SimonG: What turns this whole thing into some kind of cheap joke is the fact that key leading players of CDP were pirates themselves in the nineties. They got their first credentials in the scene by leeching of the work others made. And it did well for them. But when a fifteen year old kid, who cannot afford a 50€ game goes online, like all his buddies, and downloads it, he should be shaken down for 500€ or else.
Somehow, I knew it that the real problem for you is not wrong people getting letters, but that CDPR would go after the pirates at all. You were just sugar-coating it.
I certainly hope they do, because the only other option for them is to add very stringent DRM to stop the same piracy. I much more prefer them giving me free hands, but still taking action if they catch me using my freedom wrong, violating their rights, as opposed to tying my hands behind my back with e.g. stringent DRM, streaming services etc., if I want to play the games I have bought from them.
To use my earlier analogy: if that 15-year old kid was caught riding a bus without having bought a valid ticket, shouldn't he be issued with a 80€ fine for his wrongdoing? I mean, he is just a fearful 15-year old kid who just wanted to ride the bus for free.
Your quip about some people in CDPR being former pirates is as relevant as former hackers working for government agencies, trying to stop other hackers. I mean, they can't do that, because they used to be hackers too, right?
Who knows, maybe some of the ticket inspectors for bus companies had also sometime ridden a bus without a valid ticket when they were younger?
maycett: I think what CDP did was disgusting. Pushing around people who can't fight back because they can't afford the legal costs - that just seems like bullying to me.
Then that is the problem with the legal system going way beyond mere piracy, and it should be changed ASAP.
Are we still talking about the people who did nothing wrong getting legal threats and being sued, or has it shifted already to CDPR going after the "poor pirates"? If they sent me a threat letter accusing me of something I didn't do, I don't think it would cause me any extra expenses beyond the time wasted on sending them an email telling them to go fjuck themselves.