Gary Bowser, of Team Xecuter infamy, is still serving his three-year prison sentence. The storied court battle may be over, but a new court transcript was released, and uploaded online, courtesy of Axios. In it, is further official comments from Nintendo's lawyers. According to the document, Nintendo's legal team wanted to use the TX case to send a message to other would-be hackers or those in the piracy business. During the proceedings, US district judge Robert Lasnik asked Nintendo's lawyers, "What do you think? What else can we do to convince people that there's no glory in this hacking/piracy?", with Nintendo's side responding, "There would be a large benefit to further education of the public."

Lasnik agreed with the sentiment, though he did not sentence Bowser to the full 5 years that Nintendo was seeking. "I always tell the jurors, 'Your role is not to send a message. Your role is to decide guilt or innocence on the facts'. But my role sometimes does entail sending a message." In response, Bowser said that giving him a longer sentence wouldn't be a deterrent to hackers, stating, “There’s so much money to be made from piracy that it’s insignificant.”

Additionally, the legal documents also reveal that Nintendo blamed hackers for the release of the new Nintendo Switch model, saying they had to design new hardware to circumvent the losses caused by TX. Nintendo's legal team also claimed that those using hacked systems could cheat, thus scaring off children who would lose to the cheaters and feel upset. “Parents should not be forced to explain to their children why people cheat and why sometimes games are not fair, just because one person wants an unfair advantage.”

2) According to the hacker Gary Bowser's lawyer, much of the time Bowser already served while awaiting sentencing was spent in de facto solitary confinement due to Covid and other health issues pic.twitter.com/BezqOq2oeZ

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 7, 2022

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Regarding the means of "sending a message", Bowser's lawyers sought a shorter 19-month sentence, to which Lasnik disagreed, and eventually sentenced Bowser to serve 40 months. The amount sentenced would have initially been 60 months, but was shortened due to the fact that Bowser suffered health issues as he awaited trial in jail, which caused him to be alone in solitary for 23 hours a day over the course of six months. As this also took place during the height of COVID, Bowser would only be allowed out of his cell to shower once every three days. He also had lost 90 pounds over those six months, and was confined to a wheelchair, as a result of his illness going untreated.

This was Bowser's statement regarding the above: "It has been a very traumatic experience for me getting arrested, coming here, going through this. This is my first time actually in a jail going through the court process and everything. And the amount of time I've spent already, 16 months in custody, a lot of that time - I spent six months, basically, locked up due to Covid. I went through all three of the Covid waves before there was even a vaccine available. I personally haven't got the vaccine [as] I am skeptical with my medical condition, how it will affect me, and I haven't been able to actually have proper medical treatment because I haven't been able to have a one-on-one with a doctor to see if the vaccine would be possible with my health conditions. When I first got arrested, I was 410 pounds. I had to use a wheelchair. I spent my life drinking, since I was age 15, after my mom died, and this is the longest time I have been sober in my life."

Source

 

[XDel]

I am so sick of corporate giants doing unethical things then turning around and making the small guy out to be the bad guy. We need an education, from old text books, and honest studies, not from lobbyists, mega corporations, dishonest politicians, internet media, and the like.

Piracy poses 0 threat to Nintendo, it is publicity if anything; free advertisement. And yes, I own over 100 Switch games, Hard Copy because as far as collecting goes... piracy does not pay. Doe!

 

[aerios169]

I think some people are angry when others try to profit off of piracy. tx was under a lot of different pseudonyms like cobra, true blue, gateway, sx os, etc. and they were having you pay for something that should be free. I know the reason why we even have cfw up to the latest for the ps3 is due to tx trying to develope yet another dongle with the keys built in but encrypted. that should make people mad.

well for lazzy people or persons who has not time for understanding or can not do it, is cool, also them help to hack the new systems. The choise to pay or use your time to hack the switch is up to you so it had not to get angry to any one, ofcourse they shouldn´t sell work of other like steal the code of other programs

 

[CompSciOrBust]

btw, tx is also responsible for the fact that we don't have cfw on the ps4. I mentioned that to @KiiWii a very long time ago. it's too long a story to get into, but that's why we have to settle for hen.

