The hacker whose involvement with anti-piracy software ended in a jail sentence has emerged from prison struggling to make rent as he starts paying his fine. ‘It could be worse,’ he says
  • zqwzzle@lemmy.caEnglish
    219·
    9 months ago

    If only the legal system would also fine companies many times their earning potential for their infractions.

    • OrangeCorvus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      92·
      9 months ago

      Well they should have fined Facebook for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a couple of trillions. That would have taught a lot of companies about ethics how to not lose all your money.

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
        14·
        9 months ago

        Instead we issue paltry fines to corporations. Simply, because we have convinced the public that corporations are job creators. Who doesn’t love a job creator!?

  • LarmyOfLone@lemm.eeEnglish
    130·
    9 months ago

    Legally, he’s not allowed to mess around with modern gaming hardware.

    I find these things very disgusting. Not sure if that extends to computers in general. But courts can and have basically prevented “hackers” from taking part in modern life or use the skills they are good at to make ends meet.

  • Gork@lemm.eeEnglish
    112·
    9 months ago

    he also, improbably, shares it with Nintendo of America’s current president, Doug Bowser

    Nintendo really has a thing for Bowsers. They arrested one, and have another as its CEO.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      261·
      9 months ago

      At this point, I refuse to give Nintendo any money. I love their games, but the way they run their company is horrible. Screwing this guy over is just one point on a very long list.

      • Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        61·
        9 months ago

        Honestly if I had heard about this case before I bought my switch I probably would have said the same now I feel like I have a piece of Hardware that I barely use anyway that I feel like I shouldn’t have bought.

        Granted I feel like this is kind of his own fault, not because of his involvement with it but because it seems like he just literally folded without a fight. I think it’s yet actually fought the charges, yes it would have cost time and money in the long run but I don’t think it would be as bad as what the punishment they gave was.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldEnglish
    93·
    9 months ago

    14 million dollars. What a stupid and useless punishment, even as an example to others. Cruel and unusual. Anyone going to the piracy level of the crew he was involved in isn’t going to be deterred. They’ll take their chances. All this did was make some dude with a hard life suffer more. That’s multiple lifetimes of money that a billion dollar corporation will never see, or need. Way to go, court system. Ruining a life for no good reason.

  • Lad@reddthat.comEnglish
    881·
    9 months ago

    Financially enslaved for life by a corporation. What a sick world we live in. Fuck Nintendo.

  • sir_reginald@lemmy.worldEnglish
    751·
    9 months ago

    fuck paying Nintendo for life. I hope he can move to a country where Nintendo won’t be able to enforce anything and start a new life. He committed a victimless crime which shouldn’t even be a crime IMO and even worse, he was imprisoned for it. And now he has to live as a slave for Nintendo the rest of his life?

    I don’t really know which countries would legally shield him from Nintendo’s bullshit tho.

  • brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    73·
    9 months ago

    Bowser maintains that he could have fought the allegations, and that other members of the hacking group remain at large. … It was easier, he claims, to plead guilty … Bowser now has to send Nintendo 20-30% of any money left over after he pays for necessities such as rent.

    … Bowser … thinks that after rent, he has a couple of hundred dollars leftover for food and other necessities. He assumes he’ll be turning to food support services.

    Love charities supporting Nintendo. Good making an example out of him! That’ll teach future hackers to use TOR, I mean not do it!

  • Furbag@lemmy.worldEnglish
    561·
    9 months ago

    More proof that justice is a multi-tiered system in America. Restrictions over cruel and unusual punishment don’t apply to to the bottom rung of society when you have made the mistake of offending a rich capitalist or corporation.

  • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    9 months ago

    You should be allowed to modify your own hardware. Bowser does not “owe” Nintendo, they and the law gave him an offer he can’t refuse.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    412·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    He got briefly caught up with the law during a stint fixing games consoles at flea markets, which nearly implicated him alongside vendors who sold pirated movies.

    It was here that Bowser – who, in a case of nominative determinism that feels almost too trite to acknowledge, shares a name with Super Mario’s in-game antagonist – started becoming the face of Nintendo piracy.

    In the late 00s he made contact with Team Xecuter, a group that produces dongles used to bypass anti-piracy measures on Nintendo Switch and other consoles, letting them illegally download, modify and play games.

    While he says he was only paid a few hundred dollars a month to update their websites, Bowser says the people he worked with weren’t very social and he helped “testers” troubleshoot devices.

    “And suddenly I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head … they dragged me out of the place, put me in the back of a pickup truck and drove me to the Interpol office.”

    While inside, Bowser couldn’t always get the medical attention he needed, he claims, and even when he did, the realities of prison still exacerbated his health issues – he has elephantiasis in his left leg.

    The original article contains 1,444 words, the summary contains 207 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      9 months ago

      I’m always surprised with the enormous show of force in cases like this. I would imagine sending him a letter informing him that he and his lawyer need to show up at the police/fbi/otherAlphabetAgency office on date X would have been sufficient.

      • slaacaa@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        Don’t worry, if a big corporation would have defrauded him for a few millions, I’m sure they would have gotten a letter.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
        1711·
        9 months ago

        Ruby Ridge.

        Waco. They sent in fucking tanks, burnt the place down, with kids inside.

        Those are two off the top of my head.

        With Ruby Ridge the FBI entrapped him, then shot his dog, and then his son who was protecting his dog. Then his wife.

        Every cocksucker FBI agent involved should be on billboards, then hanged (the old fashioned way) on the White House lawn.

          • Nommer@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            613·
            9 months ago

            a religious cult that was armed to the teeth, who refused to surrender to the police in a 50+ day siege and had prepped their own compound with flammables.

            That’s all very likely propaganda spread by the FBI after shit went down. Incidentally these two collosal fuck ups is what inspired the unibomber.

            Loving the downvotes. Educate yourselves before hitting that button.

            • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
              41·
              9 months ago

              Yea, they were a bit cultish, but most of the propaganda definitely came after the fact/during. I remember thinking “where the hell did this cult stuff come from suddenly?” It had all been in the news for a year before Reno? and Clinton had those people murdered.

              And even if they were cultish, none of the PR justifies the feds actions.

              And if you haven’t read the Unabombers manifesto… Let’s just say it’ll expose how much the government lies about this stuff.

    • Infynis@midwest.socialEnglish
      39·
      9 months ago

      Bowser says the people he worked with weren’t very social and he helped testers" troubleshoot devices.

      "And suddenly I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head …

      Wow, that escalated quickly

      • Worx@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        103·
        9 months ago

        I was shocked too. You really think some nerd who updates websites needs a SWAT team to take him down?! American police are crazy don’t listen to me, they’re not American!

          • Worx@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
            6·
            9 months ago

            Yep, quite right! I got it mixed up with Puerto Rico in my head which is why I called them American

            • Kalothar@lemmy.caEnglish
              3·
              9 months ago

              I like you man, you’re a reasonable fella. I wish Lemmy had superficial awards like Good Samaritan or something.

    • ManosTheHandsOfFate@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      If I was stupidly rich I’d pay the entire fine to nullify the punishment to Gary. It isn’t about the money to Nintendo; it’s about making an example of him.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    9 months ago

    All that talk about the punishment fitting the crime in the justice system, unless you ruffle the feathers of some rich corporation.