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Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

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Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#61

Post by Sakos »

manuelmoreale wrote: post #42
Sakos wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... so what? How does any of that justify such a severe punishment? It's insanity. Who actually was hurt by the piracy? Nintendo is still printing money. They're not bankrupt, they're not measurably worse off. None of their employees were hurt. How can what he did possibly justify having to pay a significant part of his income for the rest of his life?

What do you think is an appropriate punishment in this case? I see your point about nintendo still printing money but unfortunatelly that's the reality of our society. Apparently Nintendo made some 15B in revenue last year. Would that punishment be ok if they made 5B? Or 500M? At what point does the punishment become acceptable?

> Apparently Nintendo made some 15B in revenue last year. Would that punishment be ok if they made 5B? Or 500M? At what point does the punishment become acceptable?

Honestly, I don't see how this form of punishment would ever be acceptable. This is a life-long debt we're talking about. This is the kind of punishment I might imagine in "you destroyed a town's water supply and all the newborns died" territory.

Companies do significantly worse things that affect millions of lives. They walk away with a slap on the wrist. Destroy lives? Insignificant fine or they settle with some people and they keep doing bad things. Companies can literally steal money from its employees and nothing will happen to them. Somebody "steals" money from a company? Destroy his life. Make an example of him.

When are we going to make an example of companies? Never? Okay, then I'm on the pirate's side with zero hesitation.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#64

Post by pipes »

xyst wrote: post #17

Copyright law is so archaic. Going to jail for “pirating games” is just absurd to me. Nintendo and backers of copyright law clearly using this guy as an example to not fuck with our wares or else we will send our multimillion dollar legal team at you. Copyright and patent law is holding the west back. Can’t create a product without stepping on some patent trolls alleged “IP”

So videogame piracy should be allowed? This might act as a slight disincentive to making new games.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#65

Post by kelnos »

pipes wrote: post #64
xyst wrote: post #17

Copyright law is so archaic. Going to jail for “pirating games” is just absurd to me. Nintendo and backers of copyright law clearly using this guy as an example to not fuck with our wares or else we will send our multimillion dollar legal team at you. Copyright and patent law is holding the west back. Can’t create a product without stepping on some patent trolls alleged “IP”

So videogame piracy should be allowed? This might act as a slight disincentive to making new games.

Except it won't, because copyright infringement will never replace enough purchases to actually matter.

I don't think most people would say we should abolish copyright completely, but the current situation is just dumb. The copyright term is way too long. And having governments enforce a company's business model at the end of a gun is gross.

At most, there should be financial penalties for violations. Depriving someone of their freedom for making/selling tools that enable copyright infringement is messed up. As is making someone pay a quarter of their income in restitution for the rest of their life.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#66

Post by kelnos »

manuelmoreale wrote: post #42
Sakos wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... so what? How does any of that justify such a severe punishment? It's insanity. Who actually was hurt by the piracy? Nintendo is still printing money. They're not bankrupt, they're not measurably worse off. None of their employees were hurt. How can what he did possibly justify having to pay a significant part of his income for the rest of his life?

What do you think is an appropriate punishment in this case? I see your point about nintendo still printing money but unfortunatelly that's the reality of our society. Apparently Nintendo made some 15B in revenue last year. Would that punishment be ok if they made 5B? Or 500M? At what point does the punishment become acceptable?

It's irrelevant how much Nintendo made. Sentencing someone to debt for the rest of their life is a cruel and unusual punishment.

(And no, let's not bring up something like educational debt. That's something that's taken on by choice.)

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#67

Post by mock-possum »

pipes wrote: post #64
xyst wrote: post #17

Copyright law is so archaic. Going to jail for “pirating games” is just absurd to me. Nintendo and backers of copyright law clearly using this guy as an example to not fuck with our wares or else we will send our multimillion dollar legal team at you. Copyright and patent law is holding the west back. Can’t create a product without stepping on some patent trolls alleged “IP”

So videogame piracy should be allowed? This might act as a slight disincentive to making new games.

Yes, video game piracy should be allowed. Copying is not theft.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#68

Post by BizarroLand »

mock-possum wrote: post #67
pipes wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So videogame piracy should be allowed? This might act as a slight disincentive to making new games.

Yes, video game piracy should be allowed. Copying is not theft.

I mean, that you can be criminally prosecuted for ripping DVDs and Blurays you own to a digital format is insanity.

If you own a nintendo game and a cartridge, make a rom of it, and then play that rom on a more lifestyle compatible system then it shouldn't be a big deal.

I think the copyright on video games should end at 7 years, maybe 10 at the worst. You have a decade from the date of publication to make your money on that version of the game. What percentage of games are profitable 10 years after publication? I know there are a few, minecraft, WOW, Skyrim, COD, but even if there are 500 games on the 10+ list, that pales in comparison to the number of games that come out every year.

I bet most 7-10 year old games are lost to history, if you include ALL video games and not just the breakout hits and AAA best sellers.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#69

Post by manuelmoreale »

kelnos wrote: post #66
manuelmoreale wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think is an appropriate punishment in this case? I see your point about nintendo still printing money but unfortunatelly that's the reality of our society. Apparently Nintendo made some 15B in revenue last year. Would that punishment be ok if they made 5B? Or 500M? At what point does the punishment become acceptable?

It's irrelevant how much Nintendo made. Sentencing someone to debt for the rest of their life is a cruel and unusual punishment. (And no, let's not bring up something like educational debt. That's something that's taken on by choice.)

I agree it’s irrelevant. I only mentioned revenues because the parent comment mentioned Nintendo still making ton of money.

And so I was wondering at what point does that becomes relevant.

I’m not entirely sure I agree with you on the cruel and unusual punishment though.

I have a relative who’s in a similar situation because of some unpaid taxes. A fifth of her paycheck goes to the state automatically for example.

Re: Nintendo Hacker Freed, Now Owes Them 25-30% of Salary for Life

#70

Post by manuelmoreale »

anonzzzies wrote: post #45
manuelmoreale wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think is an appropriate punishment in this case? I see your point about nintendo still printing money but unfortunatelly that's the reality of our society. Apparently Nintendo made some 15B in revenue last year. Would that punishment be ok if they made 5B? Or 500M? At what point does the punishment become acceptable?

The 40 months behind bars was more than enough imho. It should’ve been just the fine though.

Jail time for this kind of crimes is pretty useless imo. As for the fine and the size of it, that is hard to judge. Not sure how they determined those 15 millions but I’d have set the size of time fine to be identical to the revenues earned from the illegal activity. That would be fair imo.
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