I'd like to hear that story sometime. I've had a lot of correspondence with TX and from what I've heard the only thing they tried on the PS4 was the MTX Key, which was an easily patched replay attack on game sharing, not something that would enable a CFW.

 

[ZeroHunta]

"Bowser would only be allowed out of his cell to shower once every three days."

Probably an improvement xd

 

[Rudy69]

Honestly I'm all for hacks and stuff but profiting from it comes with risks which he knew about and decided to do anyway. He got what he deserved 100%.

 

[zoogie]

tbo, after reading the last 3 sentences of the OP, going to prison was a lucky break. He was on death's doorstep with his weight and drinking habit before he first set foot in jail.

 

[KennyAtom]

this is literally just "fuck around and find out".

he fucked around, he found out.

 

[CeeDee]

absolutely not shocked this thread is already 3 pages within like an hour or two

 

[WG481]

That's a question as old as time. Phrack article from 1986:
http://phrack.org/issues/7/3.html

Bro low key sounds like Goro Akechi lmao.

Hacking is just fun.
Anything with computers is fun, imo, but pushing boundaries and capabilities with something like a console is just amazing. Getting into the hard verbose stuff gets me giddy. It's always fun to crack open a console and find some little secret dev menu or do things that cost $100 with a dev license just by grounding a pin and cracking a chip.

 

[ZeroFX]

Oh no he's such a criminal i hope he rots there.
If ninty keeps being allowed to do this bs, in the future it will escalate, and then all gbatemp will be arrested, see you there in prison.
Also I don't remember when was the last time I've bought a Nintendo game in any form... 2018? (When I bought the switch and Zelda along with) but I've played many ninty games since then, heh.

 

[nobody123456789]

...And that's why we cannot hack our Switches. I wish someone on GBATemp already slapped Nintendo in its face by releasing a softmod for patched switches.

Nobody can get this through your thick skin but it just is not possible. Wait a few decades for quantum computers to advance to the point where we can bruteforce the private keys.

Additionally, the legal documents also reveal that Nintendo blamed hackers for the release of the new Nintendo Switch model, saying they had to design new hardware to circumvent the losses caused by TX.

Nintendo was going to do this anyway because SciresM also found and disclosed the exact same exploit.

Nintendo's legal team also claimed that those using hacked systems could cheat, thus scaring off children who would lose to the cheaters and feel upset.

Coming from the same company which failed to add anti-cheating measures to their games until this happened.

 

[Chary]

The man was the PR for the real guys who actually created the piracy tool. (the ones who got away, and haven't been arrested, I might add) Bowser took the fall for them, because your average joe won't know the difference between hacker Gary Bowser and marketing-man-for-hackers Gary Bowser.

So, basically, this dude got 3 years of prison time, and over 10 million in legal fees and fines. Screw around and find out, indeed, but if anyone thinks that's a fair judgment handed out by the legal system, then you're crazy. The fact the judge was like, "well, how do we make it look super super bad to wannabe criminals and make this loser pay for it, any suggestions mr nintendo?" is pretty telling of the situation. He's not innocent, and I'm pretty sure he argued as his own lawyer or something, but are we really going to be like, "lmao, man did petty crime, hope he's ruined for life and doesn't get medical treatment, muh freedom!"???

 

[urbanman2004]

Sucks having to be in jail all that time during the onset of COVID, but to lose 90lbs after he went in jail at 410lbs is a freaking blessing w/ his fat a$$ . Yeah, Nintendo's gonna do what Nintendo does so his demise was to be expected. As underhanded and sleezy as Nintendo's legal tactics are to deter piracy, I find it very disingenuous for their lawyers to use the excuse, "Parents should not be forced to explain to their children why people cheat and why sometimes games are not fair..." just to support their case, smfh. That's a gross misrepresentation of why anyone would even want/try to hack a Switch in the first place.

