Roblox $1.6M Griefer Suit Settled With Mutli-Year Ban, $150,000 Fine (polygon.com) 66
UnknowingFool writes: In November 2021, Roblox sued YouTuber, Benjamin Simon aka "Ruben Sim" for $1.6M accusing him of griefing: harassment of users, harassment of employees, and disrupting the October 2021 Roblox Developers Conference by posting a false bomb threat. Ruben Sim has settled the suit with actions including: paying $150,000, staying off the platform [for several years], staying away from all Roblox facilities, and taking down all his YouTube videos regarding Roblox [if they make false statements, encourage violence, or glamorize Roblox rule-breaking].
You find threats and harrsement ok? (Score:2)
Bomb threat aside, in what dystopian hell hole is breaking the rules of a fucking video game punishable by law?
Doesn't matter in what medium they appear; acting an asshole is a clarion call to be treated like an asshole.
Re:Wtf I don't even (Score:5, Informative)
Just reading the summary, it went past "breaking the rules" into "breaking the law" by more than just the bomb threat.
For example, "harassment of users" can be considered harassment in general, which can rise to the level of illegality depending on how bad it is. Harassing employees, same sort of deal. Especially if he did that in person at the conference where he did the alleged bomb threat.
After that, you can get into laws like trespassing, if they told him to get the hell off the property in response to his harassing the employees, and he failed to do so.
That said, reading the actual article, he wasn't actually "fined", that was the judgement against him as determined by a judge. That could be for all sorts of things including contract violation.
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Especially considering that it's mostly children on that game.
Of course Roblox themselves are not exactly the good guys here. They created an economy where kids make games for them, they take most of the profit and exploitation and sexual abuse are rife: https://youtu.be/vTMF6xEiAaY [youtu.be]
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Nah he was on point.
I agreed with all you said before you compartmentalized an entire side of the political spectrum.
I get there is a propensity of it from that camp and stereotyping/prejudices have their evolutionary places but it was an unneeded comment that polarized the audience against you and limited the benefit your words may have otherwise pierced through with.
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Both sides, tbh. I was talking to a completely homophobic democrat two days ago, actually. The nonsense that came out of her mouth was pure fantasy.
It gets worse when we only consider griefers. They are mentally ill, and not representative of either party. They will say whatever they think annoys people.
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
I'm sure the FBI has interest in him. A phobic asshole today, possible mass shooter tomorrow.
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In the world where the players sign user agreements, though that would typically amount to only civil suits. He also "hacked" his way to re-establish accounts after being banned, and used other people's accounts, both of which are violations of Roblox's user agreement. Those would seem to be quite clear grounds for civil liability, even if no criminal offenses such as filing false bomb threats existed.
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In the world where the players sign user agreements, though that would typically amount to only civil suits. He also "hacked" his way to re-establish accounts after being banned, and used other people's accounts, both of which are violations of Roblox's user agreement. Those would seem to be quite clear grounds for civil liability, even if no criminal offenses such as filing false bomb threats existed.
It was a civil suit (link to copy of filing): https://www.scribd.com/documen... [scribd.com]
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Quite right. Let's also be clear that these were illegal acts, the man wasn't convicted of any felonies in his campaign of abuse. And it was a campaign, not a single abuse or isolated act.
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Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
"He also "hacked" his way to re-establish accounts after being banned, and used other people's accounts"
Computer crime and theft, with the possibility of it being grand theft depending on the dollar amount.
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in what dystopian hell hole is breaking the rules of a fucking video game punishable by law?
The same one where buying up a bunch of no contract prepaid cell phones and unlocking them was also found to be illegal. It starts with a company whining to the government that people who aren't playing by the rules are ruining their fundamentally flawed business model. When you give something away for free or price it at a loss, of course you're going to attract customers who have no intention of using your product/service as you intended.
Obviously, bomb threats are quite illegal and that makes it pretty
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
The same one where buying up a bunch of no contract prepaid cell phones and unlocking them was also found to be illegal.
That isn't illegal. Under the anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA it technically would be, but the LoC has specifically exempted that.
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That isn't illegal. Under the anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA it technically would be, but the LoC has specifically exempted that.
It happened a few years ago. Source [wired.com]
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Same could be said for public parks. If you can't deal with people playing Swedish death metal at near-concert levels, or fucking on the picnic table next to yours you shouldn't have gone to the park on Sunday afternoon. Suck it up buttercup.
Public spaces are now growing to include virtual ones.
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Virtual spaces are more analogous to, say, a shopping mall: It's a public place in that a lot of people gather there freely, but it's still owned by a company and they have the authority to set the rules and kick people out.
It would be dystopian indeed if the whole world were run like that, with some unaccountable corporate body able to ban people from leaving their house without any trial or legal defense. But so long as these little corporate enclaves are small and non-essential, it's not really an issue.
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
"Public spaces are now growing to include virtual ones."
This is creepy.
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suck it up buttercup
That's exactly what Roblox is saying to this griefer. No reason to spoil people's fun, what he got is fully deserved.
Re:Wtf I don't even (Score:5, Informative)
He violated the agreement by which he was using their site and then kept using it anyways when they tried to make him stop. Servers are private property. I would be more worried about a world where I had no legal ability to stop people from using my servers.
To put it another way: He has the right to be a dick. He does not have the right to be on their servers after they asked him to leave.
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Re:Wtf I don't even (Score:4, Informative)
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It's not a crime to violate a ToS or to use a server without permission.
He wasn't charged with a crime nor found in breach of any law so what's your point?
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parent poster is claiming that "using a server" is a not a right.
Someone call 112. This poster is displaying all the signs of an actual stroke. Normal functioning people couldn't possibly write something this dumb.
Read the full fucking thread next time, retard.
