Cyber P.I. Tracks Down Pirates Selling Modern Warfare 2
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
Enzeru92 said:
Yay, a win for Activison....no, wait...MaxTheReaper said:
Anywho, good news I suppose - not that pirates == lost customers, but its a long argument I won't get into. Also... [long post about how Activison have screwed the honest PC customer over, that no-one will take notice of - grumble-grumble]
Yeh I always thought there was not much vigilance but this proves me wrong.wouldyoukindly99 said:
Glad to see there is some kind of enforcement on those damn pirates.
(Ninjas > Pirates)
There is no legal gray area here, I have no idea where you got that from but its bullshit. Regardless of whether or not you're pirating software, etc. for financial gain, if you didn't pay for it its theft, period. End of discussion. The fact that someone isn't making money off of piracy doesn't make it "not as bad". I'm still trying to comprehend why you would even say such a thing...Furburt said:
If you want to argue with me, look at my last post and what I used to do for a living.
Agreed. If consoles do become the more relevant gaming platform, then pirates are only going to shift their strategy to pirating console games, and hackers will be coming up with new ways to mod the systems. Pointing out that PC is becoming more irrelevant (it isn't) doesn't make the pirates all the more likely to just fade away. If the Mac actually started reigning over the PC (it won't) then you can bet your bippy that viruses and malware coded for Macs will become all the more numerous. Pirates and hackers target what is the more popular, because that will be what is easiest to get to.Bretty said:
So you are going to pirate a game that is crippled regardless of how you get it? Gonna make your own dedicated servers for it and share them? Good luck with that.WlknCntrdiction said:
In the end though, this article pretty much pointed out where these crooks went wrong, and you can expect that they aren't looking at long jail sentences unless the kid snagging the games gets charged with theft. That's the only legit charge to be seen here. The hacker can get sued by Microsoft and Activision, but anything the courts can throw at him will hardly be a nickle. Most of what was done by these two was civil crimes, and most likely any lawsuit wont stand a chance of bringing in a smidgeon of what Activision will claim to have lost.(Which will be overinflated).
That's just it, they are protecting their product, that's why we have things like SecuROM. Problem is, it's like bacteria that adapts to antibiotic; pirates will do whatever they can to bypass the security measures placed before them (SecuROM, in fact, was developed because previous means to prevent piracy were already being easily bypassed).Malicious said:
Developers have cash, hackers have time, and both are skilled enough to make the most of each.
Aha! I stand corrected.Furburt said:
My apologies for jumping down your throat like that, I keep forgetting how international The Escapist is, and laws & interpretations vary all over the place.
In North America it doesn't matter if you're receiving any financial gain from pirating something, its still illegal. But has that done anything to stem the flow of piracy? Yeah, we all know the answer to that.
As far as not making any money off piracy being "not as bad" my response was kind of knee-jerk (no, really?) because I was looking at it from a strictly legal point of view.
Looking at the bigger picture though, if you think about it most people who download software never would have paid for it in the first place even if a pirated copy wasn't available, so are the developers really losing money? No, they're losing potential money, and apparently here in North America that's just as bad. I don't know why it is, but it is.
The only real "grey areas" in piracy are when the pirated items are "out of print" or "not available (at this time/in this country) for various reasons, typically relative obscurity".Furburt said:
Modern Warfare 2 is neither obscure nor out of print.
Even if you live in a country (like, say, Australia) where your heads of state for various reasons (ignorant or otherwise) prohibit the legal sale of a game, there are other options besides piracy, such as importing (which, in a way, is no different than buying a used game). The same goes for when a game is not 'banned' but simply not available because the publisher doesn't see enough market potential in your little corner of the world.
*Shrugs* Big Brother is watching U. At least big brother is private industry as opposed to the goverment, though that can be just as bad.
While I suppose it's irrelevent I half expect to be hearing about how "This is the most money makingest game evah!" and then still hear them crying about piracy afterwards.
Still, if the guy was robbing consoles from the warehouse he deserves to have the book thrown at him. I would however also look into organized crime here since piracy can be pretty big and if these consoles "fell off the truck" unnoticed I doubt it was JUST company shrink.
Though admittedly I'd be expecting the consoles to have shown up for half price at say the flea market outside Giant's Stadium rather than be being sold via Craigslist if this was the case.
While I suppose it's irrelevent I half expect to be hearing about how "This is the most money makingest game evah!" and then still hear them crying about piracy afterwards.
Still, if the guy was robbing consoles from the warehouse he deserves to have the book thrown at him. I would however also look into organized crime here since piracy can be pretty big and if these consoles "fell off the truck" unnoticed I doubt it was JUST company shrink.
Though admittedly I'd be expecting the consoles to have shown up for half price at say the flea market outside Giant's Stadium rather than be being sold via Craigslist if this was the case.
That's taking piracy a bit seriously....keep it up!
I wish they'd do this for other games though as so far MW2 is the only one and I don't care about it.
I wish they'd do this for other games though as so far MW2 is the only one and I don't care about it.
Who would want to pirate or hack the Wii or any of its titles? Richard Simmons? I guess there isn't a pure direction of logic that hackers and pirates follow, but the idea, especially for pirates, is to get stuff people would be willing to pay for.Jsnoopy said:
Good odds Denver Metro Police have a website, check it out and see if they have anything for e-crime. Otherwise FBI would have places.
Avast, mateys, lower the sails, they're coming to take all our rum! YARRRR!
No, but in all seriousness, this seems like a step in the right direction.
Also, Greg Tito, how could you have joined The Escapist 1969? Ze imposible!
No, but in all seriousness, this seems like a step in the right direction.
Also, Greg Tito, how could you have joined The Escapist 1969? Ze imposible!
Hilarious stuff guys. Don't know if you caught Supernatural this week but there is a scene where the main characters both play Horatio and I was pretty much doubled over laughing. They must have taken off and put on their sunglasses at least 10 times in a minute!