The man who owes Nintendo $14m: Gary Bowser and gaming’s most infamous piracy case
The hacker whose involvement with anti-piracy software ended in a jail sentence has emerged from prison struggling to make rent as he starts paying his fine. ‘It could be worse,’ he says
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
He got briefly caught up with the law during a stint fixing games consoles at flea markets, which nearly implicated him alongside vendors who sold pirated movies.
It was here that Bowser – who, in a case of nominative determinism that feels almost too trite to acknowledge, shares a name with Super Mario’s in-game antagonist – started becoming the face of Nintendo piracy.
In the late 00s he made contact with Team Xecuter, a group that produces dongles used to bypass anti-piracy measures on Nintendo Switch and other consoles, letting them illegally download, modify and play games.
While he says he was only paid a few hundred dollars a month to update their websites, Bowser says the people he worked with weren’t very social and he helped “testers” troubleshoot devices.
“And suddenly I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head … they dragged me out of the place, put me in the back of a pickup truck and drove me to the Interpol office.”
While inside, Bowser couldn’t always get the medical attention he needed, he claims, and even when he did, the realities of prison still exacerbated his health issues – he has elephantiasis in his left leg.
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I'm always surprised with the enormous show of force in cases like this. I would imagine sending him a letter informing him that he and his lawyer need to show up at the police/fbi/otherAlphabetAgency office on date X would have been sufficient.
Hasbro sent the literal Pinkertons after a Youtuber over Magic cards recently.
It's weird isnt it.. that the protection of IP can lead to such stark law enforcement reaction.
IP gets more protection than human beings
Don’t worry, if a big corporation would have defrauded him for a few millions, I’m sure they would have gotten a letter.
Ruby Ridge.
Waco. They sent in fucking tanks, burnt the place down, with kids inside.
Those are two off the top of my head.
With Ruby Ridge the FBI entrapped him, then shot his dog, and then his son who was protecting his dog. Then his wife.
Every cocksucker FBI agent involved should be on billboards, then hanged (the old fashioned way) on the White House lawn.
Don't know about Ruby Ridge I'll read up.
But Waco is not in the same ballpark. Sure the US alphabetAgencies should get better at de-escalation.
However comparing a guy why soldered some circuit boards on a flea market and handled a website to a religious cult that was armed to the teeth, who refused to surrender to the police in a 50+ day siege and had prepped their own compound with flammables.
The shooting of dogs while conducting raids is just plain evil.
Edit: holy moly, the ruby ridge thing started with a fuckup of law enforcement, shooting a dog and its owner in the back. Claiming they identified themselves as law enforcement but dressed in CAMO and armed while on their property. No wonder it led to outrage.
This is the same as "castle defense/stand your ground/etc." vs "no knock warrants" how in the hell can you convict someone for shooting at armed intruders in your house? Even if they are yelling at you.. this just adds to the confusion.
a religious cult that was armed to the teeth, who refused to surrender to the police in a 50+ day siege and had prepped their own compound with flammables.
That's all very likely propaganda spread by the FBI after shit went down. Incidentally these two collosal fuck ups is what inspired the unibomber.
Loving the downvotes. Educate yourselves before hitting that button.
Yea, they were a bit cultish, but most of the propaganda definitely came after the fact/during. I remember thinking "where the hell did this cult stuff come from suddenly?" It had all been in the news for a year before Reno? and Clinton had those people murdered.
And even if they were cultish, none of the PR justifies the feds actions.
And if you haven't read the Unabombers manifesto... Let's just say it'll expose how much the government lies about this stuff.
And Timothy McVeigh.
Bowser says the people he worked with weren't very social and he helped testers" troubleshoot devices.
"And suddenly I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head ...
Wow, that escalated quickly
I was shocked too. You really think some nerd who updates websites needs a SWAT team to take him down?! American police are crazy don't listen to me, they're not American!
Those were police in the Dominican Republic. He's a Canadian national but was living there.
Yep, quite right! I got it mixed up with Puerto Rico in my head which is why I called them American
I like you man, you’re a reasonable fella. I wish Lemmy had superficial awards like Good Samaritan or something.
Thanks! No need for awards, just saying nice things is always nice