Habbo Claims Free Publicity by getting 17 year olds arrested

[Administrator]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071114/tod-uk-dutch-online-theft-b7e5c6f_1.html




Dutch police have made their first arrest of an online thief -- a 17-year-old accused of stealing virtual furniture from rooms in the Habbo Hotel -- a popular teenager networking Web site.

(Advertisement)
An Amsterdam police spokeswoman confirmed a report that the teenager was accused of stealing 4,000 euros (2,833 pounds) worth of virtual furniture by hacking into the accounts of other users.

Four other 15-year-olds have also been questioned in the case, which was instigated by the Web site. They are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own online hotel rooms.

Habbo users can create their own characters, decorate their own rooms and play a number of games, paying with Habbo Credits, which they have to buy with real cash.

Habbo Hotel is owned by Finnish Internet company Sulake which said last month it had reached 80 million registered users of its sites in 31 countries.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Dominic Evans)

I thought no accounts on habbo can be "Hacked" and that all furniture is owned by "Sulake" according to T&C. How is it theft?

[Wyked]

Nice one

[GoldenMerc]

Hi James,Anyway yeh but its still stealing,Like say you loan a car and it gets stolen surely thats stealing?

[Alkaz]

Its all owned by sulake but your own user name in habbos eyes is yourn and your furniture is youn. So if someone hacks you they must class it as theft.

They must have stolen alot to have stole that much.

[GoldenMerc]

It doesnt say what hotel does it?

[Liz♥]

Clearly it's at a Dutch hotel, otherwise why would the Dutch police be involved lol

[Administrator]

Clearly it's at a Dutch hotel, otherwise why would the Dutch police be involved lol

Maybe the user lived in Amsterdam, however used Habbo UK?


Hi James,Anyway yeh but its still stealing,Like say you loan a car and it gets stolen surely thats stealing?

Yes, however the T&C state that Sulake own the copyright to all purchased.. if you truely owned the furnitures you would be able to sell it for real money to people and remove it from Sulakes servers. Thus, a user moved a peice of furniture from one room to another. Only crime thats been commited is unauthorized access to a users account.

[Roboevil]

[url]I thought no accounts on habbo can be "Hacked" and that all furniture is owned by "Sulake" according to T&C. How is it theft?

It's Dutch Law, could be different.


Its all owned by sulake but your own user name in habbos eyes is yourn and your furniture is youn. So if someone hacks you they must class it as theft.

They must have stolen alot to have stole that much.

I wonder how they'd add up super rares--if he stole any.

[bo$$]

Hmm..

*Scene - Jailcell*
An old grumpy guy sits there looking at the fresh 17 year old

HEY *Angrily* What are you in for? Wanna know what I did? I murdered 18 cops... and then did their wives *Eyes go all whacky*

I.. Um.. I.. -tears come out- st-st-stolee furniture on a g-ggamee..

lolol
I think it's a bit over the top to get someone arrested.. coulda just IP'd them or something.

[Liz♥]

Maybe the user lived in Amsterdam, however used Habbo UK?

I only just saw this article on yahoo news like yourself and that is a valid point but it's unlikely that is possible though.

Why not try and see if any other news people have found out the same find but with a bit more detail?

I think it's from UK


Dutch police have arrested an unnamed 17-year-old on suspicion of having swiped €4,000 worth of furniture from the virtual Habbo Hotel - the first such local arrest for "virtual burglary".

According to Expatica, police say the suspect "allegedly hacked the accounts of other Habbo community members", then "took their furniture and brought it to his own room". Four 15-year-olds were also quizzed about the break-in, and police say the suspects will be charged with "hacking and burglary".

Habbo Hotel - a teen hang-out with 31 communities worldwide - allows yoof to create "Habbos" (avatars), book into the hotel, and furnish their rooms with stuff bought for real cash. ®

The word's Habbo Hotel was hyperlinked and when I clicked it, it took me to Habbo UK
Then again, it mentions it's locally :)

[Roboevil]

lolol
I think it's a bit over the top to get someone arrested.. coulda just IP'd them or something.

