DS Pirate Lands Two Years in Prison

[John Funk]

DS Pirate Lands Two Years in Prison

38-year-old Yoshiaki Asagiri has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and a fine of $96,000 for running a website that enabled users to illegally download Nintendo DS games.

Asagiri was arrested late last year for creating and operating a website that hosted more than a thousand Nintendo DS ROMs for illegal download. He was found guilty of breaking Japanese copyright law and putting the games online without permission, and yesterday the Kyoto District Court sentenced Asagiri to two-and-a-half years in prison, as well as two separate fines of $21,000 and $75,000.

The presiding judge said that Asagiri's crime "tramples" the effort of the original copyright holders who spend great amounts of time, money, and manpower creating the games that Asagiri was making available for free.

This ruling comes directly on the heels of a firmware update for Nintendo's DSi that gave the console Facebook functionality [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93604-DSi-Gets-Facebook-Connect-Feature-Today] - and, some reports say, stopped certain piracy-enabling devices from working on the handheld as well.

(Kotaku [http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=soc_30&k=2009080300036])

Permalink

 

[Neosage]

Two and a half years? Pah. That's a bit long in my opinion.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Well, look at it from the company's perspective. They spent thousands and thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in development time to create the Nintendo DS and its associated games, and if someone was running a website that lets people get all of that stuff for free, and I was the company, I'd be rather miffed too.

 

[headshotcatcher]

Ouch that hurts, sucks to be him.. Well you just shouldnt make such websites but meh..

Anyway, the pic made me chuckle

 

[Blackadder51]

This man got off lightly, after all he basically cock-slapped a lot of game developers.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Yeah I remember seeing this. The judge makes a perfectly good point, and I agree with him. But two and a half years? Rapists get less than that. Hell even six months would be hellish for a pirate.

But someone needs to be made an example, and he struck unlucky.

EDIT: If he was in a British prison, 2 and a half years would have flown by. Some PS3, meet some contacts, etc.

 

[WrongSprite]

They did the right thing here by striking at the source of piracy instead of the average pirate.

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Two and a half years seems a little extreme to me. Either way, it proves that piracy won't get you anywhere.

And if Japanese prisons are anything like American prisons, this guy is in for one hell of a stay.

 

[Amnestic]

This man got off lightly, after all he basically cock-slapped a lot of game developers.

$96,000 fine isn't "lightly" no matter how you look at it.

 

[mikecoulter]

It's a shame that some people can't afford games, but feel the need to have them. I know some people can afford them and still pirate. But there are some people that genuinely can't...

Two and a half years is far over the top. They must be making an example of him.

 

[Nargleblarg]

I love how they say that the guy put the games up online "without permission", like any C.E.O of any company would seriously consider letting him do this.

 

[Blackadder51]

$96,000 fine isn't "lightly" no matter how you look at it.

Compared to the possible millions of dollars in sales and the amount of time invested creating over the one thousand games he was pirating? Now to me, thats light.

 

[Abedeus]

$96,000 fine isn't "lightly" no matter how you look at it.

Compared to the possible millions of dollars in sales and the amount of time invested creating over the one thousand games he was pirating? Now to me, thats light.

Add two and a half years wasted in prison.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to get some kind of handheld EMP device.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

Heh, Roms? It's not like I have any of those.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

It's a shame that some people can't afford games, but feel the need to have them. I know some people can afford them and still pirate. But there are some people that genuinely can't...

Two and a half years is far over the top. They must be making an example of him.

He still broke the law, and they do have the right to punish him accordingly. But yeah, you're right- them making an example of him is the most likely hypothesis as far as the sentence is concerned.

 

[Jaebird]

Imagine if Nintendo were part of the Yakuza... The news would probably read a bit different:

"Man found dead today with mushrooms stuffed in his throat, and a lead pipe used in his apparent assault."

 

[Quadtrix]

This is good news.

 

[stabnex]

His one mistake was becoming too popular. Being too good at something can be a downfall.

 

[CyberAkuma]

I am against piracy in general but 2 years is really a stretch.
In the country where I live, not even RAPE has a sentance that long.

Of course he has obviously created some damage to the industry by hosting allt hose fils for free but the punishment he is getting is more severe than that of assault, robbery and yes; RAPE.

I guess that is what happens when the industry gets the opportunity to affect the laws.
2 years is seriously fucked up.