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Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6282171.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;3
Full Story: + Show Spoiler + Developer accuses Canadian, Peruvian users of creating, selling maphacks and cheats for multiplayer real-time strategy game. ----- Blizzard ushered in the month of October by showing Starcraft II cheaters the door, suspending or banning roughly 5,000 players of the real-time strategy game for using hacks to gain an advantage in the game. Days later, the company went after some of the people responsible for the cheat programs.
Blizzard is wasting little time cracking down on Starcraft II hackers.
Blizzard last week filed suit in the Los Angeles US District Court against three programmers, accusing them of creating and selling hacks for Starcraft II in violation of the end-user license agreement, Battle.net terms of use, and copyright law.
According to the suit, "Just days after the release of Starcraft II, Defendants already had developed, marketed, and distributed to the public a variety of hacks and cheats designed to modify (and in fact destroy) the Starcraft II online game experience. In fact, on the very day that Starcraft II was released, representatives of the hacks Web site advised members of the public that 'our staff is already planning new releases for this game.'"
Blizzard is accusing the trio of multiple counts of copyright infringement, and demanding damages and disgorgement of any profits reaped by the distribution and sale of the hacks. The company also accuse the defendants of inducing others to infringe on their copyright, saying, "When users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they copy StarCraft II copyrighted content into their computer's RAM in excess of the scope of their limited license, as set forth in the EULA and ToU, and create derivative works of StarCraft II."
"The harm to Blizzard from Defendants' conduct is immediate, massive and irreparable," the suit claims. "By distributing the Hacks to the public, Defendants cause serious harm to the value of StarCraft II. Among other things, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard's legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience. That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction, thereby resulting in lost sales of the game or 'add-on' packs and expansions thereto."
The three defendants named in the suit go by the handles "Permaphrost," "Cranix," and "Linuxawesome," with the former two residing in Canada and the latter in Peru. It's unclear what jurisdiction the court has over the accused, although Starcraft II's end-user license agreement specifically states that disputes would be decided by a court within Los Angeles County. Additionally, among the relief demanded by the developer is a requirement that the defendants pull their programs hosted anywhere within the court's jurisdiction. There are other allged hackers named in the suit--including "Wiggley," "Zynastor," and "Dark Mage," but Blizzard has not included their real identities in the suit.
Blizzard had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.
I am pretty surprised and happy to see this. I personally have not before seen this action being taken. My happiness is based on the assumption that less people will make hacks and use them from now on. Is my assumption false though? Will people do it anyways and all this does is stop these in particular?
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Wow, going after the source. This is definitely a new precedence against cheaters, and I approve.
EDIT: In response to the OP's question, I think it will definitely deter some. I mean, I know a lot of people who don't torrent copyrighted material out of fear of legal ramifications, so as soon as word gets out that you can be sued for hacking, I'm sure it will go down. Of course it won't eliminate the problem, but anything helps and I love seeing hackers get screwed.
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United States7166 Posts
this is exactly what ive been hoping/waiting for ♥ blizzard for this
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Fuck ya Blizzard. I hope those hack creating assholes get what is coming to them.
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Live2Win
United States6657 Posts
this is absolutely amazing.
I think I've heard of that name Zynastor before, definitely rings a bell somewhere, which is great if known names get hit hard by blizz law suits.
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
Zynastor hahahahah. Justice at last.
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Canada7170 Posts
Why do I recall hearing this in regards to WoW? EDIT: Oh yeah, Zynastor sounds super familiar, can't put my finger on it.
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I approve of this but once again Blizzard lawyers are going to manipulate the judge's inability to understand how ram actually works. (Happened with WoWGlider)
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GJ Blizzard. Make these guys regret what they've done. I friggin hate hackers and mostly the people that make them in the first place.
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Long live blizzard, they are not letting StarCraft II become like WarCraft 3, where 50% of B.net hacks. Cant wait to see the results of this.
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On October 16 2010 13:38 mikeymoo wrote: Why do I recall hearing this in regards to WoW? EDIT: Oh yeah, Zynastor sounds super familiar, can't put my finger on it. I believe he made tons of hacks (googled his name).
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Blizzard sure likes to sue people; didn't they recently sue some person selling stuff in their private WoW server?
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The problem I think is not that they were hacking. I think it was that they were trying to turn a profit hacking Blizzard's game. If they were simply distributing the software, Blizzard would not have done this. I think.
Hackers know the risks they are running. If they aren't prepared for them, they should not hack at all.
Could you edit your post to include more than a paragraph? Possibly add in some discussion. I'd hate for this to be closed because of "insufficient post."
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On October 16 2010 13:39 holynorth wrote: I approve of this but once again Blizzard lawyers are going to manipulate the judge's inability to understand how ram actually works. (Happened with WoWGlider)
Not too familiar with that case because I don't play WoW.
What's that about?
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On October 16 2010 13:41 Alphaes wrote: Blizzard sure likes to sue people; didn't they recently sue some person selling stuff in their private WoW server? Yeah, they sued some girl like 85 million dollars for running a private server and selling stuff off it.
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Zynastor makes Oblivion right?
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Blizzard you are awesome. Now just remove the depot/rax rule and nerf marauders and we'll all be fine. =)
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This is great but.. what jurisdiction does LA court have over Canada and Peru? Good luck having California state telling other countries to hand over the suspects for... not murder or terrorism, but video game map hacks.
I think it's more symbolic than practical.
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On October 16 2010 13:42 vica wrote: The problem I think is not that they were hacking. I think it was that they were trying to turn a profit hacking Blizzard's game.
This is a thought that I had. Is it that it is just easier to win a lawsuit against someone that is trying to make a profit? (versus hackers that make hacks for no profit)
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