He wouldn't go to prison with an old man. Sulake are obviously trying to set an example, scamming on Habbo happens all the time, this could act as a deterrent to some of them. Plus, Sulake will get the money for it (assuming they'd sue for compensation)... not that a 17-year-old boy is likely to have £2k+ cash.

[GoldenMerc]

The might of sold the account on?
Well they stole the account?
So that could count?

[bo$$]

He wouldn't go to prison with an old man. Sulake are obviously trying to set an example, scamming on Habbo happens all the time, this could act as a deterrent to some of them. Plus, Sulake will get the money for it (assuming they'd sue for compensation)... not that a 17-year-old boy is likely to have £2k+ cash.

I know he wouldn't go to prison with an old man..
and some kids these days do have high amounts of money as lots of them work

@ Habbo trying to set an example, I highly doubt it will work. Small amounts of people will even see the article yet alone care. Scamming/hacking has been going on since 2000 and it will continue going on until Habbo decides to close

[Administrator]

The might of sold the account on?
Well they stole the account?
So that could count?

Interesting topic... can you actually "steal" user accounts.. or can you only gain unauthorized access to an account and maliciously modify data in this account?

[GoldenMerc]

Habbo wont close,They are making a too high ammount of money,I bet in 20 years if you type in Habbo the whole thing will look completly diffrent,Thats garanteed.
Edit to above:
Ye you can steal accounts,Well wait a sec,Whats stealing classed as taking something that isnt yours so it is indeeed

[Liz♥]

Interesting topic... can you actually "steal" user accounts.. or can you only gain unauthorized access to an account and maliciously modify data in this account?

that a rhetorical question? :P

[BlueTango]

Good on then. Put your foot down.

[Administrator]

Habbo wont close,They are making a too high ammount of money,I bet in 20 years if you type in Habbo the whole thing will look completly diffrent,Thats garanteed.
Edit to above:
Ye you can steal accounts,Well wait a sec,Whats stealing classed as taking something that isnt yours so it is indeeed

Ahhh this is reminding me of the many torterous days at Hendon Police training.. in UK law (Not Dutch though), theft is only when you deprive someone of a physical object with the intention of permamently depriving them of this. The fact it is an online account which you can easily gain access again to by contacting the company..

[Markness.]

Dosen't it come under computer misuse too?
Lol @ the guy, thinks he can hack people and now hes getting jailed/fined.

Now whos the noob :P ?

[GoldenMerc]

Yes but its still stealing realy if you think about it,Like say if i emailed Sulake and said can i have my account back the name is jrh2002 they would be like **** off proberly but its still practically taking / stealing a account,James why not just post with your assistant general manager account :P

[Liz♥]

Ahhh this is reminding me of the many torterous days at Hendon Police training.. in UK law (Not Dutch though), theft is only when you deprive someone of a physical object with the intention of permamently depriving them of this. The fact it is an online account which you can easily gain access again to by contacting the company..



HACKING IS NOW A CRIME!

Now, unlawful entry into a computer system is one thing, but hacking can mean coding, writing the kind of journalism the reg is famed for or chopping up a log with a large axe.

Someone should educate them before they continue to make these kinds of ******ed errors.



Not sure :s

[Roboevil]

The might of sold the account on?
Well they stole the account?
So that could count?

They could go on those grounds. It's awkward really, as Sulake own it all, it would be the equivalent to going into someone's house and moving all the furniture around.

I think it would count as stealing though. Like, Sulake own the rights to all the furniture, if a staff member went into someone's room and picked up thousands of credits worth of furniture, it would still count as theft. I think so, otherwise, like someone else said, it would be the individual account holder that would prosecute.
Although because it would be impossible for every single person to claim, it's easier for Sulake to prosecute.

[Administrator]

Dosen't it come under computer misuse too?
Lol @ the guy, thinks he can hack people and now hes getting jailed/fined.

Now whos the noob :P ?

If anything, in UK law (Not Dutch) the only crime commited is Computer Misuse, Gaining unauthorized access to an account and modifying data. You can not "steal" virtual goods that are not tangible.

