this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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The story and work of Gary Bowser is pretty badass and would make for an interesting ama and event on lemmy. Here’s a recent article on Gary Bowser https://torrentfreak.com/gary-bowser-how-a-1980s-hacker-became-nintendos-nemesis-decades-later-230702/

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[–] dsemy@vlemmy.net 131 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Fuck Gary Bowser and Team Xecuter in general, he doesn’t deserve the punishment he got but I feel no sympathy for him.

Read up on how they stole GPL’d code from other Switch hackers for their closed source SX OS, and then had the fucking nerve to charge for it.

Piracy is one thing, but what they did hurt the Switch hacking scene, for their own profit.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

Agreed. SOG did a video on him a few months ago.

[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 4 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't say no sympathy.

Gary suffers from Lymphedema in his left leg, starting just below the kneecap down to the ankle.

Lymphoedema is pretty awful, I feel bad for anyone living with it.

[–] jtk@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I don't know, if I put out GPL software, I wouldn't give a fuck if it got used to fuck over Nintendo without following all the GPL nonsense. They took the legal risk of going up against Nintendo, I sure as hell didn't take any risk writing code. Them profiting a bit isn't the end of the world. No one was going to make any money staying within legal limits anyway, nothing was "stolen".

Edit: Just to be clear, all I know about Bowser is based on the parent comment. Maybe he's a bigger POS than the example given but, from that, doesn't seem like a major villain.

[–] CCL@links.hackliberty.org 10 points 1 year ago

If that's the case you probably wouldn't release GPL software, you'd find a more permissive license, perhaps apache?

[–] dsemy@vlemmy.net 6 points 1 year ago

SX OS has anti-piracy measures in place which literally brick your switch.

[–] TheBig2023Meltdown@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Isn't he basically screwed for the rest of his life though? Having to pay some of his wage to Nintendo

[–] 404CameranotFound@lemmy.fmhy.ml 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

Most of his wage. 14.5 million docked from his paychecks for the rest of his life. There’s not much more info in how much will be docked from his pay, as in a percentage or flat cost

Edit: I read more into it. It’s 25-30% of his paycheck goes to Nintendo.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/bowser-free-from-prison-still-owes-nintendo-14-5m-for-switch-hacking/ See at the bottom

He will die owing Nintendo tens of millions of dollars. Fuck Nintendo

[–] solivine@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Honestly the fact the court allows that too...

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So glad people got rid of slavery, right? US is disgusting with the corporation bootlicking.

[–] Cyberwitch_7493@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

that's not technically true, the 13th amendment only outlawed slavery if you haven't been convicted of a crime.

Edit: besides that technicality, I do agree.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, but my point was that this is just slavery for everyone, only with a different name.

[–] Cyberwitch_7493@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I understood you correctly, but were you aware that American corporations including McDonald's, Target, Whole Foods, and Microsoft have been profiting heavily from US prison labor without the the legal requirement to compensate the laborers fairly, provide sick days, or provide decent working conditions? https://sites.law.berkeley.edu/sustainability-compliance/corporations-use-of-prison-labor/

Shit's fucked if/when you get convicted of a crime, whether your Gary or anyone else.

Edit: added context

[–] 404CameranotFound@lemmy.fmhy.ml 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because Nintendo lawyers ran circles around the court

Some other guy said something about costing Nintendo 65 million. I don’t buy that claim. They were still profitable as a company during that time, so it’s just a show of force to scare other script kiddies from fucking with Nintendo. Fuck em, emulated breath of the wild is better than on console anyway

[–] solivine@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Ran circles around the court" - a good court and legal system doesn't let that happen, it needs to be fixed.

Very true. It should happen but it does unfortunately

[–] MaxMouseOCX@vlemmy.net 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Regardless of your opinion of the guy, feel like financially fucking him into the ground for life shouldn't be a thing... Sure punishment is in order, but what he got is a financial life sentence - it doesn't feel right.

[–] Voli@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We bringing serfdom back, baby!

[–] Hopalong@lemmy.fmhy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

Debtors prison is the logical next step.

[–] 404CameranotFound@lemmy.fmhy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

No. It doesn’t. I don’t think he should have been charged regardless, but that’s just me lol

[–] Kissaki@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Wouldn't filing private bankruptcy solve this within 3 or 5 years?

Pick your legal ass fucking: corporate or financial (bank)

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[–] sponge9041@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah. I wonder will it show up as Nintendo Tax on his payslip?

[–] idle@158436977.xyz 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Being his last name is Bowser i thought i had to be a joke. This is wild.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And when the president of NOA's last name is Bowser, too, all sorts of fanciful scenarios are just coming to mind.

[–] ruk_n_rul@monyet.cc -1 points 1 year ago

It's nominative determinism. It's a real thing.

[–] Swictor@mander.xyz 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They named their most iconic antagonist after him?

[–] anon@lemm.ee 37 points 1 year ago

The CEO of Nintendo of America is curiously also named Bowser. Seems they are going out of their way to find them.

[–] LoafyLemon@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago

No, they named him after the current president of Nintendo of America -- Doug Bowser.

This entire situation can be summed up as Bowser suing Bowser Jr. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bowser

[–] GloopTamer@discuss.online 18 points 1 year ago

So long Gary bowser

[–] DeJaVu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Interesting story, and pretty sad at the end, the dude lost practically everything because of the fuckers at Nintendo. Heres his gofundme page if someone is interested in helping the guy out. https://www.gofundme.com/f/garyopa-restarting-his-life

[–] BraBraBra@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

I don't have too much sympathy for the guy. I mean if you're stupid enough to try and profit off of piracy that brazenly, that's what you get. If I know your real name you fucked up big time.

[–] Kissaki@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

If 30% of his paycheck goes to Nintendo, does that also apply to donations?

[–] bergkoenig@lemmy.one 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] DonDino@mujico.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

curses hetero mario in gay bowser as it flies away

[–] vertelleus@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Was changing his name to Bowser a part of the release?

[–] DeJaVu@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 year ago

Interesting story, and pretty sad at the end, the dude lost practically everything because of the fuckers at Nintendo. Heres his gofundme page if someone is interested in helping the guy out. https://www.gofundme.com/f/garyopa-restarting-his-life

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