You've outed yourself... well almost. So h33t l4x0r, what's your real name? Is it Dunning or Kruger?
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It's not a crime to violate a ToS or to use a server without permission.
Trespassing is a crime. It's not a felony with a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, but it's still illegal.
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My truck isn't real-estate either, you can still go to prison for using it without permission and I'm pretty sure if I first invite you into the truck and then change my mind and tell you to get out of it and you refuse, a crime is committed.
Re:Wtf I don't even (Score:5, Informative)
It was a civil suit concerning:
1. Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. 103)
2. Violation of the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (Cal. Penal Code 502(e))
3. Breach of Contract
4. Fraud
5. Tortious Interference with Prospective Economic Relations
6. Tortious Interference with Contract
link to lawsuit: https://www.scribd.com/documen... [scribd.com]
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Bomb threat aside, in what dystopian hell hole is breaking the rules of a fucking video game punishable by law?
What law? It was a civil suit filed by Roblox in which Simon settled.
Big tech gets their way too much, this is ridiculous. Fucking progressives and their nanny state fascist bullshit
Roblox [wikipedia.org] consists of 1,200 employees. That is not remotely "big tech". Simon broke his agreement with them. They sued. He settled. That is all.
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Their 2021 revenue was $1.9 billion. That's, if not big tech, at least medium tech. They just have few staff because most of their site is user-generated content.
They score pretty well as the asshole-o-meter themselves. A seriously exploitative financial mechanic for users that suckers in young developers with a promise of profit if they will just invest some money first, but makes actually making a profit almost impossible. Terribly ineffectual moderation, though that's pretty standard. And a history now o
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Their 2021 revenue was $1.9 billion. That's, if not big tech, at least medium tech.
It's not "tech" at all. They are a developer of a video game development platform. Nothing more. The fact that they had a lot of customers (and revenue tells you nothing of profit) doesn't make them big or medium. For the record Microsoft had that more revenue than that back in 1990, before you even knew who they were.
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Their 2021 revenue was $1.9 billion. That's, if not big tech, at least medium tech. They just have few staff because most of their site is user-generated content.
So you admit that Roblox is not big tech then?
They score pretty well as the asshole-o-meter themselves.
And how is this relevant as whether Simon did or did not harass other users and staff? It seems like you want to side step that whole issue.
This isn't one of those nice good-vs-evil stories.
And no one said it was except for you. Again this was a civil suit.
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
Now if only parents knew to say no, and to educate their kids on how companies will try to exploit them.
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Bomb threat aside, in what dystopian hell hole is breaking the rules of a fucking video game punishable by law?
Big tech gets their way too much, this is ridiculous. Fucking progressives and their nanny state fascist bullshit
Couldn't agree more. The fascists [imgur.com] really are going overboard with their nanny state and whining.
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Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:3)
Wow you're STILL fapping to "I hate Trump" - to point you're getting off on the fact a social media site has TOS?
Grow up.
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Wow you're STILL fapping to "I hate Trump" - to point you're getting off on the fact a social media site has TOS?
Grow up.
Really? What's more grown up than protecting democracy in the US? What are you going to say next raymorris, "can we stop talking about that Hitler guy, that was so last century."
The road to fascism is lined with people telling you to stop overreacting. [twitter.com] And apparently, people telling you that you need to grow up.
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Masturbating to Donald Trump isn't protecting democracy.
If you actually gave a shit about the country, you'd be doing something positive for the future of the country. Spending your time and energy (and our time, by posting it) on some idiot has-been so you can get your rocks off feeling superior is a fundamentally selfish act.
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
I guess I am "fapping" when I keep reminding people who have the attention span of a flea, and that on 1/6/2021 there was an attempt by a huge group of people to install a defacto NAZI GOVERNMENT, who was egged on.by a former president whose duty is to protect America from invasion and takeover by facists. Instead of doing this prime duty, he did quite the opposite.
As if it isn't shocking enough that he managed to do what he did without ending up in an orange jumpsuit, more likely than not he will try to b
Re: Wtf I don't even (Score:2)
No matter how you think about a situation, "play stupid games, win stupid prizes". I'm sure you have some satisfaction of this clown getting owned.
Re: My typical experiences with the modern Interne (Score:2)
Re: My typical experiences with the modern Interne (Score:2)
"On Whitepages (.com), no matter what absurd, obviously fake and impossible names you enter, it will"
This one actually bothers me. I would expect landline phone numbers to be public record, public domain, but if there is a legitimate source that acts as a normal phonebook, I sure as hell can't find it.
Other public records usually cost money, payable to the local government to access. IIANM The various public records sites are actually brokers who take a cut of the money you would pay to the
Here are the allegations (Score:2)
https://www.scribd.com/documen... [scribd.com]
There are a couple of allegations of breaking laws against unauthorized access.
Griefer vs Freeminum gaming company (Score:1)
It's like watching evil get sued by a different kind of evil. If it hadn't already been settled, I'd feel it deserves that grumpy cat meme: "I hope they both lose."
You know you made a name as a true baddie (Score:3)
when you're sued by Roblox.
Re: You know you made a name as a true baddie (Score:2)
"Yeah I'm the Roblox badass! I need to buy myself a motorcycle!"
Re: gamers suck (Score:2)
Really, it's all getting creepy. Now mix this with all the hard drugs so many are gacked up on.
This is a terrible time to cut funding to mental health services.
Mutli-Year⦠(Score:1)
That sounds like a problemâ¦
Re: Mutli-Year! (Score:1)
Whatâ(TM)s with the text-encodings on Slashdot? Thatâ(TM)s something unforgivable in a tech siteâ¦
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No, Jarjar, your inability to use a keyboard that generates text is unforgivable, as is your accent.