Game Pirate Gets Four Years Jail Time

[james_bond_rulez]

Federal judge hands out a 50-month prison term, near-$700,000 fine to infamous "warez" merchant.

Crime sure didn't pay for Sean Michael Breen. In an Oakland court on Tuesday, the Richmond, California resident was sentenced to 50 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong. His offense? Selling and illegally distributing nearly half a million dollars' worth of cracked console and PC games over the past decade.


Breen's sentence follows his guilty plea and subsequent conviction last July on two counts of copyright infringement and on three counts of mail fraud. As has been widely reported, the charges stemmed from Breen's multiyear tenure as the self-styled leader of Razor1911, an infamous group of game hackers responsible for an elaborate black-market "warez" operation. He is the latest and last Razor1911 member to be sentenced--last June, a North Carolina-based member received an 18-month jail term on related charges.


According to court documents, Breen and other Razor1911 members acquired, cracked, and sold advance copies of Quake, Command & Conquer Red Alert, Terminal Velocity, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and many other games.
They acquired advance copies of said titles by posing as reviewers for fictitious game magazines and having them shipped to a derelict storefront address in Oakland. Breen and his associates would then illegally distribute their games via pirated-software sites and often sell physical copies. Their unconcealed efforts garnered the attention of the U.S. Customs Service, which arrested Breen and 40 other individuals after an extensive undercover operation known as "Operation Buccaneer."


Razor1911 members also posed as customers of Cisco Systems in order to place massive hardware orders they never paid for. This tactic came back to haunt Breen today, when Judge Armstrong ordered him to pay $690,236.91 in restitution to Cisco--more than the value of the software he was accused of distributing.
Breen begins his sentence on March 26. Barring parole, he will be released in May 2008, when he will have to serve a further three years probation. He will also have to finish reimbursing Cisco, which will likely take much longer.


Soucr: IrcSpy.com

[FuNkY CaPrIcOrN]

;) Serves the Bastard right.Did he put any work into these Games?Hell no he did not.So why should he make Money from them?

Sorry.Just hate these guys that make Money off either Music or Games they Download or trade for, ETC.

Put them all in Jail.I know alot of guys on this Forum does this also.The same goes for them...no matter who they are.

Get a real job and sale some Drugs!Damn Pirates! :angry:


FC http://filesharingtalk.com/extras/green/icon_cool.gif

[james_bond_rulez]

r u on crack or somethin'? :lol:

pipe down

[Samurai]

To be honest FC, you yourself have probably d/l and used one of their cracked pieces of software. I definately have. As for the selling, how do we know the money gained wasn't used in securing other copies of software to be cracked. If it wasn't up to many people like this, the majority of us wouldn't have the benefit of keygens, cracks and legit iso files.

Give the guys a break, they obviously did what they had to do, and got caught. I just hope they can make a keygen that opens the prison gates :D

[4th gen]

The cracking groups (like Razor1911) are usually not for profit.

[james_bond_rulez]

well u do the crime u do the time

i feel sorry for the harsh sentence......

but it does send out a strong message to all the game pirates... <_<

[Mad Cat]

Razor1911 wasn&#39;t for profit, was it?

[Mad Cat]

Originally posted by Razor1911 NFO
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; /&#092;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Razor 1911&nbsp; /__&#092;&nbsp; Since 1985
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; /&#092;&nbsp; /&#092;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; /__&#092;/__&#092;

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUPPORT THE COMPANIES THAT PRODUCE QUALITY SOFTWARE&#33;
&nbsp; &nbsp; IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PRODUCT, BUY IT&#33;&nbsp; SOFTWARE AUTHORS DESERVE SUPPORT&#33;&#33;

[judgeofallandnothing]

where does it say it wasnt for profit

[abu_has_the_power]

this sucks. razor1911 made some really good rips too. :cry1:

you&#39;ll be remembered in our hearts.

sigh

and yea, the guy that got jailed was being evil. selling pirated stuff. tsk tsk. but still, i don&#39;t think razor 1911 was profiting from this. how could they? who would be paying them?

