A 17-year-old Manchester, England area resident has been arrested in connection with an attack against online gameplay servers for one of Activision's Call of Duty titles.
The unnamed suspect reportedly used a Call of Duty cheating tool known as Phenom Booter, which can remove specific players from game servers by a type of flooding attack/DDoS, in addition to shutting down servers entirely.
The arrest was made based on a September tip to police by Activision, according to the BBC, after the Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit traced the suspect's IP address as the source of the attack on the England-based servers.
The teen was arrested on charges of violating the Computer Misuse Act, a 1990 UK law that punishes unauthorized access or modification of computer material with fines and up to five years of imprisonment.
"Programs marketed in order to disrupt the online infrastructure not only affect individual players but have commercial and reputational consequences for the companies concerned," said Detective Inspector Det Insp Paul Hoare, in a statement.
"These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime."
In October, the servers for indie hit Minecraft were hit by a DDoS attack, allegedly from disgruntled fans mad about the slow pace of updates.
What the hell kind of world are we in that people can get arrested for cheating at a video game?
"These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime."
The cops are arresting people for pre-crime, even?
Honestly, ban his account, block the IP he's using, take legal action for damages even. Arrest, for breaking a game server, is way over the line. Activision should be ashamed of using these kind of heavy-handed tactics.
EDIT: Should've read the original BBC article that says it was a DDOS, not just a "cheating tool". That's different and pretty obviously illegal.
WOW!..............."I honestly don't know what to say".
I live in a high crime area (HINT, HINT: WHERE THE BIG 3 USED TO RULE!!! OHH, HAVE TIMES CHANGED) and we have a hard time getting the police to show up and do their job. But if I was cheating in a game of "Call of Duty" they would kick in my door and arrest me, huh? Hey you police dudes in England, LIGHTEN UP!
I can see if the kid was on some Matthew Broderick 1980's "WAR GAMES" shit. Talk about a bad case of "SEVERELY SENSITIVE SERVER SYNDROME!!!"
"Programs marketed in order to disrupt the online infrastructure not only affect individual players but have commercial and reputational consequences for the companies concerned."
Sounds rational to me.
Why should a company get a bad rep due to some wanker running a hack?
Also why should buyers of a product be denied part of what they paid for without those responsible being held accountable?
I think this little turd got exactly what he deserved! If you don't prosecute what keeps this type of behavior from bringing down the entire system from these kids? I agree that it's ridiculous, but vandalizing the servers is just as ridiculous. There is no good reason for it, and it should never happen in the first place, but it does, and I'm glad to see that something is being done about it. Throw the book at the little shit!
I still think its a bit too much but I can understand why they wanted to make an example out of this kid. To discourage any of this kind of behavior from kids and adults alike!
"These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime."
The cops are arresting people for pre-crime, even?
Honestly, ban his account, block the IP he's using, take legal action for damages even. Arrest, for breaking a game server, is way over the line. Activision should be ashamed of using these kind of heavy-handed tactics.
EDIT: Should've read the original BBC article that says it was a DDOS, not just a "cheating tool". That's different and pretty obviously illegal.
I live in a high crime area (HINT, HINT: WHERE THE BIG 3 USED TO RULE!!! OHH, HAVE TIMES CHANGED) and we have a hard time getting the police to show up and do their job. But if I was cheating in a game of "Call of Duty" they would kick in my door and arrest me, huh? Hey you police dudes in England, LIGHTEN UP!
I can see if the kid was on some Matthew Broderick 1980's "WAR GAMES" shit. Talk about a bad case of "SEVERELY SENSITIVE SERVER SYNDROME!!!"
Sounds rational to me.
Why should a company get a bad rep due to some wanker running a hack?
Also why should buyers of a product be denied part of what they paid for without those responsible being held accountable?