4 ms·

Grand Theft Auto 'cheats' homes raided

27 points by stevekemp 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
deathhand 8y ago
This will be the new normal. Society/people have evolved to a point where abstract thought is valuable. Protection of that intangibleness will only increase in time as the risks become greater.
- falcor84 8y ago
  What? Abstract thought had been valuable for a very long time. People and companies have been gaining a competitive advantage from abstract ideas pretty much from the dawn of time. In this particular case the issue is regarding the control of a virtual currency, where its power (as with any other currency) depends on its scarcity. Not much new here either, what they've been doing is very similar to counterfeit printing of bank notes.
Rotdhizon 8y ago
Title came from the article, and it is rather poor. To summarize the article: 2 properties were searched in connection to a cheat called 'Infamous' that was taken down half a year ago. The cheat was supposedly made by the 5 people in question whos assets have been frozen. While interesting, I don't think this will become a norm. This is an edge case where these people were pushing this monetized cheating program hard to a lot of people. You have to really disrupt a games online system to warrant targeted investigation like this. As a serious gamer, I wish cheating and cyber attacks were taken much more seriously, but companies don't have the means to investigate and pursue every single infraction.
bolasanibk 8y ago
Duplicate submission with more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18239521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18239521
lordnacho 8y ago
How normal is it to freeze someone's assets so they can just barely pay their daily expenses? It seems like it hinders you from paying a lawyer to protect yourself. I can see if someone is suspected of being an organised criminal, such that everything he has is derived from crime. Then maybe. But generally it sounds open to abuse. If you can just get a court to freeze the guy, then whatever your beef is you have a good chance of winning.

27 points by stevekemp 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

This will be the new normal. Society/people have evolved to a point where abstract thought is valuable. Protection of that intangibleness will only increase in time as the risks become greater.

falcor84 8y ago
What? Abstract thought had been valuable for a very long time. People and companies have been gaining a competitive advantage from abstract ideas pretty much from the dawn of time. In this particular case the issue is regarding the control of a virtual currency, where its power (as with any other currency) depends on its scarcity. Not much new here either, what they've been doing is very similar to counterfeit printing of bank notes.

Rotdhizon 8y ago

Title came from the article, and it is rather poor. To summarize the article: 2 properties were searched in connection to a cheat called 'Infamous' that was taken down half a year ago. The cheat was supposedly made by the 5 people in question whos assets have been frozen. While interesting, I don't think this will become a norm. This is an edge case where these people were pushing this monetized cheating program hard to a lot of people. You have to really disrupt a games online system to warrant targeted investigation like this. As a serious gamer, I wish cheating and cyber attacks were taken much more seriously, but companies don't have the means to investigate and pursue every single infraction.

bolasanibk 8y ago

Duplicate submission with more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18239521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18239521

lordnacho 8y ago

How normal is it to freeze someone's assets so they can just barely pay their daily expenses? It seems like it hinders you from paying a lawyer to protect yourself. I can see if someone is suspected of being an organised criminal, such that everything he has is derived from crime. Then maybe. But generally it sounds open to abuse. If you can just get a court to freeze the guy, then whatever your beef is you have a good chance of winning.