[muchspl2]

did he have to give up computers, that would be the ultimate punishment
well going to pound me in the ass prison is pretty bad, but I agree with fc, sharing is completely different than profit

[iMartin]

Ok, getting free games, software, etc..., by pirating I can relate to. I love getting free stuff just as much as the next guy. But when you pirate then sell for profit? Nah, that&#39;s just not my style. Serves him right. ;)

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Originally posted by Samurai@15 February 2004 - 16:07
As for the selling, how do we know the money gained wasn&#39;t used in securing other copies of software to be cracked.
They scammed developers by claiming they were reviewers for gaming magazines, or whatnot. That doesn&#39;t cost money.

Ok, alright... maybe they used the money to buy the blank CD-Rs. Point is, they sold physical copies of the pirated software and had the gall to claim "if you like it, but it legit."

[Monkeee]

wait so Razor911 is over&#33;&#33;?&#33;?
NOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :cry1: :cry1: :cry1: :cry1: :cry1:

wait but he went to jail for distributing right not downloading? :blink:

[twisterX]

Originally posted by Samurai@15 February 2004 - 21:07
Give the guys a break, they obviously did what they had to do, and got caught. I just hope they can make a keygen that opens the prison gates :D
lol :D :D

[DynastyIain]

Originally posted by muchspl2@16 February 2004 - 01:07
did he have to give up computers, that would be the ultimate punishment
well going to pound me in the ass prison is pretty bad, but I agree with fc, sharing is completely different than profit
That would kill them...Not the ass pounding but the giving up of computer time for three whole years&#33;&#33; They will be basket cases in a month with no computers to mess on... :smilie4:

[Mad Cat]

Stupid really. People who steal proper material things, from people that can&#39;t afford to buy 5,000,000 of these things get let off every day, and he steals a thing such as software and gets 5 years.

[100%]

They should check out the mega supermarkets in Bangkok which sell ripped software.....

[Peerzy]

what i got from the orignal post was that a few members of Razor 1911 needed some extra cash so in some way or another nicked loads copies of games and sell them while the rest of razor 1911 continued with there lives not knowing this so it wasnt Razor 1911 but the people who got gready.

im sure its not over for razor 1911, just the certain men who decieded to sell the games for profit.


They should check out the mega supermarkets in Bangkok which sell ripped software.....

they should check out these fourms, enough dopy cunts handing out there email addys in hope of some jerk off sending them paris hilton clips they should just take the emails phone up hotmail/who ever and see who is regestered and find there IP and get caught but they cant b arsed because there not selling it, these little fuckers decieded they would sell shit they didnt make and make profit off of stuff they shouldnt.

If a friend asks me for a game i have i wont say
sure for £20 i&#39;ll say
yeah just give me a cd and i&#39;ll do it for you

in my eyes thats okay because im not making profit off of the company and im sure my mate wouldnt be asking me for it unless they wanted it enough to buy it, and if there not gonna buy it i dont see the hard in them playing it.

There is a black and white line i think people like areselfs should follow, underno circumstances should we sell anything, if a mates wants to try it before they buy something like that ask for a cd so u diont have to use urs and make sure they dont sell it.

Man thats the lonmgest post iv eva typed i think. mind you its not very long :blink: so i guess i still do have some of that teenage spirt in me, anyway have to go back to one word answers.

:rolleyes:

[muchspl2]

Originally posted by DynastyIain+17 February 2004 - 01:10--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (DynastyIain @ 17 February 2004 - 01:10)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-muchspl2@16 February 2004 - 01:07
did he have to give up computers, that would be the ultimate punishment
well going to pound me in the ass prison is pretty bad, but I agree with fc, sharing is completely different than profit
That would kill them...Not the ass pounding but the giving up of computer time for three whole years&#33;&#33; They will be basket cases in a month with no computers to mess on... :smilie4: [/b][/quote]
no shit, remember mitnick, think hes still banned from even touching a pc
these guys could go on to do good things for developers, but if it violates their probation then all that does is piss them off more
/rant



They should check out the mega supermarkets in Bangkok which sell ripped software.....


who the hell do you think ripped/cracked it and pass it around and finianly got down to the parasitic street vender&#39;s :rolleyes: :frusty:

[Global Media Trader]

Well muchspl2

Do you remember the post few months ago asking if these release groups made money off this.

And you said nooooooooooooooooo.

And i said why would they be risking jail time just to make a bunch of gamers they dont even know happy.

And you were so F**king convinced they did this without making any profit.

And i asked how can they afford the T3 connections. common sense tells you they are cleaning up doing this.


muchspl2 i will accept your humble apology for being wrong :D