Support NeoGAF

[Marvel14]

Agreed. Our legal system is sick. It promotes the idea of making an example out of people which is not remotely just. All he did was try to monetize a hack that was available for free elsewhere,

Maybe don’t do the crime in the first place?

The bro pleaded guilty, so it’s hard for me to feel bad for the criminal.

I am in two minds about this. What he did was the equivalent of a scammer stealing $1000s from thousands of people.

Sure no one lost their job or went bankrupt but I'm sure KungFucius and others would have no problem in forcing the scammer to pay it all back if caught. Which is what Nintendo are doing so from a principled perspective there is consistency of treatment. It also serves as an effective warning and deterrent to others- which is sorely needed in this day and age.

On the other hand it's worrying that an individual's monetary life is now part owned by a corporation. I would have preferred a financial limit arrangement to pay Nintendo and then have all further future income penalties be paid to a non profit cause or as tax penalties.

Guy still has to pay back as much as he can but Nintendo don't own a share of his income/ass.

 

[drotahorror]

Man... some people do less time and pay less restitution for murder and rape.

Nintendon't fuck around

 

[Roufianos]

Nintendo are a fucking scummy corporation.

 

[Danjin44]

Nintendo are a fucking scummy corporation.

You think other corporation wouldn't do the same? 99% of big corporation would do this.

 

[Soodanim]

You don't tug on superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don't mess around with Nintendo

What if it's a little child tugging on Superman's cape saying "Mister mister, please help my kitty he's stuck up a tree"?

 

[Mephisto40]

He's never going to have to pay a cent of that money back

 

[BlackTron]

I always thought what Team Xecutor was doing was too brazen, being for-profit with exploits and hacks. I found them years ago researching Switch workarounds and noped right out of there.

Nintendo's lawyers just hit him with the full extent of the law and this was it. Nobody at Nintendo HQ said "10 mil sounds like a good number, use it". I guarantee it was by the book.

Of course it doesn't mean he will pay it, which he won't. He should probably just cry about it and try to come up with a plan to spend like $50 a month for the rest of his life. But he will probably act like a dick and show bad faith and not do anything at all. Leading to wage garnishment up to 25/30% should Nintendo decide to exercise the option. Which I'm not convinced they will, the judgement alone is probably enough for them unless he acts like a real idiot going forward.

 

[Mokus]

Agreed. Our legal system is sick. It promotes the idea of making an example out of people which is not remotely just. All he did was try to monetize a hack that was available for free elsewhere, but now he has to pay back 30x what he made or 25% of his life's earnings. It is crappy, but it is not as if he made Switch Piracy possible. FFS people are pirating Switch games via emulation on PC. I'm sure Nintendo wishes that emulator makers charged money so they could bake lawsuit income into their business plans.

In the old days when people were hanged, sometimes their corpses were exposed on the side road (usually at the entry of a settlement) to make an example out of them. This only one example and all societies did similar things with lawbreakers.

 

[UnNamed]

The only people who blame Nintendo here are the ones who never (try to) did anything in their life.

Do something, like a song, or a drawing, or a cake, or a book or anything else, and then enjoy people stealing your stuff because why not it's not like killing someone, so much fun!!!

 

[01011001]

Nintendo are a fucking scummy corporation.

scummy corp shits on scummy mod seller.

both parties are scummy in this instance, but only 1 of them broke the law

 

[Aaron Olive]

Agreed. The prison sentence should be enough. Nintendo are ruthless.

Fuck Nintendo, fuck their cheap ass hardware, fuck Nintendo for DMCA striking YouTubers that just want to show off their games and finally fuck Nintendo for peddling the same shit for the past 30 years.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Just move to a country where the sentence isn't binding and live life there? Fuck Nintendo for this.

 

[IDKFA]

Fuck Nintendo, fuck their cheap ass hardware, fuck Nintendo for DMCA striking YouTubers that just want to show off their games and finally fuck Nintendo for peddling the same shit for the past 30 years.

No lies detected.

 

[Miles708]

The only people who blame Nintendo here are the ones who never (try to) did anything in their life.

Do something, like a song, or a drawing, or a cake, or a book or anything else, and then enjoy people stealing your stuff because why not it's not like killing someone, so much fun!!!

This is a bad take.
The guy has committed crimes and the right thing is that he pays for his crimes. No one doubts that.
The problem is that the punishment is not measured to the damage done, especially since it's done to a corporation that didn't even notice the damage and just want to flex its muscles by ruining the life of a man.

 

[TonberrysKnife]

Dude was scummy for the shit he did. But cot damn Nintendo....$30 Million?? He'll NEVER pay that off for the rest of his life. Nintendo is CLEARLY making an example out of him. This is straight up egregious.

 

[onnextflix5]

USA has some inhumane laws, are they really any better than Iran, china?

