Nintendo DS R4 Importer Sentenced to Prison

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

But in the UK that is not the case.

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!

1 year, that'll show him

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.

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

Agreed, BS.

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.

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

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!

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.

Is an R4 device illegal now?

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?

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".

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.

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!

In the state of Maryland, a person will put in jail if he/she kicked an empty beer bottle at any public places.
Not joking.

ummm no WE don't... Speak for yourself only please.

fflam what you are referring to is this:
http://pressxordie.wordpress.com/2 [...] -co-legal/

But that's France, he was convicted in London.

Here is a link to a link to a different verdict in the UK involving game piracy just to show you some of their definitions of infringement: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC [...] /2293.html

296ZB Devices and services designed to circumvent technological measures
(1) A person commits an offence if he--
(a) manufactures for sale or hire, or
(b) imports otherwise than for his private and domestic use, or
(c) in the course of a business--
(i) sells or lets for hire, or
(ii) offers or exposes for sale or hire, or
(iii) advertises for sale or hire, or
(iv) possesses, or
(v) distributes, or
(d) distributes otherwise than in the course of a business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the copyright owner,
any device, product or component which is primarily designed, produced, or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures.

The thing is, there are so many perfectly legal devices in the world that CAN be used in an illegal manner.... But that doesn't matter unless the devices sole purpose of existence is to be used for illegal activity. Is homebrew software illegal? Not that I am aware of but that is really the main question. I really don't see how this is any different from the past when you could use a smartcard reader/writer plus software to pirate DirecTV's satellite signal. This same sort of smartcard reader/writer is used to make electronic door keys in some hotels. Are we arresting the importer of smart card writers? no. why not? I mean they can circumvent an encrypted satellite signal? If it's the devices ability to pirate copywrited material that has the UK courts in a tizzy, are we going to start arresting Amazon UK employees for importing/selling this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-RCDW1 [...] 176&sr=1-1

Why not? Heck I don't even need to add any 3rd party software. This thing is riproarin out of the box to enable me to pirate my ass off all day long. My personal CD collection is only a button push away....and I suppose its all Amazons fault am I right?

Forgive my wall of text please..but opinions had to be expressed.

> 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.

The "gun analogy" is a rather poor one. A gun is a very dangerous device than needs a great deal of care while handling. No one can say that giving a kid (any) video game is the equivalent of handing him a gun (without supervision).

A better analogy would be arresting someone for importing gun metal. It can be used to forge a gun but also has other valid uses.

If the guy was selling the flash devices with pirated software pre-installed then I say he should go to prison. To me this case is like arresting someone for importing blank CD, DVDs, magnetic tape, etc.

If Chewbacca was a Wookie, they must aquit.

I'm a little surprised that this would happen, as the devices them self do not commit any acts of piracy. I personally own an R4, to utilize mostly home brew, such as multimedia software (R4 come with a homebrew moonshell) and a home brew web browser.

Copyright laws differ however where ever you live, I myself live in Canada, which has ever growing stricter laws, but the nation which produces much of the downloaded content of copyrighted materials (You notice a lot of Canadian Network televisions watermarks on most video copyright violating media)

We charge the makers of pirated materials, and those who buy/download/use them. Historically the most commonly used case is Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.

To: universalremonster

"... any device, product or component which is primarily designed, produced, or adapted for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technological measures."

The keyword hear is "primarily". So, all that the prosecution has to show is that the device is more likely to be used for piracy than for legitimate purposes. That is way the law needs to be re-worded.

These people still have yet to overthrow a monarch and a house of parliament consisting of 'Lords', so I'm not surprised by anything they do over there. These modchip guys don't even get a jury, they say that tech issues are too hard for a jury to understand, so they are tried by a panel of 'specialist' judges. Citizens of the UK have no rights, never did, no one should be surprised. Man up, and start a revolution like the rest of your ex-empire.

Well, then they better send, sony, toshiba, LG, Lite ON, and all the other DVD/cd writer makers to jail aswell.

I see that 26,500 R4 devices were imported into the UK that are somehow related to an infringement issue. Unfortunately, additional pertinent information was omitted.

I had to go find a different news article to understand the issue.

I can't believe the comments on this page. Don't you think the law would make sure they have the correct evidence before taking this to trial. Wow, it's mind blowing how some of you think the law would just try and convict him for importing a product!!! He was actually selling the devices with the software already on the R4 required to play copied games!

I'm not a great fan of the law (that's an understatment) but even an idiot knows that they're has to be sufficient evidence to convict someone or even a £2 lawyer could have got him off with some of the comments you've used.

@back by demand

HEY MORON.

Maybe you haven't had any "school massacres" but since banning guns your violent crime and petty crime rate has gone UP.

Any place where handguns have been banned, the same thing has occurred.

Gun sales have been up in the us around 20% over the last year and a half. And guess what genius with the big brain pan. The crime rate has dropped almost 10%.

The only correlation between crime and guns that can be proved in any statistical analysis, is that armed citizens reduce crime. Period. End of debate. Actual facts as opposed to your emotional appeal.

The disarming of private citizens is for one reason only, that is to dis-empower them and make them even more dependent on the state for their very lives.

Anyone that believe the anti-gun propaganda without having the actual intelligence to go look up simple statistics does not deserve the "right" to comment on gun rights.

The right to defend yourself up to and including deadly force is a natural right of all human beings, even self hating sociopaths such as yourself that would rather empower criminals to harass and kill innocents then to allow those innocents to defend themselves.

Here in America, we don't tend to fall for whatever shoveled shit those in power push towards us, we actually still have the free will left to reference ridiculous claims.