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Greg · 06-28-2007, 05:07 AM

Speaking of spammers, we should note that some progress has been made in the past year in prosecuting them in both civil and criminal courts.

In the United States, the arrest and indictment of Robert Alan Soloway was something of a landmark case.

Here a link to Soloway's arrest warrant. If convicted of all charges he faces up to 65 years in the US federal penetentiary. It's not the death warrant we might hope for, but it's the next best thing.

As an amusing sidelight, Soloway foolishly thought he was immune to prosecution and ignored not only the law but court orders. His foolishness seemed to be a combination of bad judgement and the fact that the legal and criminal prosecution systems are still scrambling to catch up with the Internet.

What this means to the Sims community

This is a portent of things to come across the whole net, especially including criminals who steal intellectual property.

We see the same exact behavior among some of things that have crawled out the cesspit to plague the Sims community. They pretend they are doing nothing illegal, hoping against hope that their crimes will not be prosecuted.

Take a good look at Soloway's arrest warrant folks, because that's what yours will look like when you are brought up on federal felony charges on theft of intellectual property, international trafficking in stolen property, and sundry other violations of United States federal law.

That's right. Theft of intellectual property is a felony crime in the United States. Think twice before you let a crook lure you into his cesspit. Think about that prison cell right next to Soloway's. It's not a matter of whether you will be prosecuted; it's only a matter of how long it takes the criminal justice system to get around to you.

By just downloading from a criminal site, you run the risk of being prosecuted for these crimes.* Every click of the mouse leaves a record of your activity that can be traced right back to your computer. Even if your personal integrity is so low that you don't feel the guilt of your crimes, you should at least think about what it will be like to spend the next six years in prison before you download.

*It's a matter of volume. If you download more than $1200 in stolen intellectual property (and that's the court's definition of $1200, not yours), then you have commited a federal felony crime and are subject to criminal prosecution with all the associated fines and prison sentences. I've heard that UK laws are even more harsh, but I don't know this for sure.

06-28-2007, 05:07 AM	#15
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Speaking of spammers, we should note that some progress has been made in the past year in prosecuting them in both civil and criminal courts. In the United States, the arrest and indictment of Robert Alan Soloway was something of a landmark case. Here a link to Soloway's arrest warrant. If convicted of all charges he faces up to *65 years in the US federal penetentiary. It's not the death warrant we might hope for, but it's the next best thing. As an amusing sidelight, Soloway foolishly thought he was immune to prosecution and ignored not only the law but court orders. His foolishness seemed to be a combination of bad judgement and the fact that the legal and criminal prosecution systems are still scrambling to catch up with the Internet. What this means to the Sims community* This is a portent of things to come across the whole net, especially including criminals who steal intellectual property. We see the same exact behavior among some of things that have crawled out the cesspit to plague the Sims community. They pretend they are doing nothing illegal, hoping against hope that their crimes will not be prosecuted. Take a good look at Soloway's arrest warrant folks, because that's what yours will look like when you are brought up on federal felony charges on theft of intellectual property, international trafficking in stolen property, and sundry other violations of United States federal law. That's right. Theft of intellectual property is a felony crime in the United States. Think twice before you let a crook lure you into his cesspit. Think about that prison cell right next to Soloway's. It's not a matter of whether you will be prosecuted; it's only a matter of how long it takes the criminal justice system to get around to you. By just downloading from a criminal site, you run the risk of being prosecuted for these crimes.* Every click of the mouse leaves a record of your activity that can be traced right back to your computer. Even if your personal integrity is so low that you don't feel the guilt of your crimes, you should at least think about what it will be like to spend the next six years in prison before you download. It's a matter of volume. If you download more than $1200 in stolen intellectual property (and that's the court's* definition of $1200, not yours), then you have commited a federal felony crime and are subject to criminal prosecution with all the associated fines and prison sentences. I've heard that UK laws are even more harsh, but I don't know this for sure. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?