Heavyweight Game Pirate Gets Light Sentence
Heavyweight Game Pirate Gets Light Sentence
December 6, 2008
The prosecution of a major California video game pirate has resulted in a comparatively light sentence.
The San Jose Mercury-News reports that Khuong Van Truong copped a plea in Santa Clara County Superior Court this week. Truong stood accused of counterfeiting and possessing more the 11,000bootleg video games, 4,000 DVDs and 300 audio CDs. The pirated goods were valued at an estimated $420,000.
The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the interests of US video game publishers, told the Mercury-News that the counterfiet games probably netted Truon thousands of dollars per month. According to radio station KLIV, Truong ran the copying operation from his home. He also pleaded guilty to narcotics and child endangerment offenses. In addition, KLIV reports that Truong, who will be sentenced on February 3rd, is expected to receive less than a year in jail. That seems a bit light considering the drug and child welfare counts as well as the SJ Merc's description of his operation as "one of the largest pirated video games cases on the West Coast." There's no word on exactly what type of games Truong was pirating. We have a request into the ESA for additional information. UPDATE: (via: Kotaku) The San Francisco Chronicle has more on the story: The case came to light when Truong's 2-year-old son walked into a busy intersection while Truong was not home... A passing driver stopped to care for the boy and call police... Truong returned home and allowed officers inside the house, where a pirating operation was discovered... and [Truong] was also found to be in possession of marijuana, illegal mushrooms, steroids and ecstasy...
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Posted 02/09/10 at 03:51pm
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:31pm
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:30pm
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:20pm
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:18pm
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:14pm
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:13pm
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:09pm
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:07pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:02pm
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Posted 02/09/10 at 02:50pm
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:16pm
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:10pm
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:00pm
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:53pm
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:51pm
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
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Comments
If drugs were involved he might of coped out and got a lighter sentence to snitch on them or a larger copyright infringement ring either way if he was selling software illicitly…throw im under a bus…..
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Pirates,Shearers,Lenders and downloaders are not a market that can be taped by the mainstream.
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I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
They can be taped by the mainstream, at least the people new to the game, they just have to quit being douche bags.
New news title for this article: Haxors Can Hack Life And Put In Cheat Codes For Less Jail Time.
Nido Web Flash Tutorials AS2 and AS3 Tutorials for anyone interested.
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
I never heard of a pirate getting a heavy sentence. Granted there are worse things you can do as a criminal.
--- Official Protector of Videoland!
I hope he gets what he deserves. People who make counterfeit games should be persecuted to the extent of the law.
Pirates copy things from the internet, depriving no one of the game/music/video, whereas counterfeiters actually profit and make money from making physical counterfeits. I hope they all get shot.
They're just crooks, no need to get that angry over them.
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"What for you bury me in the cold cold ground?" - Tasmanian devil
Either way, there's still a major difference between ripping off the company you're pirating from and profiting from it. Pirating via bittorrent or whatever is a verbal taunt to the face, and bootlegging is a one finger salute. Both are offensive, much less illegal, but the latter is sure to evoke more fury than the former.
Meh petty crime is pretty….. for operations like this what was made is more important than what the potential max of the illicit profit.
By all means fine the criminals but do so in equal proration to what they steal look at sony and big boys getting away with stealing millions and getting a slap on the wrist, petty crime is dealt with small fines, larger crime of 5K plus take their property away for corporate crime 100X the worth of what’s stolen or misused to bankrupt corrupt companies.
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Pirates,Shearers,Lenders and downloaders are not a market that can be taped by the mainstream.
---------------------------------
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
This is why there are statuary damages and civil suits.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
Ya but they count the aleged damages so the 400K is what they will charge him with and be fined oh say 50-400K, or as bad 1-5K and jail time, he probly made a 100th of the retail price for each sale so they should focs on the going rate for the illict discs and base the damages on that.
Bascily fine im for what he made add in fines and jail time if needed.
at 10K plus they should take property, gound the process more if what I am getting at.
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Pirates,Shearers,Lenders and downloaders are not a market that can be taped by the mainstream.
---------------------------------
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
I'll be honest, I find allowing your 2 year old to wonder into the path of traffic to be far more shocking than anything else in this case.
I'm all for freedom of ttnet vitamin speech and allowing rent a car game makers to put whatever they want in games, but there's one thing about this app that has me scratching my head. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from araç kiralama the previous article araba kiralama on this I gathered that players can use Google maps in-game to find the other (real-life?) dealers in their area. If this is the case, has travesti anyone considered what's stopping someone from using this app to actually move drugs between hands for reals?
But majority araba kiralama of their outrage araç kiralama stems from what it could DO TO children, not the content itself. Talk to one of these people and you'll find they don't think any books kiralık araba should be banned from children. Mention American Psycho and they talk about kiralık araç the redeeming value of using imagination to construct a story. Reading, no matter what the content, is largely viewed as a consequenceless activity for people of any age. The reason why I mention American Psycho is because of the content itself. Gaming never has and likely never will have any scenes where someone has sex with a severed head. Not gonna happen. Yet despite this, they'll fight tooth and nail to protect their children from two boys kissing in Bully but whatever they read is harmless... yeah.
The entire arguement is kiralık oto based upon a social normality inflicted by luddites who can't figure out the controls for Halo so it's frightening and terrifying and obviously the cause of youth violence on the rise even though, in reality, it's in decline (which is actually a HUGE suprise given minibüs kiralama the economies status). In a perfect world, we would have parents that actually parent. The idea of sales restrictions on media on oto kiralama any form to accomidate parental unwillingness to get involved with their child's life is the real problem to me. Here I am, 32 years old, and being held up at a self-scan rent a car needing to show ID before I can buy a $10 M rated game all because Soccer Momthra can't be bothered to look at the crap Billy Genericallystupidson does in his free time. It's too hard for her, so I have to suffer?