twice!…

I don't disagree, but S-corporation profits are only taxed once, regardless of distribution, and C-corporation profits are taxed on the corporate tax bill even if distributed in a dividend to shareholders. It's a little peculiar.
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