[GoldenMerc]

Yeh your right Mit,Its practically like going into a naghbours house and taking some stuff and putting it in your own house LOL
so its stealing.

[Administrator]

Yeh your right Mit,Its practically like going into a naghbours house and taking some stuff and putting it in your own house LOL
so its stealing.

Morally that is correct, in the eyes of the law it is not if you read what I have said.

[Roboevil]

Yeh your right Mit,Its practically like going into a naghbours house and taking some stuff and putting it in your own house LOL
so its stealing.

I think a more practical parrallel would be, if I had a ranch, of which I permenantly rented out horses to people to ride around on the ranch. Then someone stole a load of a horses to ride around on my land themselves.
I couldn't prosecute him for stealing, because he's not stole anything from me, as he's still using my horses to ride on my land. I think this is where Habbo is odd, they legally have the rights to the furniture, not the ownership, meaning when we buy furni, we're actually buying it--not permenantly renting it.

[GoldenMerc]

Mhm ye but if we baught it people would sell it on ebay as they own it,Although you can just re-rent it out LOL

[Slowpoke]

how do they know how much it was all worth if the furniture, according to habbo, "has no set value"?

[Pyroka]

Sorta obscene... I mean, I see where they're coming from, it's theft but in a indirect form. A guy has spent €4000 on a game, and someone steals it off them. It's practically theft, but in an indirect form. He won't get punished much, maybe 6 months in prison but I don't see him getting much, especially for his age (and the other four 15 year olds). Probably fined if it was UK law, and 12 months community service... But that's just my two cents.

I guess they're trying to tackle internet crime at its foundations, before they start getting the hang of 'hacking' other systems which include taking money from others.

[Administrator]

I wonder how much time those users who hacked Housekeeping and caused havoc at Sulake got in the Summer of '05? Hopefully alot more than this kid. :)

[Roboevil]

how do they know how much it was all worth if the furniture, according to habbo, "has no set value"?

I just thought of something that Habbo has a very large advantage towards. The Law calculates the item of goods by what they're worth to the general public at the time of theft. Meaning if there's evidence that the majority of users will pay 4T for a Dino, then they're allowed to set the cost for it at that.

The reason the Law does this is to account for damage, age and other factors that decrease it's values. For instance, no one should be compensated £150 for a phone they bought 10 years ago if that was its original price. However Habbo furniture doesn't decrease in value, there's no difference between an old and new Dino, so it gives Habbo an advantage.

[GoldenMerc]

James that was Just-One he didnt get any time.

[8008135]

Hi James,Anyway yeh but its still stealing,Like say you loan a car and it gets stolen surely thats stealing?
*REMOVED*


Edited by Yoshimitsui (Super Moderator): please don't make inappropriate posts.

[Roboevil]

Sorta obscene... I mean, I see where they're coming from, it's theft but in a indirect form. A guy has spent €4000 on a game, and someone steals it off them. It's practically theft, but in an indirect form. He won't get punished much, maybe 6 months in prison but I don't see him getting much, especially for his age (and the other four 15 year olds). Probably fined if it was UK law, and 12 months community service... But that's just my two cents.

LOL he would not get 6 months, nor would he get 12 months community service. Maybe if he stabbed someone in the face, but not for stealing virtual goods. The maximum he'd get is the fine for compensation; because he's under 18, I doubt he'd even get that.

[GoldenMerc]

My spelling is correct you moron.
James, Surely if say they stole it from a user thats stealing on Sulake's behalf not the users who got it stolen from?!?

[8008135]

My spelling is correct you moron.
James, Surely if say they stole it from a user thats stealing on Sulake's behalf not the users who got it stolen from?!?

Yay, you remembered to use the space button after a comma!

Well done you :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
Cripple.

[GoldenMerc]

I can type how i like thanks very much :)

[Administrator]

My spelling is correct you moron.
James, Surely if say they stole it from a user thats stealing on Sulake's behalf not the users who got it stolen from?!?

Well, if a user "steals" a users furniture and puts it on another account.. then in the eyes of the law Sulake retained ownership so all thats occured is data modifications when gaining unauthorized access to a users account.

[8008135]

I can type how i like thanks very much :)
Just make it understandable in futrue.