 

[Roman Empire]

Remember Guys and Gals, Nintendo is a company. And companies don't give a fuck about you, only about your money. And if they can fuck you and part you from your money, you bet your ass they'll do it even if it's barely legal or in a grey area of the law.

 

[Koppelthorn]

USA has some inhumane laws, are they really any better than Iran, china?

 

[Mufausa The 3rd]

Not here to defend Nintendo but for those who need context. I think there's a reason why Nintendo is being as harsh as they are.

Please read this Twitter thread to get a better understanding of Gary and Team Xecuter. The team that he represented. They're known for super shady business practices and many of the homebrew community don't fuck with them.

 

[lh032]

Nintendo is going to acquire a lawyer firm in the near future.

 

[UnNamed]

The problem

The problem is not a problem. He's not a poor kid who is begging for money and steal a piece of bread because he's starving. And "stealing from a rich is not real stealing" is a faulty and stupid logic and a legitimation of a crime: it seems acceptable and legit... unless you're the victim. We all are "rich" here since we have multiple consoles, a big tv, an house and a car: so why put people in jail and ruin their life because of a PS5 you can afford?

Let's steal from Nintendo and EA and Microsoft and Amazon since is right because they are greedy... until they come after you because you have a nice house and new car and some people think it's right as well.

 

[TonberrysKnife]

USA has some inhumane laws, are they really any better than Iran, china?

At the very least in the U.S., you can criticize the government without being whisked away into some "Re-Education" camps or disappear for months or years at a time.

 

[Neff]

I don't have a problem with Nintendo so I don't have a problem with them utilising the law to deter people from stealing their shit, even if that deterrence is massively focused on one poor sucker who honestly should have fucking known better.

Remember Guys and Gals, Nintendo is a company. And companies don't give a fuck about you, only about your money.

They're an entertainment company. We don't need them. But they absolutely do need us. It's essentially a business partnership except the customer has the luxury of walking away at any time with no ties or obligations.

 

[Miles708]

The problem is not a problem. He's not a poor kid who is begging for money and steal a piece of bread because he's starving. And "stealing from a rich is not real stealing" is a faulty and stupid logic and a legitimation of a crime: it seems acceptable and legit... unless you're the victim. We all are "rich" here since we have multiple consoles, a big tv, an house and a car: so why put people in jail and ruin their life because of a PS5 you can afford?

Let's steal from Nintendo and EA and Microsoft and Amazon since is right because they are greedy... until they come after you because you have a nice house and new car and some people think it's right as well.

So basically giving a punishment commensurate with the gravity of the crime is an alien concept to you.

 

[Topher]

USA has some inhumane laws, are they really any better than Iran, china?

 

[Exede]

So... the cort sayed the dude has to pay Nintendo?
Why are people here go nuts about evil Nintendo when its a cort decision?

 

[UnNamed]

So basically giving a punishment commensurate with the gravity of the crime is an alien concept to you.

"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.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Shigeru miyamoto is trying to bring back public beheadings

 

[AJUMP23]

Shigeru miyamoto is trying to bring back public beheadings

SMB2 movie is going to be really dark.

 

[Calling 911 Melts Beams]

is that a lot of money?

 

[The Stig]

OK i just learned that Bowser is 53.

This is fucking evil

 

[Buggy Loop]

Can't he just declare bankruptcy and start again?

Fucked up a company can put such a heavy weight on the rest of your life

 

[diffusionx]

This is outrageous, I am sorry. He paid his debts to society and the court system is turning him into a slave. He would be better off as a medieval serf. This is a total injustice and they have no right to do this. Nintendos “losses” does not trump this man’s natural right to live as a free man after he paid his debts in prison. Utterly unbelievable. If the government chooses giant corporations and their money over the life of their citizens then we are totally lost.

 

[Dr. Claus]

This is outrageous, I am sorry. He paid his debts to society and the court system is turning him into a slave. He would be better off as a medieval serf. This is a total injustice and they have no right to do this. Nintendos “losses” does not trump this man’s natural right to live as a free man after he paid his debts in prison. Utterly unbelievable. If the government chooses giant corporations and their money over the life of their citizens then we are totally lost.

If this was an innocent man, sure you may have a point. Or a very mild crime. Neither are true. Dude was a scum bag. Nothing he did was "accidental" or otherwise. Dude actively, knowingly, and consistently broke the law.

 

[diffusionx]

If this was an innocent man, sure you may have a point. Or a very mild crime. Neither are true. Dude was a scum bag. Nothing he did was "accidental" or otherwise. Dude actively, knowingly, and consistently broke the law.

He went to jail. He paid his debt to society. The idea that he can get out and be enslaved for the rest of his life because a private company demands 40x what he got from his actions is just completely anathema to justice.

