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[dvl]

  Don't worry dude, your lawyer will get you out of this one.  I'd bet everything I own on that.

[cyrusuncc]

glad to hear you have a lawyer.  Its the best move in my opinion.  Be completely honest with him/her because they know the law, and they need to know the truth to help you.  Remember their is a attorney/client privlige so the lawyer can never say anything to anyone else, and if they do it cannot be used in court.

listen to your lawyer.  they know the law better then anyone here (unless one of us is a lawer).

i find it interesting that the law has not gotten a new warrant pertaining to the pirated games... makes me believe that they're just using it to scare you.

Here's some things to do (like others have posted before):
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1. Destroy any pirated material on your computer.  Zero out the drive first if possible.  AKA a low level format.  I'm no expert in data recovery but i believe that if a drive is zeroed, data cannot be recovered.  Usually when you delete a file, it just removes the header tag and the actual data is still there.. until it gets overwritten by something else.  zeroing it out overwrites all blocks with 0's.

2. Destroy any other cds, etc.. with pirated materials on it.

3. Purchase every game that you had pirated (and was confiscated).  At least it'll give you a leg to stand on.  Might want to ask your lawyer if that is the best idea.

4. Don't drop the soap

Sorry.. that last one was wrong but i couldn't resist.

Good luck to you.

[cyrusuncc]

QUOTE

second call was from the cop, saying if i didnt admit to the crimes by 12:00pm, i would be taken down to jail at 12:01pm on the dot, to be finger printed, mug shot..etc... and also if i dont admit to the crimes hes taking the backups to a judge?? or fbi or something i was confused by what he said.. bassically take them somewhere, where i will get fucked.......

Is it just me or if they had enough evidence to prosicute him, they wouldn't be demanding a confession by a certain time?  If they had the evidence, they'd have already arrested him.

I watch law and order (not that tv is the best law resource) and you'll notice how the cops will lie and decieve in order to get a confession out of a suspect.

Also, what are you getting for this "confession?"  Are they going to say, ok Johnnie, we forgive you!  or are they going to do the exact same thing they're threating him with?  Take him to jail, fingerprint, and mug shots.

Stick to your guns.  If your innocent, then fight it!  Remember, being arrested for a crime and being convicted of a crime is two VERY differnet things.

[MorfiusX]

Just a couple of opinions:

Did they read you your rights when they searched the house? You are allowed to have an attorney present. "Even if you can't afford one"

You can get a court appointed attorney right now for free. It's your right.

They can only sieze what is in plain site. Period. You siad the disks were in jewel cases correct? This is not plain site. The disks could have been legit backups of anything. and ulness they were out of the cases and said "Illegal backups" on them, use this to your advantage.

They WILL try to get you to confess, and ust becuase they are cops doesn't mean they are doing the right thing. They think that they can bend the rules becuase you are a kid that doesn;t know any better. Adive: Know better. Know your rights.

[Rohaq]

QUOTE

Here's some things to do (like others have posted before): --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Destroy any pirated material on your computer.  Zero out the drive first if possible.  AKA a low level format.  I'm no expert in data recovery but i believe that if a drive is zeroed, data cannot be recovered.  Usually when you delete a file, it just removes the header tag and the actual data is still there.. until it gets overwritten by something else.  zeroing it out overwrites all blocks with 0's.

A low level format prevents a low level data recovery, however a decent data forensic expert can still regain data from a formatted drive, as it doesn't completely wipe the physical remains of data.

Only proper way to get rid of the data is to use a data scrambling deletion tool, like Windows Washer, format the drive, then destroy the hard drive (melted and shattered, preferably) and bury the remains somewhere, although that could be a little drastic. It depends on how much illegal stuff you have, and just remember that a fine may far outweigh the cost of a new HDD

QUOTE

2. Destroy any other cds, etc.. with pirated materials on it.

Yep, again, preferably melted and shattered.

QUOTE

3. Purchase every game that you had pirated (and was confiscated).  At least it'll give you a leg to stand on.  Might want to ask your lawyer if that is the best idea.

Sounds like a good idea to me; in some countries its legal to make one backup copy of each piece of software and audio CD you own, so it'd give you some leverage if you did this. Just destroy the receipts so they can't find out WHEN you bought them

QUOTE

4. Don't drop the soap

[erexx]

Get a good lawyer.
Keep your mouth shut.

[krobby]

man.. this is scary.. makes me glad i never leave my house. If i left my house i might commit (or be accused of commiting which seems to be the case with this fellow) a *real* crime which would lead to someone discovering some of my soft crimes.

edit: i'm also glad i live in canada, where no one gives a shit about anything!

[Rohaq]

QUOTE (Hoppy @ Oct 14 2003, 09:45 PM)

QUOTE (MorfiusX @ Oct 14 2003, 01:19 PM) Did they read you your rights when they searched the house? You are allowed to have an attorney present. "Even if you can't afford one" I don't belive the police have to read you your rights.  They only have to show you the warrant when you request to see it.

They have to read him his rights if they're going to charge him with a crime. If they haven't read him his rights, he hasn't been charged or suspected yet. If they really had evidence that he's stolen the hardware, or if they were actually going to prosecute him for the copied games, he'd have been arrested, fined or warned by now. In any case, his rights would be read to him.

