UK authorities bust DS 'flash cart' seller

[wraggster]

Gamasutra reports that British police have raided a retailer in Cardiff, Wales, seizing 1,800 "flash carts" for Nintendo DS. The article doesn't mention if the devices were R4DS cards or clones, but does say that the 21-year-old man taken into custody during the raid had been selling them for two years – an act deemed illegal by the UK's Trademarks and Copyright Acts.

Police also confiscated sales receipts for the past two years; the report doesn't indicate whether or not they intend to pursue those who purchased devices from the retailer. An additional 1,000 carts were found at the arrested man's home, "along with hundreds of products packed and ready for mailing."

"The industry loses vital income and with it proper job security for its employees in the country, while the British public lose out because many circumvention devices actually damage irreparably DS Lite handheld consoles," according to a statement by Michal Rawlinson, Entertainment and Leisure Publishers Association (ELSPA) managing director. ELSPA indicated a desire to pursue sellers of R4DS and similar devices earlier this year.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/19/uk...h-cart-seller/

[mattsaysfooey]

Data is information. Information should be free.

[Darksaviour69]

so everything you make (data) should be free?

[mattsaysfooey]

Yep. Data is information and information should be free. Period.

[impur1ty]

I've yet to see a flash cart damage a DS console.

[spinal_cord]

Actually, some of the cheap clones used to blow out fuses inside the DS.

[trugamer]

Yep. Data is information and information should be free. Period.

Actually by definition, data ISN'T information.

I'll leave you to find out the difference yourself

[mmochel]

Downloading some games while buying others is one thing.
Saying that "information should be free" is another.
What reason would these game companies have to make games if they did not make money on them.
How would they support themselves and their families?