According to a report on GameCyte, a second defendant in Activision's campaign of secret lawsuits against alleged game pirates has spoken out, albeit briefly.
The news that Activision secretly sued a half-dozen private citizens for pirating its games was broken on GamePolitics last Friday.
As did a previous defendant, the unnamed pirate said that he too paid Activision much less than the huge amount listed in court documents. Apparently afraid to go into any sort of detail, he simply told GameCyte:
I wasn’t doing anything more than an average college student does with torrents or MP3s, so it’s surprising companies like this are wasting time on people with little money.
GP: Interesting comments. It would seem that Activision owes consumers an explanation of just what went on with these cases.
Comments
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
If these guys were serious they would be going after people cheating. Like Blizzard does, botters, hackers, if they are looking to revitalize PC gaming that's what they should be doing. I've stopped playing PC games since the early 90s because PC cheating was getting out of control. The only games that don't suffer as much is RTS. If you go to gametrailers nearly half of all the PC trailers belong to RTS genre games. The genre is "believed" to be so popular for PC that they are pushing it on consoles.
Imagine the loss of profit from losing thousands of players since over a decade ago. These companies have no clue. I still am in the mindset that Publishers can't keep people from cheating and don't buy PC games any more. Which btw is a major reason for Activision doing this.
Sue the hackers, then you'll see your PC games selling. Protect the consumers don't go after the consumers.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
Thats funny Sue hackers is quite funny. First you have to find the hackers where they are then sue them. They are sharp people they know the way how to get of these stuffs. They even buy thesis and buy essay to save their academic grades.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
So just because everyone else was doing it, it's okay? That excuse didn't work when I was five, and it certainly shouldn't work now. This person admits to doing something illegal. So why does Activision have to explain themselves? Who cares why Activision decided to go after this guy in particular?
This guy did something illegal against Activision. Activision is protecting their products. What is there to explain? I normally have a great amount of respect for Dennis, but I am baffled how GamePolitics can continue to question the legal actions of a company trying to defend its product.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
@GP
Sorry to disagree, Dennis.
Activision doesn't owe us any explanation. This is a legal settlement. It's their business, not ours.
Is them suing six people going to stop me from buying the next expansion of WoW? No. Why? Because this settlement has no effect on me. (Waits for all the anti-WoW comments to start.)
And this type of thing happens all the time. They settle for a large amount, and then they negotiate the actual amount down. Happens every single day in our legal system. You see huge settlements awarded, and then the parties go into a back room and negotiate the number down. Otherwise, you'd see big companies going bankrupt constantly.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Yes, I am a liberal. I also believe in a strong military, less government, and the right to bear arms.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
I would say that an explanation is owed simply because Activision told GP that the suits weren't only related to file-sharing, and IF this person is telling the truth, then it seems that Activision is lying through their teeth.
Edit: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/19/update-activision-copyright-lawsuits-not-based-file-sharing
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
The defendant doesn't say he was file sharing. This is what he says:
"I wasn’t doing anything more than an average college student does with torrents or MP3s, so it’s surprising companies like this are wasting time on people with little money."
What exactly was he doing? My guess is burning CD's and either selling them or handing them out. If he was, he should count himself lucky he isn't in jail. I know with movies, they send you to jail for that. Not so sure about software.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Yes, I am a liberal. I also believe in a strong military, less government, and the right to bear arms.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
Maybe I'm just really out of touch but I don't think the average college student burns and sells pirated CDs, or even hands them out beyond maybe passing one to a friend.
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
The settlements are being inflated for one simple reason, to scare other would-be sharers.
Now I'm not saying this is true, and I'm not saying it isn't, but I have to be skeptical when anonymous sources come forward making claims. People tend to make statements that favor themselves.
"I wasn’t doing anything more than an average college student does with torrents or MP3s..."
Maybe not. Or maybe you were making illegal copies and selling them out of your dorm room or garage, but you're not going to say that, now are you?
As for not doing anything more than an average college student, haven't you folks been informed this activity is illegal? If I'm caught doing 100 mph on the freeway, can I get away with saying, "I wasn't doing anything more than an average Nascar driver..." Should a serial killer be allowed to use "I wasn't doing anything more than Ed Bundy..." as a defense?
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
Wait a second, why are the settlements inflated if no one is suppose to know what is going on? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of all of this? Something is fishy here... Digging... I can't figure it out...
This makes as much sense as EA putting in DRM to combat piracy. Maybe they are just trying to do things to come up with stories to get them publicity? Other than that, I have no idea at all on what is going on here...
Oh why can't it be pirate day yet... I want the weekend to come already...
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
If all this kid did was use a torrent to get a single copy of a game then the dollar amount listed in the court case is far too high. Does Blivendivision have a right to defend it's IP? Yes. Does it have a right to sue someone for an amount that is almost 1700 times the cost of the product? I don't think so. That's like making a person pay $800 for stealing a 50 cent candy bar. If the person should be punished then let the punishment fit the crime.
I was leaning in Blivendivision's favor before as the amounts appeared to indicate a copy-and-sell-out-of-garage type of situation. Now they're starting to appear more like a bully. Doesn't help that this statement is practically in direct conflict with what the lawyer says.
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Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
>> If all this kid did was use a torrent to get a single copy of a game then the dollar amount listed in the court case is far too high.
Does no one take the time to educate themselves before speaking out?
Cases like these don't punish the downloaders. They go after the people who post the item for download. Of course the people doing the suing always talk about going after the downloaders, but that's a scare tactic. There was an article just the other day stating that they can't know who is actually downloading the stuff (other than their own investigators).
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
Ha, thats so ironic, Does no one take the time to educate themselves before speaking out?
Did you read this article or any of the sources in the court case? You don't even know how torrenting works CLEARLY, so maybe you should educate yourself before speaking out. They never EVER go after the people who put out the downloads, one their 90% of the time not even in the USA so wtf are you talking about. Do you think everyone lives in the US? Secondly the major groups like Razor1911 have been attacked before and NEVER go down.
Groups like these attack old people grandmothers who downloaded 1 mp3, kid's parents, these are PURELY scare tactics.
The fact is it is unstoppable.
All I have to say is:
Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high. Heave ho, theives and beggers, never say we die.
Also I want it to be clear I have over $8,000 in legal games and equipment. We don't just go freaking willy nilly all over the place and download whatever we have morals. We could watch movies before they come out we could get all the music we want. Does the Threater suffer? Does the Music industry suffer? Gaming industry continues to grow every year. Does it suffer?
Screw Activision and Blizzard.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
While there is no legal difference, there is a technical limit on the effort it takes to d/l a 3 minute mp3 and a 2 gig video game.
While neither is legally more pure than the other...it's not like you can honestly think for a moment that what you are doing is "Right"
Also it's probably alot easier and more reliable to figure out who exactly is pirating a game than it is an mp3 through a torrent.
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
"there is a technical limit on the effort it takes to d/l a 3 minute mp3 and a 2 gig video game."
There is no technical limit on the effort, any more. The limit is not technical, it's of patience.
BitTorrent and fast broadband connections make downloading 2GB of content pretty painless. For popular releases with a lot of seeders it can be very fast, if your inbound connection speeds are high enough. Put the stuff on auto-pilot overnight and you'll have it completed in the morning.
As the broadband speeds continue growing you'll see the download times getting shorter and shorter.
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Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
I guess that makes me unaverage since I'm a college student which accutally buys his crap. :P
Re: Report: Second Activision Pirate Speaks Out
Yes, but do you plan on praticing your fair use rights? That makes you a criminal.