Many thanks.

[GoldenMerc]

To be honest this seems like a pointless claim sulake are making.

[Roboevil]

To be honest this seems like a pointless claim sulake are making.

Lol yeah, it could go either way depending on how much the courts think this affects society. Considering it's a company claiming for furniture they still own, they won't get it, but considering the amount of times scamming goes on and how many "innocent habbos" are deprived of their furniture, the courts could let Sulake win to set an example. It's mean on the 17-year-old though, so Sulake will probably lose.

[GoldenMerc]

I'd like to see a counter claim,Im sueing you for wasting my time

[Awfy]

Hope the guy gets a connection suspension, because if he is from Holland or whatever I'm pretty sure they can suspend account connection. As they prevent users from using things like Limewire and so on, or from what I have read in .Net. He should be fined and sent down for a couple of months. It's stealing end of, no matter what the regulations say. He hacked into someone's personal account, which holds personal information and they modified it without their permission. Doesn't matter if it's a child's game or the fact that the company own whatever is on their server. Just because it wasn't removed from the server, doesn't mean there hasn't been an illegal activity. If I was to enter someone's house, dead at night then rearrange their furniture. Move the items from room to room, put some in the garden and so on they'd get annoyed. Now imagine that caused £2000 of damage. Then I'd be in big trouble, even though I never technically stole anything I still commited an offence of breaking and entering as well as tresspassing.

The immature kid should get what he deserves and his computer removed, at least till he's got some balls to pay for stuff like everyone else.

[NMULLEN]

Lol that is pathetic. Arrested over some virtual funiture.

[Roboevil]

Yeah but that's the issue, is Sulake able to prosecute him? Has he really stolen anything, and if so, who from? By Law, you can't steal something, if nothing's been stolen. He can get punished for having the intention to steal it.
Also, there's been no property damage or economic loss, not to Sulake anyhow.

[Awfy]

Yeah but that's the issue, is Sulake able to prosecute him? Has he really stolen anything, and if so, who from? By Law, you can't steal something, if nothing's been stolen. He can get punished for having the intention to steal it.
Also, there's been no property damage or economic loss, not to Sulake anyhow.
Yes but Sulake will claim on behalf of the hacked user. As the user or users have lost over £2500 which is a lot of money to teenagers. That is the price of a years car insurance.

[Jordy]

I doubt someone spent 4000 euros on Habbo, I think that's what all the victim's furni adds up to. I wonder if he'll be found guilty.

When I've been hacked in the past, I don't believe they deserve to be arrested for that. I honestly do not wish my hackers to be arrested, it's just a bit of furni really, and I'm also saying that when I've spent around £300 on the game :S

[Wyked]

from the bbc report of it

"Virtual theft is a growing issue in virtual worlds; in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.

Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned. "

"/

[Roboevil]

Yes but Sulake will claim on behalf of the hacked user. As the user or users have lost over £2500 which is a lot of money to teenagers. That is the price of a years car insurance.

Yes but you're missing the point. I know how much £2500 is worth. What I'm saying is that Sulake can't claim, if they have nothing to win with.

[Q-tech]

from the bbc report of it

"Virtual theft is a growing issue in virtual worlds; in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.

Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned. "

"/
LOL! omg thats over the top!
I dont think the 17 yr old kid should go to jail, he could of be influenced or just think that everyone does it and its ok..
he should be punished in some way though.

[GoldenMerc]

I think the best thing Sulake should do is get his internet disconnected.

[efq]

There you go to all you sick hackers. They are stepping up.

All they need is your IP or MAC

[KrimeScene]

My IP is Hidden..

[Awfy]

My IP is Hidden..
Bet you it's not :P

[Alkaz]

I wonder how they'd add up super rares--if he stole any.
Probally like this:
(just showing as an eg)
1hc = 70 creds

70 creds = £6

throne = 10hc

10hc = £60.

Then calculate like that what he stole?

[Roboevil]

Probally like this:
(just showing as an eg)
1hc = 70 creds

70 creds = £6

throne = 10hc

10hc = £60.

Then calculate like that what he stole?

