Android App Pirates to be handed Verdict - after 4 years

[leonard_sun]

The original post is from Android authority.

 

 

Two pirates operated their own sites to distribute pirated Apps back in 2012 have pleaded guilty to criminal counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit it. 

Quote

Two Android app pirates that pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement may face up to five years in jail when they are sentenced on August 1. The two men admitted to their involvement in ‘paid apps for free’ sites that defrauded app developers of over $17 million.

I wonder how they came up with the $17M figure? Did they count the number of downloads and multiply it by the cost of each of those pirated apps? In any case, I guess it's still justice, though it was at a snails pace that they will soon be the first to be prosecuted for Pirating Android Apps.

 

Quote

The convictions represent the first-ever prosecution of mobile app piracy groups. Despite taking four years, the guilty parties have spent the better part of their youth dealing with an ongoing FBI investigation. Sentencing on August 1 will reveal their fate. With potential jail time of up to five years, it serves as a stern warning against mobile app piracy.

 

[DioOmicida]

Those figures more than likely would have come from add revenue, no?
That seems like a long time to reach a verdict here, though.

[dalekphalm]

The $17m figure is a bit ambiguous - "Defraud" technically means taking money illegally, so it means that the defrauders actually made $17m. But someone may have simply used the term incorrectly as "lost revenue" from the pirated apps being sold at regular price.

 

$17m in ad-revenue seems a hell of a large figure, but if it was a popular site with a ton of ads? I suppose it's possible. I really have no basis for comparison for ad-revenue.

 

As for the "perps" - I have no problem with this. They actively stole and pirated a bunch of android apps. Those app developers deserve to get paid for their work. If their app isn't good enough to pay for, then don't fucking use it.

[FakezZ]

6 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

The $17m figure is a bit ambiguous - "Defraud" technically means taking money illegally, so it means that the defrauders actually made $17m. But someone may have simply used the term incorrectly as "lost revenue" from the pirated apps being sold at regular price.

 

$17m in ad-revenue seems a hell of a large figure, but if it was a popular site with a ton of ads? I suppose it's possible. I really have no basis for comparison for ad-revenue.

 

As for the "perps" - I have no problem with this. They actively stole and pirated a bunch of android apps. Those app developers deserve to get paid for their work. If their app isn't good enough to pay for, then don't fucking use it.

I agree with all but this word. Piracy is NOT stealing for fuck's sake. It may be unethical but not stealing, far from it.

[Prysin]

18 minutes ago, FakezZ said:

I agree with all but this word. Piracy is NOT stealing for fuck's sake. It may be unethical but not stealing, far from it.

Oh so it is not?

I think 1700s victorian England and the King of spain, Holland and Protugal would strongly disagree with you

[FakezZ]

2 minutes ago, Prysin said:

Oh so it is not?

I think 1700s victorian England and the King of spain, Holland and Protugal would strongly disagree with you

Say it to this guy then

PS if you don't watch one piece you won't get it sry  he's a pirate captain ^^

 

[Boobies Sprinkle]

2 minutes ago, FakezZ said:

Tell it to this guy then

PS if you don't watch one piece you won't get it sry  he's a pirate captain ^^

 

 

[Prysin]

2 minutes ago, FakezZ said:

Say it to this guy then

PS if you don't watch one piece you won't get it sry  he's a pirate captain ^^

 

he isnt a representation of real pirates. Not even close. 

 

If you want a "real" pirate, look towards KIDD or Blackbeard. Those are closer to the real shit.

 

 

[FakezZ]

1 minute ago, Boobies Sprinkle said:

 

Bitch please... Btw I am still at episode 404 (can't find it anywhere ) no spoils please :3 

[Boobies Sprinkle]

3 minutes ago, Prysin said:

he isnt a representation of real pirates. Not even close. 

 

If you want a "real" pirate, look towards KIDD or Blackbeard. Those are closer to the real shit.

 

 

KIDD and Blackbeard are not "real" pirates. Red Hair Shanks, Doflamingo, Whitebeard, and Kaido King of the Beasts are the real pirates.

[Prysin]

1 minute ago, FakezZ said:

Bitch please... Btw I am still at episode 404 (can't find it anywhere ) no spoils please :3 

lol, ive watched all of em. And Gol D Rodgers were more like Luffy, so still not relevant to ACTUAL piracy.

[Prysin]

1 minute ago, Boobies Sprinkle said:

KIDD and Blackbeard are not "real" pirates. Red Hair Shanks, Doflamingo, Whitebeard, and Kaido King of the Beasts. 