I said it before and I'll say it again; I wouldn't be surprised if the cops just nicked his copied games.

[MorfiusX]

QUOTE (Rohaq @ Oct 14 2003, 03:55 PM)

QUOTE (Hoppy @ Oct 14 2003, 09:45 PM) QUOTE (MorfiusX @ Oct 14 2003, 01:19 PM) Did they read you your rights when they searched the house? You are allowed to have an attorney present. "Even if you can't afford one" I don't belive the police have to read you your rights.  They only have to show you the warrant when you request to see it. They have to read him his rights if they're going to charge him with a crime. If they haven't read him his rights, he hasn't been charged or suspected yet. If they really had evidence that he's stolen the hardware, or if they were actually going to prosecute him for the copied games, he'd have been arrested, fined or warned by now. In any case, his rights would be read to him. I said it before and I'll say it again; I wouldn't be surprised if the cops just nicked his copied games.

I wasn't talking about meranda rights. You do have other rights when a search warrent has been issued. You are allowed to have an attourney present when they search your house to help keep you rights from being violated.

Either way, cops usually always try to bully people. Knowing what you rights are is the only way to protect yourself.

Still there are people that know the laws better than any of us, me included. They are called Lawyers...

[pedro]

Kind of ironic that we were just talking about this subject in my history class.  According to my history teacher (one of the smartest men I know), if the warrent didnt specificaly stae that they were looking for back ups, they cant do anything but confiscate them.  They can take them from you but not charge you for having them becuase they were obtained under a warrent that didnt include them.

Maybe this hasbeen stated before, I am not abou to read four pages of this to find out.

The one thing they will do though is try to find a way to connect the backups to the theft.  They do it with drug warrents alot.  If they find alot of loose cash or something like that they will say that the loose cash is evidence of drug dealing when really they have no way of proving it.

get a good lawyer and you wont go to jail or pay any fines.
THe part about the warrant having to state what they are looking for is on of the ammendments that ispart of the bill or rights.
liek the sixth or something.  Not for sure which one.

[Techmaster]

QUOTE (Rohaq @ Oct 14 2003, 08:25 PM)

Only proper way to get rid of the data is to use a data scrambling deletion tool, like Windows Washer, format the drive, then destroy the hard drive (melted and shattered, preferably) and bury the remains somewhere, although that could be a little drastic. It depends on how much illegal stuff you have, and just remember that a fine may far outweigh the cost of a new HDD

The US military specifies that to reliably destroy data from a drive, you have to use software that uses a 3 step process:

1) Overwrite the entire drive with 0's
2) Overwrite the entire drive with 1's
3) Overwrite the entire drive with random bits.

That is the only way (other than physically destruction, which is only as effective as the physical destruction!) to reliably make sure that data recovery cannot be performed on the drive.  

[pedro]

here it is in the constitution:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


To me, that means that if it wasnt clearly stated in the warrant that they were looking for pirated software then they cant do shit about it.
Again,  a good lawyer will prove this to be true

[cyrusuncc]

QUOTE (Rohaq @ Oct 14 2003, 09:55 PM)

QUOTE (Hoppy @ Oct 14 2003, 09:45 PM) QUOTE (MorfiusX @ Oct 14 2003, 01:19 PM) Did they read you your rights when they searched the house? You are allowed to have an attorney present. "Even if you can't afford one" I don't belive the police have to read you your rights.  They only have to show you the warrant when you request to see it. They have to read him his rights if they're going to charge him with a crime. If they haven't read him his rights, he hasn't been charged or suspected yet. If they really had evidence that he's stolen the hardware, or if they were actually going to prosecute him for the copied games, he'd have been arrested, fined or warned by now. In any case, his rights would be read to him. I said it before and I'll say it again; I wouldn't be surprised if the cops just nicked his copied games.

its a common misconception that police officers must read a person their rights when dealing with crimes.

The only time this applies is when a person is actually being arrested AND interrogated. (my spelling sucks)

since our fellow xbox scener has not been arrested for this crime yet, the police have no need the read him his rights.

[alf]

U r 17 and think you are gonna go to jail?

[havocaose]

QUOTE (Techmaster @ Oct 15 2003, 02:47 AM)

QUOTE (Rohaq @ Oct 14 2003, 08:25 PM) Only proper way to get rid of the data is to use a data scrambling deletion tool, like Windows Washer, format the drive, then destroy the hard drive (melted and shattered, preferably) and bury the remains somewhere, although that could be a little drastic. It depends on how much illegal stuff you have, and just remember that a fine may far outweigh the cost of a new HDD The US military specifies that to reliably destroy data from a drive, you have to use software that uses a 3 step process: 1) Overwrite the entire drive with 0's 2) Overwrite the entire drive with 1's 3) Overwrite the entire drive with random bits. That is the only way (other than physically destruction, which is only as effective as the physical destruction!) to reliably make sure that data recovery cannot be performed on the drive.

just drop a big ass electro magnet on the harddrive for a few days... , by the way this thread freaked the hsit outa me, time to hide everything in the walls.....