Tag: Jail

IPE Update: Paid Account Boosting Now Illegal In South Korea


A South Korean law passed last year has gone into effect, and it threatens to throw paid account boosters in prison.

Last year the Korean government passed a new law banning the use and advertising of powerleveling services. The provisions of the law, below in their original Korean, were translated by Reddit user Evenstar6132 and notes that prosecution is based on whether or not the developer allows such practice, whether there was payment, and the frequency of the act. The law is not retroactive and of course people who don’t live in South Korea are not under its jurisdiction.

It is worth noting that the prison sentence is apparently a “suspended sentence” of two years and a fine of up to $18,000. A suspended prison sentence for those unaware would not actually put the defendant in jail but acts as a type of probation. If the person does not commit a crime during that period, the jail sentence is dismissed.

Source: Reddit

Forget Civil Court, Tencent Is Sending PUBG Cheaters To Prison


We’ve seen a lot of discussion about the morality of Epic Games suing people, including minors, for advertising their cheats in Fortnite, but while court-enforced injunctions may prevent some cheat makers from re-offending, Tencent over in China is taking a different approach; they’re getting law enforcement involved.

According to a report out of Bloomberg, Tencent has assisted Chinese police in taking down more than 120 people in 30 cases involving the creation and distribution of cheats for PUBG and is branching out into its other titles. The individuals under arrest are being charged with violating China’s criminal laws on disrupting computer networks, and unlike Epic Games’ simple injunctions, can and have faced jail times of up to five years as well as massive fines.

“PUBG is going through a puberty of sorts and cheaters threaten to stunt its growth,” said Kim Hak-joon, who analyzes gaming stocks for South Korea’s Kiwoom Securities Co. “Cheaters mostly drive away new users, and without retaining new users, PUBG won’t be able to consolidate its early success and become a long-lasting hit.”

This is not the first case of authorities cracking down on video game crimes. Last year, Jiangsu police arrested a Counter Strike: Global Offensive cheat developer who now faces up to 15 years in prison. In South Korea, a 17 year old was arrested for developing and selling cheats for Overwatch. Over in Japan, police have made use of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law in order to prosecute people creating and selling cheats for video games like Alliance of Valiant Arms and Sudden Attack. In 2014, two men were sentenced to prison in China after scamming people of digital items and selling them for cash.

In some cases, developers are assisting the police in cracking down on criminal offenses, however the police are the entities pressing the actual criminal charges.

Lizard Squad Member Convicted, Gets No Jail Sentence


KivimakiConvicted-610

Finland has successfully convicted Julius Kivimaki of over fifty thousand counts of cyber crime for his role in the attacks on Sony and Microsoft’s networks along with other members of the hacker group Lizard Squad. With fifty thousand counts under his belt, you might be wondering if Kivimaki will be going to prison for the next three hundred years. He won’t be. In fact, he won’t be going to prison at all.

Considering the weight and damage of Kivimaki’s actions, the seventeen year old is being handed the equivalent of a two-year suspended sentence, meaning he won’t be spending any time behind bars unless he manages to violate the conditions of his parole. As part of the sentence, Kivimaki’s online activities will be heavily monitored.

Finland’s judicial system has been under heavy criticism for years over its perceived lenient treatment of white collar criminals. In December last year, a Helsinki court handed out three five-month suspended sentences and one sixteen month suspended sentence to a group charged with collecting money to fund terrorist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

(Source: Daily Dot)