HCs are worth 70? IN MY DAY THEY WERE 25!!!

[Kardan]

It was www.habbo.nl

[Nemo]

*police burst into house*
WHERES DA STOLEN FURNIZ!?!?!



Lol@this, why arrest him? just ban him tbh

[-:Undertaker:-]

They are stealing from Sulake then.

[BowTies1]

nothing will happen to hnim

[patrick.]

WHO WOULD SPEND £2233 ON HABBO

[Andys]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7094764.stm

LOL!

[Puma!]

Just seen this, imagine if it had happened in the UK?

[:GrapeFruit]

Lmao, someone came into Splooosh's casino talkign about this but I didn't beleive him. Wow, over 2 grand UK money... That's like...20,000 Credits? So...50 Thrones?

[ItsDave]

Lmao thats funny stuff.

[Kardan]

It's been posted :)

[Hiro]

Well yeah, they are allowed to do that.
It's still stealing.
That's why when staff quit they get banned, 'cos they haven't payed for their furni.
Serves them right tbh. Should do it to all scammers and hackers.

[Yux]

The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money.

Five 15-year-olds have also been questioned by police, who were contacted by the website's owners.

The six teenagers are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own Habbo rooms.

A spokesman for Sulake, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, said: "The accused lured victims into handing over their Habbo passwords by creating fake Habbo websites.

"In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people's personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while.

"We have had much of this scamming going on in many countries but this is the first case where the police have taken legal action."

Habbo users can create their own characters, decorate their own rooms and play a number of games, paying with Habbo Credits, which they have to buy with real cash.

"It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money. But the only way to be a thief in Habbo is to get people's usernames and passwords and then log in and take the furniture.

"We got involved because of an increasing number of sites which are pretending to be Habbo. People might then try and log in and get their details stolen."

Six million people in more than 30 countries play Habbo Hotel each month.

Virtual theft is a growing issue in virtual worlds; in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.

Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned.

Hard luck

[Samishlol]

LOL thats pathetic

[RockNRoll]

Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned.
LMAO! Now thats funny in a way!

[Energizer]

lol o my.

[msb.]

why steal :S

i bet there vexed

[reindeer.]

http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=419706

[---MAD---]

I just read the article when browsing bbc news as I do daily and I was suprised. I think its about time though, now people will take it more seriously when they say they will report the case to the police :).

[Hitman]

They are stealing from Sulake then.
Technically they're not. The furni is still on the Sulake servers, it's still there. Sulake can take it back, it's not gone anywhere.

[Method]

why steal :S

i bet there vexed


yeah i bet their VEXED ;l

[Virgin Mary]

Good. That .nl got owned. If you steal furni worth so many pounds then you should be arrested.

LMAO! Now thats funny in a way!
Well they are the same kind of people who spend so long online that they die.

[Bethanie]

Weird but funny, Taking it a bit too far just a bit like habbo perming accounts with furni on.. stealing init? Oh well.

[Boonzeet]

Already posted!
http://habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=419706

[Virgin Mary]

If someone takes a rented video from you is it still not theft? People need to be made an example of. If you steal then you should get arrested. Shame. Laughs.

[Kyle]

Well they are the same kind of people who spend so long online that they die.


LOOOL


in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.

pmsl

imagine that happenin on habbo "OI U TOOK MY THRONE......... NOW U DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" pmsl thats probably why habbo china got shut down

tbh thats the kinda thing e5 would do

:8

[Wyked]

it was sierk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Pix]

How sad. Arresting someone for habbo.

[Lerf]

How sad. Arresting someone for habbo.What you're basically saying is that we're allowed to steal over £2000 worth of stuff and get away with it.

[Leicester]

Its stealing from Sulake, not whoevers account it`s on I would of thought.

