Radically Different Anti-RMT Suggestion Part 1 of 4

[SCUBA_Instr]

Square Enix disallows long messages, so this
will have to be posted in 4 parts.

Radically Different Anti-RMT Suggestion, Part 1 of 4.

I need to preface this by asking you guys, "do
any Square Enix officials, staff members, or rank
and file employees read these forums?" Does anyone
who personally knows a Square Enix employee read these
messages? Do suggestions presented here, ever get
implemented?

It's fantastic and unbelieveable that no MMO gaming
industry staff member has ever thought about doing this.

Square Enix Company and other gaming developers can't
or won't go to the trouble to enforce their copyrights.
The exception is Blizzard which landed a 6 million USD
judgement against a bot owner/operator.

Every action taken by a bot owner, RMT spammer, etc.
is absoutely a copyright infringement. Does this need
to be argued?

[SCUBA_Instr]

Radically Different Anti-RMT Suggestion, Part 2 of 4.

The Software & Information Industry Association is the principal
trade association for the software and digital content industry.

The BSA Software Alliance performs the same services
in 60 countries.

What they do is enforce copyrights, raid businesses and individual
violators, and bring about multi-million dollar fines and
judgements against copyright and digital rights violators.
In the US, they're accompanied by US Marshalls.

There are monetary rewards for those who report copyright infringement.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Radically Different Anti-RMT Suggestion, Part 3 of 4.

It won't work. RMT operations are in China where
there are no Copyright laws

SIIA and BSA work with countries to bring about enforcement.
Let them decide that. Public information reveals that
the 4-Billion dollar/Year RMT industries use spam-servers
in Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
and Orlando with US employees. Another large spammer is
based in Germany. One of the largest is run by a known US
citizen with a long criminal record.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Radically Different Anti-RMT Suggestion, Part 4 of 4.

For this to work, Square Enix Company, and preferable other MMO
gaming developers, will have to collectively involve the
SIIA and BSA and turn over copyright enforcement to them.

Both organizations have a massive success records in
busting both companies and individual copyright violators.

If, in the Terms of Service Agreements, buyers of gaming
currency are commiting copyright violations, they might
need to expect knocking on their doors and visits
by SIIA/BSA agents and US Marshalls.

For this to work, a decision [to involve the SIIA/BSA]
would have to be made at the highest levels of
Square Enix Company, LTD.


http://www.siia.net/

http://www.bsa.org/anti-piracy

[Delsus]

So if bot owners are in copyright infringement please tell me what part of the Square Enix code they have copied/ illegally distributed or stolen.

All they have done is find exploits in the game and used them to their advantage. The only possible way you can bring copyright litigation against bot owners is if they have a full copy of the source of the game (illegally decompliled from the game) which was used to find the exploits.

A bot is simply a program that interacts autonomously with the game rather than human interaction, this can simply be macros that loop, or sending the same signals to the game as the keyboard/mouse does. None of these have to do with copyright as they do not need to decompile the client to work.

To claim copyright infringement you need proof that you intellectual property has been stolen, which is probably not the case for most bots, they could have been made with exploits found in source code, but that's the creator of the bot that is infringing, not the user and attacking the users you will never stop the problem, you have to attack the source.

Oh and you do know editing your post bypasses the 1k character limit don't you?

From the very BSA link you posted

Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software, including downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies of licensed software. Software piracy also includes license infringement – installing a piece of software more times than the license permits – as well as sharing software license codes, uploading software codes to websites so others can download and use it, sharing software license codes or activation keys, as well as user IDs and passwords for web-based software applications.

Bots do not copy or distribute anything, also there are no licence limits on FFXIV except your reg code, which is applied to your SEID therefore it's impossible to use it multiple times. All they do is make trial accounts and pay for extras if needed, what's the monthly sub when one paying customer pays more than that sub?

[SCUBA_Instr]

Hi Delsus,

The legal community will need to decide if bot owners' modification of packets,
via code injection, dll injection, etc, violates copyrights. It's my opinion that
they are, but my opinion does not count. The SIIA and BSA
legal experts can advise the Square Enix board of directors if they have
jurisdiction in these matters. Thus, Square Enix leadership, should, at the
very least, confer with SIIA and BSA.

I didn't know, until you told me, that there's a way to lengthen forum messages.

[Delsus]

Hi Delsus,

The legal community will need to decide if bot owners' modification of packets,
via code injection, dll injection, etc, violates copyrights. It's my opinion that
they are, but my opinion does not count. The SIIA and BSA
legal experts can advise the Square Enix board of directors if they have
jurisdiction in these matters. Thus, Square Enix leadership, should, at the
very least, confer with SIIA and BSA.

I didn't know, until you told me, that there's a way to lengthen forum messages.

Bots as in autonomously performing commands can be made as simply as capturing signals sent from a keyboard and writing a script to perform actions, with the very commands the keyboard sends there is no injection required, just essentially a program using the keyboard, so no form of infringement. Even actual hackers who are under the scenery etc they actual user are just using a program that exploits the code. The user is not violating any form of intellectual property but the coder who wrote the program could be. I would however put it more around computer misuse which (in the UK at least) is based around hacking and illegally decompiling software with the intention of exploiting said software.

[SCUBA_Instr]

Greetings, Delsus,

I dont believe that my suggestion should be invalidated (not that you're implying that).
I should narrow it down.
Square Enix Company, LTD should explore all possible legal remedies.
There is no indication that this is being done.

Conferring with SIIA/BSA (call them on the phone) is a legal option.

Blizzard Software won a key judgement against a bot maker for copyright infringement and tortious interference.

Bottom line: Mr. Rogers, call the SIIA/BSA or just talk to an attorney.

I'm just a lowly customer, that's about all I can suggest.

[Delsus]

Greetings, Delsus,

I dont believe that my suggestion should be invalidated (not that you're implying that).
I should narrow it down.
Square Enix Company, LTD should explore all possible legal remedies.
There is no indication that this is being done.

Conferring with SIIA/BSA (call them on the phone) is a legal option.

Blizzard Software won a key judgement against a bot maker for copyright infringement and tortious interference.

Bottom line: Mr. Rogers, call the SIIA/BSA or just talk to an attorney.

I'm just a lowly customer, that's about all I can suggest.

SE will have an army of lawyers, I believe they would have looked into any legal actions they could take since FFXI. Of course it would all be useless if they can't even find the source of the bots (think movie and video game piracy, they can't find the people making the infringing material so they attack the sites that allow people to find them, which is useless because more just pop up.)

[Miakisu]

I seem to remember in FFXI, SE claimed to be able to take legal action against some of these RMT's. I really wonder what STF is doing.