Last year, we covered the news that Canadian programmer Gary Bowser, and yes, that is his real name, landed himself in some deep waters with Nintendo.
This deep water meant that the aptly named programmer would serve 40 months in prison and have to pay between 25-30% of his future salary to Nintendo for as long as he lived.
For those who might have missed the original story when it broke, here is the rundown:
Gary Bowser is, or more accurately was, a member of a hacking group that targeted Nintendo devices and enabled users to play ROM games on the Nintendo Switch and 3DS.
Nintendo accused Gary Bowser, then 53, of conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and to traffic in circumvention devices, of which he was found guilty.
On top of the prison time, Gary Bowser also landed himself with a $14.5 million fine, of which a $10 million payment to Nintendo was and is, considered the priority. And while this amount was impossible for him to pay, the workaround was Nintendo garnishing 25-30% of his future wages for the rest of his life.
Now, thanks to an interview between Gary Bowser and The Guardian, we finally have some insight as to how this ruling has affected his life after being released early from prison due to medical issues he is financially unable to get treatment for:
“Bowser has now managed to secure housing, and he thinks that after rent, he has a couple of hundred dollars leftover for food and other necessities. He assumes he’ll be turning to food support services.”
The interview also shows that for long stretches of time, Gary Bowser has had to go without a refrigerator or stove due to late electricity bill payments.
“I’ll pay them what I can, which won’t be very much money, that’s for sure”.
The reason for the early release from prison was due to chronic pain which stems from elephantitis:
“For a while, I couldn’t even get a shoe on my left foot, so I was walking around barefoot.
The day I was arrested, I was sleeping in my bed, it was four in the morning, I’d been drinking all night … I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head.
The sentence was like a message to other people.”
At the time, Nintendo lawyer, Ajay Singh, said:
“A role has to be played here in terms of a message. What else can we do to convince people that there’s no glory in this hacking/piracy?
It’s the purchase of video games that sustains Nintendo and the Nintendo ecosystem, and it is the games that make the people smile … It’s for that reason that we do all we can to prevent games on Nintendo systems from being stolen.”
For a company that says it’s all about spreading joy, I’m not sure the punishment fits the crime here, and even though Gary Bower did wrong, this feels wrong, too.
What are your thoughts on all this? Did Gary Bowser have it coming, or is Nintendo in the wrong? Drop your thoughts in the comments.