 

[CompSciOrBust]

Nintendo was going to do this anyway because SciresM also found and disclosed the exact same exploit.

It was Kate Temkin not SciresM who found Fusee, along with basically everyone else who had the ability to dump the bootrom (through fault injection).

He's not innocent, and I'm pretty sure he argued as his own lawyer or something, but are we really going to be like, "lmao, man did petty crime, hope he's ruined for life and doesn't get medical treatment, muh freedom!"???

He was given a public defender by the US. I have a bit of insider knowledge on this, a big name in the hacking scene (won't say who but you can probably guess) who would benefit from having this ruling set a precedent that this was all above board offered to give Bowser a very expensive lawyer which he had on retainer. Bowser's public defender told him not to take the other lawyer because it would look bad for Bowser due to who the other lawyer had represented in the past.

 

[Foxi4]

"saying they had to design new hardware to circumvent the losses caused by TX."
In related news sun seen to rise in the morning.

I like how they’re not accepting any culpability for originally designing the hardware with built-in flaws that could be exploited. It’s like a person complaining that their house was robbed and they were forced to close their front door. Uh, yeah - I’m sure you were.

 

[Lv44ES_Burner]

Nintendo's basically using this to say, "Hey, we won't send the ninjas after you for jailbreaking our shit and pirating our games, but we will make sure you go to prison, get lackluster healthcare, and die from a virus inside there slowly choking on fluid in your lungs". I think that's a worse message than anything they could send, honestly. Does not help them look like heroes here.

 

[MariArch]

Even if I think this guy's a dumb dumb. I don't think you should be thrown in prison for a crime that's non violent or isn't associated with violence. Gary Bowser aint out there being a threat to others, dunno why he should be casted out of society. Just fine him to hell

 

[pustal]

If you don't want your health to be at risk in prison, don't willfully violate the law repeatedly. He's right where he should be, and is getting free healthcare.

I see some of his criminal co-conspirators have chimed in. The law is not broken, the law was broken. And the law was enforced. That may not be how it works in your JRPG, but that's how real-life works.

Trust me when I say I have no love for Gary, but let's take a step back to remind ourselves of what happened here:

Gary, a 52 years old non-US citizen that wasn't in US soil didn't commit copyright infrigment to a non-US company, albeit facilitated it. Said non-US company used the US system to have him extradited to US soil for what is considered illegal in US soil to have him judged in said soil for crimes he commited in that company's and country's eyes outside their physical jurisdiction. That non US-citizen that didn't live nor operate in US soil and wronged no US company (according to this case) is then condemned to be taken away from his freedom in US soil for 3 years aside paying a hefty fine, to according to that non-US company just to send a message.

This is no justice. This is a display of power, a display that money rules and a both a display of an imperialistic system and that such system plays in favor of those with money above all, even if those with money are foreign.

 

[LoggerMan]

Bowser is definitely going to kidnap Shuntaro Furukawa's girlfriend when he gets out of prison.

 

[TJHeartnote]

Trust me when I say I have no love for Gary, but let's take a step back to remind ourselves of what happened here:

Gary, a 52 years old non-US citizen that wasn't in US soil didn't commit copyright infrigment to a non-US company, albeit facilitated it. Said non-US company used the US system to have him extradited to US soil for what is considered illegal in US soil to have him judged in said soiled for crimes he commited in that companie's and country's eyes outside their physical jurisdiction. That non US-citizen that didn't live nor operate in US soil and wronged no US company (according to this case) is then condemned to be taken away from his freedom in US soil for 3 years aside paying a hefty fine, to according to that non-US company just to send a message.

This is no justice. This is a display of power, a display that money rules and a both a display of an imperialistic system and that such system plays in favor of those with money above all, even if those with money are foreign.

And this is why we need a real world version of the TV show Leverage.