[Lerf]

Its stealing from Sulake, not whoevers account it`s on I would of thought.It's not stealing from Sulake. It's still on habbo hotel, just on a different account. when it leaves the hotel, that would be stealing from sulake :)

[Pitch]

I dont know how the dutch legal system works, but it is impossible for this case to be heard in a UK court:
explicitly stated in T&C:
1.3. You are responsible for the security and proper use of all your user names and passwords used
in connection with the Website and must take all necessary steps to ensure they are kept
confidential, secure, used properly and not disclosed to unauthorised people. You are responsible
for all activities that occur under your password and account. You must inform us immediately if
there is any reason to believe that your user name or password has, or is likely to, become known
to someone not authorised to use it or is being or is likely to be used in an unauthorised way. - If it is truly "up to the user" then how can sulake start proceedings?
from what ive read, its so far a criminal case, so sulake dont actually stand to gain anything, apart from publicity, in criminal cases the idea is to punish the offender and especially in theft this will usually lead to small fines or prison, but sulake must hire a solicitor at least, which will greatly out-weigh any fines they would hope to incur on the boy..

10.1 These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and
Wales and the parties hereby irrevocably agree that the English Courts shall have exclusive
jurisdiction to determine any matter or dispute in connection with or arising out of the Website
and these Terms. Sulake UK Ltd's failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these
Terms does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms is
found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the
court should endeavour to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision,
and the other provisions of the Terms remain in full force and effect. You may not assign,
sub-licence or otherwise transfer any of your rights under these User Terms.

- that pretty much guarantees sulake will not win this case, online material has no legal value (especially as they expressly state that a user does not own their furniture, even though i cant find it now, changes to terms and conditions cannot be binding for past actions (if they change their T&C on the 20/11, anything that happened on the 19/11 and before are not affected by this change)


In other words, not only do sulake have almost 0% chance of winning, the boy has a substantial case for counter-claiming, for time-wasting (sulake obviously have a legal executive who could've told them in 2 seconds flat that this case would fail), defamation of character and soooooooo many other things...
On the other hand, at least sulake will get hugely ripped for this.. who knows, they may have to shut down [/wishful thinking]

also, i think the £2000 quote must either refer to norms, or credits (habbo expressly do not apply values to rare/super furniture, so how can they decide how much they are worth by using habbox/3rd parties? which are, im afraid to say, not in the slightest bit reliable..)

[Virgin Mary]

Good for Sulake.

[Cixso]

That is pathetic.

Ok fair enough he took furni but jeez.

Imagine neopets doing this?

Haha I would be embarrassed in the court room never mind worrying going to jail!

[micky.blue.eyes]

Ok ok! I admit it! I did it. :(






Lol at that noob, imagine having to explain this to your friends, rofl!

[joshuar]

Sulake told me when I lost furni that I could never get hacked. So then they make a total contradition of themselves by arresting someone for hacking an account and stealing furni?

Wonder if the user got the furni refunded.

[RICHe]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7094764.stm

its on BBCNEWS now ;]

[Callum.]

But say you had 1000 norms, all 3 credits each.

That's 3000 credits worth.

Credit = 10p

So thats £3000 I think.

??

[The Professor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7094764.stm

its on BBCNEWS now ;]

Yeah, I saw that at school, the bit at the bottom about the person getting murdered is quite worrying.

[Pirrom]

Yeh, well if you get that much, the people are either really dumb, or your good. Still, i don't see the point.

[Abzii]

That's crazy, but true!

[e5]

It wont get them publicity tbh, peopel will think "what a **** game" with all this scamming and might not use it.. but on the other hand they might think the opposite.

[Falcon]

When are Habbo not claiming free publicity?

[Pitch]

Sulake are stupid for either of the below reasons:

1 - alienating current members; if they can arrest a 17 year old (regardless of their own terms and conditions, what will they do for your money, or what could they do with your personal information.. of which no-one is truly sure how much they have)

2 - Gross unpopularity within the online sector; to have a user arrested is unprecedented, and will set a dangerous precedent for both sulake and fellow online companies, who will now be seen as failing to do their utmost to protect their users should wrong doers of the highest level not be arrested.

3 - Potential new users. If a company will get a 17 year old user arrested, do you really want to join their `user base`?

4 - Parents. Will they allow their children to play on a website were the management have had to resort to calling in the law enforcement to solve their problems?

5 - Cynicism within current users; The fact we're so cynical towards their motives will just strengthen the distrust within users.. is the fact callie not there really the reason the numbers of users fallen?

