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Nintendo ‘hacker’ out from prison early due to good behavior, has to pay 10 million

Needlecrash

Member
Piracy isn’t theft. The actual losses aren’t anywhere near 1:1 with the amounts stated in court since pirates are often people with low disposable incomes who wouldn’t buy the product if the piracy option didn’t exist. It’s not equivalent to stealing a car, where the owner of the car loses their property. Not a zero sum game like theft is. It’s not good, but not the same.

Ultimately he knew what he was doing and we take these matters seriously in the US since the integrity of business is fundamental to society. But people routinely get off with less for murder, rape, armed robbery, and assault. Currently there are 300 free people in NYC responsible for the majority of shoplifting in the entire city, thousands of cases, due to laws preventing them from being held. Cities are falling apart due to robbery and drug use going unchecked. Justice should be applied fairly.
Well said. I also read that report on 300 people doing most of the shoplifting and the Police just catch and release in NYC.

Ultimately, the punishment does NOT fit the crime in the Nintendo case. Dude already paid his debt to society. Telling to pay $30 million is not only ridiculous, but it's literally unattainable for the rest of his life. $500k? Maybe. $30 Million??? Like someone said, you better applying for Squid Game Season 2 to pay that shit off.
 

Miles708

Member
"commensurate" sounds like communism.

Sentence is not decided by me, nor you or even Nintendo which asked for 4.5M according to some source. Only a judge decides on direct an indirect harms based on many factors. From what I've read, Bowser estimate earnings are 320K dollars + lost incomes for piracy valued in some million dollars.
If the amount of his crimes have a "value" of 10M, that's it, and it's not an opinion.

You know what, you are not wrong here.
I guess my disappointment is more towards the legal system that enabled such a decision to take place at all, while people responsible of the collapse of entire banks just walk it off like nothing... but that's a different topic of discussion I guess.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
So theft is OK as long as its from a giant corporation?

Uh Huh Sure GIF
No, that is not what I said. What I said is that he has the right to not be enslaved to a giant corporation the rest of his life, saddled with a bill all acknowledge he can never pay back. There is a reason why indentured servitude is no longer allowed. Nintendo is not a person with a natural life and natural rights, he is, so those trump Nintendo’s bank accounts, yea. This isn’t even a question.

He went to jail, make him pay back his earnings ($300K or whatever), anything beyond that is some cyberpunk shit where a giant company owns this man’s life.
 

mnkl13

Member
Regardless of what he did, I'm not a supporter of corporations ruining people's entire lives financially for what is pennies to them. He's basically being made an example of, is this the middle ages?
well corporations are made of people, and in this case thousands of people... wasn't he trying to do the same thing, by ruining the business?
 

UnNamed

Banned
You know what, you are not wrong here.
I guess my disappointment is more towards the legal system that enabled such a decision to take place at all, while people responsible of the collapse of entire banks just walk it off like nothing... but that's a different topic of discussion I guess.
In a ideal and fair world, I would say to you it's important to prevent this crimes because this leads to company to have less money, less power, so lower wages or even layoffs, and so on, with consequences on society.

In the real world this happen in half: Bezos, Musk, Cook, Nadella, Furukawa, etc will have the same huge salary and people are still fired because "changed conditions" or "shrinking market" or "planets alignment".

But we still must prosecute this crimes because this can happen to Apple but also for the apple vendor, to Microsoft but also to Micro&Soft-Brothers from Pennsylvania, and the law is equal for everyone.
 

SoraNoKuni

Member
People defending a 10 million fine lol, of course he has be punished but that fine is enormous and it's silly at this point.
Justice works only for those who can afford it apparently, and that's ok for a lot of people here.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
No, that is not what I said. What I said is that he has the right to not be enslaved to a giant corporation the rest of his life, saddled with a bill all acknowledge he can never pay back. There is a reason why indentured servitude is no longer allowed. Nintendo is not a person with a natural life and natural rights, he is, so those trump Nintendo’s bank accounts, yea. This isn’t even a question.

He went to jail, make him pay back his earnings ($300K or whatever), anything beyond that is some cyberpunk shit where a giant company owns this man’s life.

Exactly. So theft is perfectly OK as long as it is of a major corporation and he should not be beholden to paying back the wages/profits he caused them to lose.

Uh Huh Sure GIF
 

Impotaku

Member
Nintendo should go one further he's never gonna pay it all back before he dies of old age, so keep it going on through his family with his kids & their kids too having to pay off the fine till it's all paid off.
the-grinch-evil-smile.gif
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Exactly. So theft is perfectly OK as long as it is of a major corporation and he should not be beholden to paying back the wages/profits he caused them to lose.

Uh Huh Sure GIF
You can’t be this dense. I said that he should pay back his proceeds and he did time in jail. But keep shilling for a big company, I’m sure they’ll remember this. The point of the legal system is justice, making someone a slave to a company for the rest of their life is totally unjust and morally wrong.
 
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coffinbirth

Member
Man his lawyer FUCKED him.
The determining factor in restitution was for loss in software sales, which included language that SXOS INCLUDED games. It didn't.
Nintendo themselves didn't even say this, it was mangled by the prosecution. His lawyers NUMBER ONE JOB was to get this language proven to be false, and it seems like he never did. Crazy.
 

