A Bristol man has been locked up for 15 months after holding his hands up to 23 offences relating to the possession of pirated games, films, music and porn. The market value of his horde is said to be in excess of £50,000. Who's been a busy little bee then?
It's time to name and shame Gary Boulter (51) of Thornbury, who appeared before Bristol magistrates yesterday to be sentenced to dea-, or rather 15 months BEHIND BARS, after Trading Standards received a tip-off that he was running a copying "factory" from his gaff.
Probably a neighbour who saw people punching in and going outside for fag breaks every other hour. All this happened in 2005, so it's taken a while for it to catch up with him.
Boulter had an entire room set up for copying games, film, music and porn. That's a bit like our spare room. But without the piracy part we must stress. Over 2300 copied discs including PS2 and Xbox games, films, music and pornos were snatched and (probably) destroyed. He also had nearly 500 blank DVD-R discs lying around the place.
Forensic scientists (there's no escaping them) say Boulter was copying to order of his mates. Probably down his local. During the interview he said pirating games was his "hobby" and he gave the discs to friends and family at no cost. His computer said otherwise. It probably had an excel document on it with a price list...
Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA Anti-Piracy Unit, said: "I congratulate South Gloucestershire Trading Standards and local Police for successfully shutting down Gary Boulter's criminal operation. ELSPA would like to thank everyone concerned in their attempts to protect legitimate local traders and remove illegal products from the marketplace."
Neil Derrick, Senior Enforcement Officer for South Gloucestershire Trading Standards, added, "He obviously had no regard for the local retailers whose businesses are badly affected by counterfeiting and he was supplying pornographic films, which are age restricted and the content of which means they should only be sold by a licensed sex shop."
Another one bites the dust at the hands of the Anti-Piracy Unit. Don't have nightmares and sleep well.
Don't worry mate, you can play all the games you want in jail these days, apparently. You may have to be someone's bitch though, so good luck with that!
I remember walking around a market in bristol when I was visiting someone a few years back. Loads of stalls just had pirated software out on full display no attempt at hiding it. This is small fry really compared to the reality.
i think ts absurd , i dont condone piracy, i am no saint and DO do it some times , but bear in mind we release people early for BAD crimes because our jails are FULL some are operating at 180% capacity then we find room for someone like this , how did they make space ? , release a few more nonces ? sorry for the rant i just think punishment should fit the crime , and if you cant do the time dont do the crime kids
This is insane. It just shows how much our government and 'the system' pander to big business. A couple of weeks ago a guy in Newcastle got 6 months for PUNCHING A SLEEPING BABY FIVE TIMES until it was sick. For f***'s sake.
15 months... Those people are insane. "Oh, it's just another paedo, I think we'll let him out early." "Oh my god, a pirate! Let's throw him in for a year or so."
This is insane. It just shows how much our government and 'the system' pander to big business. A couple of weeks ago a guy in Newcastle got 6 months for PUNCHING A SLEEPING BABY FIVE TIMES until it was sick. For f***'s sake.
Jail is going to seem like a 5 star hotel for this guy if he comes from newcastle.
Gasheads deserve all they get (obscure Bristolian football term)! The more Rover's supporters we lock up the better, makes Bristol a far safer place! (for all those unaware, Bristol Rovers are nicknamed The Pirates).
15 months... Those people are insane. "Oh, it's just another paedo, I think we'll let him out early." "Oh my god, a pirate! Let's throw him in for a year or so."
Just what I was thinking.
I'll certainly sleep safer in my bed tonight knowing that a bloke down the road has been banged up for copying a few discs three years ago........
If it was the US, he'd probably be charged around $250k for each offense. Getting 15 months probably means a hell of a lot of evidence was found. I knew there we're pirates out there who did this kinda stuff on this scale, but I doubt half of them would be as stupid to be advertising what he's doing as much...
If it was the US, he'd probably be charged around $250k for each offense. Getting 15 months probably means a hell of a lot of evidence was found. I knew there we're pirates out there who did this kinda stuff on this scale, but I doubt half of them would be as stupid to be advertising what he's doing as much...
Yes, but in the U.S. he'd have gone down in a hail of bullets...
If it was the US, he'd probably be charged around $250k for each offense. Getting 15 months probably means a hell of a lot of evidence was found. I knew there we're pirates out there who did this kinda stuff on this scale, but I doubt half of them would be as stupid to be advertising what he's doing as much...
Yes, but in the U.S. he'd have gone down in a hail of bullets...
Why didn't they just make him walk the plank?
this isnt the us its england i dont see why we give a s**t about their big corporations , china and russia dont
It's quite right he went to jail, the fact others have had lesser sentences for violent crime is sad but not the issue at hand here.
I'm a bit narked off at the constantly jokey manner CVG has when reporting this kind of issue, trivialising a very serious threat to gaming.
If the public keep pirating many more times than they buy, developers will all be forced down the indy route as the current model will be impractical. I know great stuff can come from small teams, but I prefer great games with great production values. If games were films, it would be like been reduced only to films that can be shot on a camcorder, no starwars, not batman, LOTR etc etc
jail, fair enough he screwed himself, but with prisons overcrowded and real criminals set free to make space for sum1 like this, i dont get tht srry. and 15 months, damn it seems assault isnt as serious of a crime. well thats good ol England
If someone broke into a warehouse in the middle of the night and nicked 50k of merchandise we wouldn't be surprised that he got a 15 month sentence (also, this guy may have a previous record, which doesn't help), but a guy burning his own discs is acceptable (or at least not be punished severely).
Not defending this decision because it's something most people on here will have done to a certain extent (whether it's an unauthorised download, bought a dodgy DVD etc etc) is kind of hypocritical.
I'm sure the peodophiles that are being used as the benchmark on here so often probably say "2 years for 50k indecent pictures of children on his home pc? That's outrageous!"
Probably a neighbour who saw people punching in and going outside for fag breaks every other hour.
It probably had an excel document on it with a price list...
Is it me or is the article a bit ... coloured .
Anyway, my take: selling copyrighted stuff off is no go but otherwise, 15 months is a ridiculous sentence. Once again it shows how big corporations can influence our justice system while the real criminals can get away with pretty much anything.
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