Hugely wrong move, is there even a shred of good that can come from this?

[obiki]

By clicking here (http://www.novatv.nl/index.cfm?ln=nl&fuseaction=videoaudio.details&reportage_id=5586) you can view how they are going to arrest the suspect. You can also view a interview with Marcel Pordon, called Yanoa in Habbo. Click on 'Bekijk item' to view it.

The movie is in Dutch, I have translated the Dutch subtitles for you.

Police: We zijn nu bezig met de rechter-commissaris en de Amsterdamse politie in verband met de aanhouding van uw zoon.
P: We are busy with the judge and the police of Amsterdam connecting the arresting of your son.

Mother: Dat dacht ik al ja.
Police: Dat had u al gedacht?
Mother: Ja.
M: I already thought that, yes.
P: You did?
M: Yes.

Police: Is hij thuis?
Mother: Ja, hij komt eraan.
P: Is he at home?
M: Yes, he's coming.

Suspect: Stomme computer, ik haat je!
S: Stupid computer, I hate you!

Police: Na het onderzoek zijn we bij jou terecht gekomen.
Police: Wat er nu gaat gebeuren is, je gaat nu zometeen mee met deze twee geüniformeerde collega's mee.
P: After the investigation we found you. What is gonna happen in right now is that you are going with these two colleagues.

Police: Dan ga je naar het politiebureau. Je bent officieel aangehouden.
P: You will go to the police-station. You are official arrested.

Police: Je hoeft nu ook geen antwoord te geven als je niet wil, op de vragen die we stellen.
P: You don't have to answer the questions we are asking you if you don't want to.

[Black_Apalachi]

Omg owned lol.

I dunno how much 3000 euros converts into £s but that must be a few rooms of Thrones wouldn't you say?

And yeah I agree with the starter's point: don't Sulake say that they "own" all furni? Therefore nothing has been stolen as it's still inside Habbo Hotel. Can't have your cake and eat it I'm afraid :rolleyes:.

How embarrising would that be for the 17 year old though? :P

[Virgin Mary]

Because it breaks the Habbo way which breaks the T&Cs.

[scott]

Its just like saying ill break into your house and steal ur furni. THat is basically what he had done. Hacking sum1s account walking into the room and taking the furni.
And yea probs was for publicity lmao
But hey it made us laugh

Scotty!

[alex 1889]

its sulake furni but tvh it is atleast fair that there taking action against them

[John!]

Yeh your right Mit,Its practically like going into a naghbours house and taking some stuff and putting it in your own house LOL
so its stealing.

I would think of it more as walking into a hotel and moving some furniture from someone else's room to your own. Neither of you own it, the hotel does.

[Cypher-]

exactly whats wrong with free publicity?

[Pitch]

it makes you wonder why the people whos info got broadcast didnt get some free publicity and take sulake to court..

[24]

Think its about £2800. Imagine going for a job and them looking at your criminal record. You'd be gutted wouldnt you. They'd just laugh at you.

[Pitch]

Im still failing to see how sulake can win this, the best chance they have is by making it a civil case, by claiming defamatin of character by mis-use of services which caused problems for other users.. There is no way an english court will find a 17 year old guilty of cyber threat..

When you are "bullied" on habbo, is it not more prudent to have that reported to the authorities than abit of furni going missing? It is after all, practically law now (will be more stringent in about 4 months)

[le harry]

rightio.

[Elliott$]

welcum back harri
do u like the new lukz??????????????

p.s. i wil tune in!!11

[Virgin Mary]

Because it breaks the Habbo way which breaks the T&Cs.
WHICH IS THE SAME AS BREAKING ANY LEGAL CONTRACT LOL!!!!!!!!!!! REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SULAKE OWNS YOUR MUM

[Pitch]

yes, it breaks the contract, but as hes under 18 (and sulake dont force your parents to create a contract with them on your behalf), he is classed as a minor in the UK, and as such, contracts are not legally binding to him, unless an adult (18+) co signs with him, hence why you cannot get a loan/mortgage etc until your 18..