Shifty1897

Member
Obviously piracy is illegal and there should be consequences for that. But this, and all of Nintendo's legal actions, are ruthless to the point of insanity.
No other company hates its fans as much as Nintendo does. Want to share a clip of you playing Breath of the Wild on YouTube? Fuck you, DMCA claim. Fuck you, copyright strike. Close your channel. No negotiation, no compromise.

They will absolutely contradict their own streaming guidelines if they decide you need to be scrubbed from the internet.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
You can’t be this dense. I said that he should pay back his proceeds and he did time in jail. But keep shilling for a big company, I’m sure they’ll remember this. The point of the legal system is justice, making someone a slave to a company for the rest of their life is totally unjust and morally wrong.

I am not shilling for a big company. I am "shilling" for justice. Which was not met.

But you keep trying to defend a criminal up on your high horse. Why do I get the feeling that you are defending him so hard because you are also guilty of a similar/same crime?
 
I am not shilling for a big company. I am "shilling" for justice. Which was not met.

But you keep trying to defend a criminal up on your high horse. Why do I get the feeling that you are defending him so hard because you are also guilty of a similar/same crime?
You’re right - justice was not met because the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I am not shilling for a big company. I am "shilling" for justice. Which was not met.

But you keep trying to defend a criminal up on your high horse. Why do I get the feeling that you are defending him so hard because you are also guilty of a similar/same crime?
I am defending the moral law and natural rights of a person over the artificial rights of a giant corporation. Unlike you, I am opposed to indentured servitude and corporate slavery.
 

Yoda

Member
The "$65 million in damages" Nintendo claims is a gross over-exaggeration of what transpired. The fine seems overly punitive for simply making it easier to pirate videogames and make a profit while you're doing it. As a west coaster who watches criminals get slaps on the wrists for violent offenses and am slowly finding "law and order" candidates more appealing, this punishment feels cruel. Perhaps an adjustment to $10 million or the next X years or income, whichever happens first, especially since he was sent to prison.
 
The "$65 million in damages" Nintendo claims is a gross over-exaggeration of what transpired. The fine seems overly punitive for simply making it easier to pirate videogames and make a profit while you're doing it. As a west coaster who watches criminals get slaps on the wrists for violent offenses and am slowly finding "law and order" candidates more appealing, this punishment feels cruel. Perhaps an adjustment to $10 million or the next X years or income, whichever happens first, especially since he was sent to prison.

The $65 million loss in damages was not a Nintendo claim, it was the US Justice Department that made that claim. And it was not just Nintendo that suffered the losses but also Microsoft and Sony.

“This piracy scheme is estimated to have caused more than $65 million in losses to video game companies,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “But the damage goes beyond these businesses, harming video game developers and the small, creative studios whose products and hard work is essentially stolen when games are pirated.”
As part of Team Xecuter, Bowser controlled websites that marketed the group’s products, announced new information about the products, and answered customer questions about the products. Bowser helped create and support online libraries of pirated videogames for its customers, and several of the enterprise’s devices came preloaded with pirated videogames. Even as game console companies announced new security features, Team Xecuter would roll out new devices designed to bypass such security.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/p...-notorious-videogame-piracy-group-sentenced-3

The leader of this Xecuter group also bragged about making lots of money, as in millions from piracy and had a nonchalent attitude about it. A direct quote from its leader, Max Louarn, "Stealing from companies that make billions, what do I care?"

While Bowser was not the head honcho, he was still heavily involved with a criminal organization that profited millions from piracy and in a way dared the video game companies and the authorities to do something. The FBI and Homeland Security has been on this case awhile. Not a good idea when you attract the attention of the US Federal Government through illicit activities and then have its leader bragged and dared anyone to do something about it.

Bowser should have hung with better people, or better yet, not be involved with a criminal organization where its leader bragged about making millions from piracy and basically dared someone to stop him.
 

Yoda

Member
The $65 million loss in damages was not a Nintendo claim, it was the US Justice Department that made that claim. And it was not just Nintendo that suffered the losses but also Microsoft and Sony.



https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/p...-notorious-videogame-piracy-group-sentenced-3

The leader of this Xecuter group also bragged about making lots of money, as in millions from piracy and had a nonchalent attitude about it. A direct quote from its leader, Max Louarn, "Stealing from companies that make billions, what do I care?"

While Bowser was not the head honcho, he was still heavily involved with a criminal organization that profited millions from piracy and in a way dared the video game companies and the authorities to do something. The FBI and Homeland Security has been on this case awhile. Not a good idea when you attract the attention of the US Federal Government through illicit activities and then have its leader bragged and dared anyone to do something about it.

Bowser should have hung with better people, or better yet, not be involved with a criminal organization where its leader bragged about making millions from piracy and basically dared someone to stop him.
Ahh good catch, I think the $65 million claim is even less credible coming from the US DOJ though. He certainly made a extreme judgement error and did prison time for it. However, said error (crime) DOES NOT fit this punishment which will be lifelong short of him becoming a multi millionaire.
 

PC Gamer

Has enormous collection of anime/manga. Cosplays as waifu.
Regardless of what he did, I'm not a supporter of corporations ruining people's entire lives financially for what is pennies to them. He's basically being made an example of, is this the middle ages?
He ruined his own life.
 
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