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

You are barbaric if you would actually essentially financially imprison someone for a lifetime for something as meaningless and incorporeal as "perceived" lost profits, the jail time is enough as it is

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The Law and its enforcement have to be general and so "only" lost profits could have led to the closure of a business and the termination of hundreds or even thousands of people's livelihoods.

Let's not pretend that theft from corporations is a victimless crime.
 

bender

What time is it?
Why is the US legal system this weird? The dude pleaded guilty and the amount he got is not anywhere near 10 million. Just because the dude can’t higher the same fancy lawyers Nintendo has?

Damages were probably deemed to outweigh more than just the money he earned from distribution. Think of it like the AIDs scare ads you saw as a teenager that sleeping with one person could equate to sleeping with dozens or hundreds.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Not defending Nintendo, but when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Did people suddenly forget about consequences?
I don't even see "Nintendo" in all of this, did they suddenly change the rules of the game to make stealing illegal? Because last I knew here where I am, where I was and there in America, and basically everywhere, stealing is a crime.

I'd feel bad for the guy but it's not like they're punishing a child or a mentally disabled person that can't recognize whether they did something wrong or not.

People here have to understand that when you let people go unpunished, other people will take example and will know how far to push since the punishment doesn't seem that bad at all, that's a state of chaos, we live through that shit on a daily basis in latinamerica, you don't enforce law hard enough and people will fuck you as much as they can.
 

Varteras

Member
Gary Bowser tossed in prison thanks to Doug Bowser with a Mario movie that just came out with Jack Black playing Bowser. This is, by far, the best marketing strategy I've ever seen.
 

GMCamaro

Member
The fine is, in my opinion, ridiculous. They are clearly ‘making an example’ with the $10 million dollar fine applied to an individual that, by all evidence, has no way to pay that amount in his lifetime (he’s 50+).

Nintendo KNOWS they aren’t getting that 10 mil. Everyone knows this; it’s pure intimidation.

Let the punishment fit the crime. I am not a criminal justice expert, so I am not in the position of saying what punishment is appropriate. However, any case of the courts ‘making an example’ out of someone is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
Is there's a legitimate reason to boycott a company, this is it.

Ruining a man financially for the rest of his life for an amount the corporation won't even notice anyway?

This is plain evil.
This is indeed just a joker behavior. It is not about the money it is just about sending a message. It is fucked up.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
Is there's a legitimate reason to boycott a company, this is it.

Ruining a man financially for the rest of his life for an amount the corporation won't even notice anyway?

This is plain evil.
Why blame Nintendo? It’s not like they forced him to commit the crimes?

If you’re gonna boycott Nintendo over this, you would probably be shocked at how every corporation would do the same exact thing.

You guys are focused on how much he financially gained, not how much Nintendo was able to show the courts they lost.

But again, don’t be a criminal and you don’t have to worry about this.
 

Skifi28

Member
I like how the victim trying to get back what’s owed to them are the bad guy in this scenario.

Won’t somebody please think of the criminals!!!
I don't get this kind of thinking. Yes, we should be thinking of how to treat criminals fairly in a civilised society. The whole point is reform, not punishing them as harshly as possible as deterrent for future criminals. Otherwise just dig a deep pit and throw everybody that commits any crime inside. Then set it all on fire. There, done.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Is there's a legitimate reason to boycott a company, this is it.

Ruining a man financially for the rest of his life for an amount the corporation won't even notice anyway?

This is plain evil.
Oh man if that’s all it takes for you to boycott a company then you should stop buying clothes, electronics and chocolates all together.
 
Why blame Nintendo? It’s not like they forced him to commit the crimes?

If you’re gonna boycott Nintendo over this, you would probably be shocked at how every corporation would do the same exact thing.

You guys are focused on how much he financially gained, not how much Nintendo was able to show the courts they lost.

But again, don’t be a criminal and you don’t have to worry about this.
Fanboys are always looking for an excuse, any excuse to hate a company. If someone stole three quarters of a million dollars from their family or business, you can bet your ass they'd be on the other side of the fence asking for the max sentence while seeking the max compensation.
 

freefornow

Member
Does Canada have a good Social Security system for the unemployed? Is it similar to Australia where you receive a fortnightly benefit of AU$600 (with mutual obligations). Assuming Nintendo couldn't touch that as it's technically not earned income? Live off social security (barely) and Nintendo won't see a cent?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Does Canada have a good Social Security system for the unemployed? Is it similar to Australia where you receive a fortnightly benefit of AU$600 (with mutual obligations). Assuming Nintendo couldn't touch that as it's technically not earned income? Live off social security (barely) and Nintendo won't see a cent?
Not sure about Canada's social security or unemployment systems, but I know that here in the US these things can't be garnished. HOWEVER - the company and court can petition to have a garnishment like this taken directly from someone's bank account, which has the same net effect.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
He cost them $65 million !? Fuck me… no wonder they want 30%. He took a very significant from a company.

If those numbers are true.
 

calistan

Member
He cost them $65 million !? Fuck me… no wonder they want 30%. He took a very significant from a company.

If those numbers are true.
That's the problem - they absolutely can't prove he cost them any amount of money at all. What Nintendo offered to the court originally was an arbitrary estimate of $65-150m, and that was just taken as fact at the lower end of the range.

Basically, they have no idea how many of these devices were used for piracy, they don't know how many games the average user pirated, and they are only guessing at how many pirate downloads would otherwise have been legitimate sales. The guy was sentenced based on a corporate lawyer's guesswork.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I agree it's extreme, but it's not pennies, just because they are a big corp doesn't make them ignore sums of money.

It's how the law judges economic crimes in the same bracket as really evil people that's the issue.

And everyone here would do the same as Nintendo. Everyone takes what they can in court. Everyone would do the same, including everyone on here. We are all inherently cruel under the right circumstances.

You do not speak for me or anyone else, dude. You speak for you and only you.
 
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Saber

Member
You want to live in a world where corporations can own you for the rest of your life if you fuck up?

Whatever floats your boat I guess, seems excessive, slightly.

Agree. Aren't people not seeing that the company made basically a slave out him?

The people who defend this better pray this never happen to a familiar or someone close they care.
 
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The face of it Nintendo makes kids games that are colorful and happy

Behind the scenes they ruin peoples lives. $10 million is ludicrous.
 
Interesting takes ITT as these sorts of Switch hacks, if I understand correctly, enable copying of games e.g. playing them for free instead of buying them. So the punishment isn't really about the hacker and his livelihood, it's more about the damages caused. Do you sing the same sympathy song for say 25 developers or an indie/small studio that closed or lost jobs due to uncollected revenues being the fallout of such hacks? The material cost could very well be something like 25,000 gamers downloading 10 games each and playing them for free e.g. 250,000 game sales gone in the blink of an eye. It effects industry, which affects real people well beyond the poor victim hacker e.g. developers, marketers, designers etc.

This is why illegal behaviour is made an example of in such cases.
 
Let the punishment fit the crime. I am not a criminal justice expert, so I am not in the position of saying what punishment is appropriate. However, any case of the courts ‘making an example’ out of someone is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

Judgements that are to make an example of someone are made all the time. On the criminal side that would be the death penalty. On the civil side its those huge jury awards from punitive damages.
 

CGNoire

Member
This is just going to lead him back into the criminal world where he will just stop reporting income and work mostly underground jobs from now on.

Nintendo has always been a bunch of greedy shitheads.
 
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