Habbo Claims Free Publicity by getting 17 year olds arrested

[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 ?

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.