 

[Dr. Claus]

He went to jail. He paid his debt to society. The idea that he can get out and be enslaved for the rest of his life is just completely anathema to justice.

He didn't pay his debts. He stole hundreds of thousands of dollars - he should be forced to pay it back. I do think 50 million is too high, but justice was not served by the prison sentence alone.

If someone stole hundreds of thousands from me, I would not be happy if they spent 10 months in prison and was able to lead a normal life. I want him to pay me back for every penny he stole and then some.

 

[diffusionx]

He didn't pay his debts. He stole hundreds of thousands of dollars - he should be forced to pay it back. I do think 50 million is too high, but justice was not served by the prison sentence alone.

If someone stole hundreds of thousands from me, I would not be happy if they spent 10 months in prison and was able to lead a normal life. I want him to pay me back for every penny he stole and then some.

You’re not a giant corporation. Asking for full restitution could be considered reasonable depending on the circumstances but here we are saying that a guy who got $300K needs to pay back $14M which it is basically understood he will never be able to. Plus it’s not like he broke into someone’s house and took the money, it’s a giant corporation that gets all sorts of protections and benefits in the law. This is insane. The point is that you need to take a step back and understand that unlike Nintendo this is a person who has the natural right to live his life. Turning him into a slave or an indentured servant is a violation of his rights as a human being, even if it costs Nintendo a few bucks.

These things must be taken into consideration.

 

[EDMIX]

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.

Agreed.

Shit, this person shouldn't even be using the internet lol

Nintendo does a lot of wild shit I could never understand, this is one of the few times I agree with em. This makes complete sense as this person broke the law, its not like they did some innocent thing lol

 

[brian0057]

I'm amazed that people are finding out that pirating software is indeed considered a crime.
Don't forget, folks: Intellectual property is still property.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Penalty seems a bit extreme, but this is definitely not just a case of someone hacking consoles in a fun way or as a personal or homebrew experiment.

They were running a scheme to make cash, and trying to build their own little empire of income by forcing every one of their modded systems to pay a licensing fee directly to these guys in order to access the content. You had to authorize your console with their own servers and pay the fee in order to get the goods.

An amusing line from their original indictment:

 

[Kenpachii]

U either pay your debt or go to prison if you can't.
He clearly couldn't pay it, he went to prison and he should be rid of the debt.

Tagging a 30% income tax towards him for the rest of his life is absolutely a joke of a legal system. If i was him i would start immigrating to the EU and start to push it into EU courts so Nintendo can fuck right off.

 

[nial]

A bit unrelated, but this reminds me that I bought a lot of pirated copies of PS2 games in stores as a kid. I live in South America, btw.

 

[bender]

A bit unrelated, but this reminds me that I bought a lot of pirated copies of PS2 games in stores as a kid. I live in South America, btw.

 

[Dr. Claus]

You’re not a giant corporation. Asking for full restitution could be considered reasonable depending on the circumstances but here we are saying that a guy who got $300K needs to pay back $14M which it is basically understood he will never be able to. Plus it’s not like he broke into someone’s house and took the money, it’s a giant corporation that gets all sorts of protections and benefits in the law. This is insane. The point is that you need to take a step back and understand that unlike Nintendo this is a person who has the natural right to live his life. Turning him into a slave or an indentured servant is a violation of his rights as a human being, even if it costs Nintendo a few bucks.

These things must be taken into consideration.

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

 

[Esca]

Punishment does not fit the crime

 

[kiphalfton]

Dude probably has to play real life equivalent of squid game to pay off that debt.

 

[Exede]

Hope this negative topic will die soon. It´s not Nintendos fault what the cort ruled for this mod chip guy. People are acting like Nintendo demanded the cash, n stuff. Nope it was a judge not Nintendo.

 

[Mokus]

You’re not a giant corporation. Asking for full restitution could be considered reasonable depending on the circumstances but here we are saying that a guy who got $300K needs to pay back $14M which it is basically understood he will never be able to. Plus it’s not like he broke into someone’s house and took the money, it’s a giant corporation that gets all sorts of protections and benefits in the law. This is insane. The point is that you need to take a step back and understand that unlike Nintendo this is a person who has the natural right to live his life. Turning him into a slave or an indentured servant is a violation of his rights as a human being, even if it costs Nintendo a few bucks.

These things must be taken into consideration.

Nintendo's losses were in the millions and not 300K.

He went to jail because he broke the US's law for stealing only. Not for the money he will have to pay back, which he did maliciously and if I understand well from that you can't declare bankruptcy. It's like, if somebody steals your Nintendo Switch, just because he goes to jail by breaking the law, he still has to return your property too.

 

[EviLore]

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.

 

[mrmustard]

I love Nintendo, but they know less mercy than Django.