Nintendo DS R4 Importer Sentenced to Prison

[Marcus Yam]

The law doesn't take kindly to software pirates, as one importer in the UK found out first hand.

Nintendo DS R4 Importer Sentenced to Prison : Read more

 

[frish]

What a joke, doesn't surprise me tho =/. Next they'll be sending people to prison for selling dvd players coz they can play pirated dvds. Seriously... It shouldn't be his responsibility that the consumers mostly use it for pirating.

 

[coonday]

[citation][nom]frish[/nom]What a joke, doesn't surprise me tho =/. Next they'll be sending people to prison for selling dvd players coz they can play pirated dvds. Seriously... It shouldn't be his responsibility that the consumers mostly use it for pirating.[/citation]
I prefer the analogy of an unloaded gun. Sure, you're probably not going to do anything illegal with an unloaded gun, but it's pretty easy to go find some bullets.

 

[IzzyCraft]

Does the R4 have any legit purposes though other then playing your pirated music and pirated games on it, your example sucks imo better example is to torrents that can have a legit purpose.

 

[fflam]

i thought a cupple of months ago a judge in Europe said there was nothing illegal about these devices. think he said something to the effect of there needs to be an easy way for people to make software for the device.

 

[Montezuma]

Guns are capable of killing people, but we(in the U.S. at least) do not drag people to court for purchasing an item that has the ability to cause death or great bodily harm. This is complete and utter bullshit.

 

[IzzyCraft]

[citation][nom]montezuma[/nom]Guns are capable of killing people, but we(in the U.S. at least) do not drag people to court for purchasing an item that has the ability to cause death or great bodily harm. This is complete and utter bullshit.[/citation]
But in the UK that is not the case.

 

[the_krasno]

The brittons have something funny in their tea, because this is complete bullshit! As a fan and supporter of indie games, this really disgusts me!

 

[maigo]

1 year, that'll show him

 

[aletoil]

So him distributing something that has the potential to be used to infringe makes him as guilty as someone who infringes? (and I can go on about what I think about infringement) As said, bullshit.

 

[Honis]

Isn't this the same government that is adding surveillance cameras inside of private residences, for the children?

Agreed, BS.

 

[anamaniac]

Hell, I promise I won't pirate any games at all on my PSPgo if they unlock it and make it a open platform so I can legally use homebrew.
I mean it. (I want a damned alarm clock program on my PSP!)

I support piracy.
I do not support profiting from it (it's expensive for me to seed you know), so through all I care, screw this douchebag.

 

[FoShizzleDizzle]

You can't have an importer without an exporter, this guy shouldn't be the only one taking the heat.

 

[donaldduck]

1 year in prison for importing and legally reselling a device that COULD be used for... copying games...
This is ridiculous, prison is for CRIMINALS, people who hurt others, "bad" people... Not for guys that sell a device that can be used to copy video games.
Ok, fine him, stop his activities, but prison? 1 year???
Damn, this system is crazy!

 

[brookheather]

Under what law was he actually convicted. There are still loads of UK sellers of the R4 so selling the device can't be illegal - I bought my R4 from Amazon UK last year in fact. Maybe he was prosecuted for not paying tax on imports or something similar?

- Simon.

 

[waxdart]

Is an R4 device illegal now?

 

[Guest]

I don't think we've been given the full details here, the R4 is not illegal in the UK. Maybe he was supplying game roms with the units. Does this mean that people who import blank DVDs will get prison too?

 

[jaybus]

You must take the loaded gun explanation a little further, else it is not a very accurate analogy. This case is saying "You have a loaded gun, and therefore you must have assassinated both JFK and Martin Luther King".

 

[rhino13]

Did you know that public drunkeness is ilegal?
So is carrying around an opened alcohol container.

That means that a cop can arrest you for picking up a can of booze that some one tossed on the side walk-- even if you're just carrying it to the trash can!

Point being I don't think anyones ever been arrested for that. This guy was aiding in theft and he knew it, as do we. It doesn't matter that there could be a plausible explaination because that explaination is nothing more than a hoax.

 

[ss78]

Another case of big corporations changing and challenging freedoms and rights to suit their needs and greed. Sure it hasn't happened in the US....yet! You can bet it will happen sooner or later because these are capitalist countries after all, they are run by the rich and priveleged. How many poor heads of state are there in Europe and America? Now if your leaders, senators, MPs, etc.... are big investers in big business, do you think they will vote against their own welfare?

Now in this case, has this guy really hurt Nintendo's sales or is the opposite true? Has this device increased the DS's value, probably! In fact he might have indirectly encouraged others to buy the DS. I bought my first console because it could be chipped, I could never afford all the games I wanted to play and even though I did buy a few, I still got "fake" ones too. Just because I can't "hack" my console doesn't mean I will purchase every game I play. I could instead choose to buy them used and that would certainly put a dent in the ridiculous theory of lost revenue due to piracy!