Not so sure about Shanks, he is closer to Gol D Rodger. Whitebeard and Kaido, sure. Doflamingo was not a real pirate, he is operating closer to how mafia/cartels operate. The "piracy" side was just a front, a mere image, not his actual thing.

[Boobies Sprinkle]

3 minutes ago, Prysin said:

Not so sure about Shanks, he is closer to Gol D Rodger. Whitebeard and Kaido, sure. Doflamingo was not a real pirate, he is operating closer to how mafia/cartels operate. The "piracy" side was just a front, a mere image, not his actual thing.

Yeah, Doflamingo is not that strong to consider real pirate, but if it wasn't Luffy interrupted his plan, he could have destroy the Navy and the Four Empress with his power and max Devil Fruit eater crews. 

[FakezZ]

Fuck this is turning into a spoilfest, I'm out

[Prysin]

2 minutes ago, Boobies Sprinkle said:

Yeah, Doflamingo is not that strong to consider real pirate, but if it wasn't Luffy interrupted his plan, he could have destroy the Navy and the Four Empress with his power and mass Devil Fruit eater crews. 

nope. He wouldnt destroy the navy. His goal was the World gov, and we have yet to know what kind of people they have working for em. Sure we know of CP-0, but those are surely not all they got. 

 

I havent read the manga, so i dunno how strong Kaido is.

[dalekphalm]

35 minutes ago, FakezZ said:

I agree with all but this word. Piracy is NOT stealing for fuck's sake. It may be unethical but not stealing, far from it.

Well I would say, in this context, it is stealing. They stole the code (Illegally acquired it), and put it up available on their servers to download. They also probably circumvented some form of DRM in the process.

 

It might not be the same as physically stealing something, but you're being pedantic and arguing semantics. It's the same level of unethical activity in my books. This isn't some Joe Random downloading a movie - this is a bunch of guys profiting from pirated software.

[Boobies Sprinkle]

5 minutes ago, Prysin said:

nope. He wouldnt destroy the navy. His goal was the World gov, and we have yet to know what kind of people they have working for em. Sure we know of CP-0, but those are surely not all they got. 

 

I havent read the manga, so i dunno how strong Kaido is.

Based on the new One Piece episode, they said Kaido been captured multiple times by Navy and been executed multiple times by Navy, but all those failed to kill Kaido. They also said if you go on one-to-one with Kaido, then Kaido will surely win. Law and Luffy also want to take down Kaido, but I don't know if they can because this guy is gigantic and his powers is unknown, however based on the facts they told in the new One Piece episode, their survival chance of facing Kaido is <22%. 

[FakezZ]

3 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Well I would say, in this context, it is stealing. They stole the code (Illegally acquired it), and put it up available on their servers to download. They also probably circumvented some form of DRM in the process.

 

It might not be the same as physically stealing something, but you're being pedantic and arguing semantics. It's the same level of unethical activity in my books. This isn't some Joe Random downloading a movie - this is a bunch of guys profiting from pirated software.

Yes I am being pedantic, because in cases like this the minute details matter a lot. No code was stolen. It was copied. The same way I can pay for a tuition at a University and later teach my brother the things I learned there. Would that also be stealing in your books? I guess not because it is not. Both the University and the knowledge is there, just now more people have it.

[Prysin]

3 minutes ago, FakezZ said:

Yes I am being pedantic, because in cases like this the minute details matter a lot. No code was stolen. It was copied. The same way I can pay for a tuition at a University and later teach my brother the things I learned there. Would that also be stealing in your books? I guess not because it is not. Both the University and the knowledge is there, just now more people have it.

if i clone you, and make your clone go out there and do the same work that you do for slightly less money (so everyone hires MY clone of you), and then take all the money the clone generates. Do you think this is theft or piracy?

 

Going by your post, it is piracy.

[FakezZ]

1 minute ago, Prysin said:

if i clone you, and make your clone go out there and do the same work that you do for slightly less money (so everyone hires MY clone of you), and then take all the money the clone generates. Do you think this is theft or piracy?

 

Going by your post, it is piracy.

Exactly. It is not theft. "I" will still be there. It would just be another me in the world. How can it possibly be theft?

[vanished]

I too wonder about how they came up with that figure.  If they just took the downloads from the illegal site and multiplied by the app price, that almost certainly overestimates the amount of money that the original devs missed out on, possibly by quite a large factor.  However, since this case has been going on for like 4 years, I think the devs are entitled to interest on that loss as well (whatever the actual loss was, we will likely never know).  Then one has to take into account the money not made from ads that were not shown because people were using the pirated "premium" versions and not the free ones - again a number that is probably impossible to estimate accurately.