Cheating and Civil Rights

[IainC]

So today I discovered a hack is out for our game. I read the forums of the people who made it and there's no doubt that it's genuine. I took a look around their forums (which I won't link) and I found this gem buried in their forum rules.

If you are from PunkBuster, CSHP, UTPure, CheatingDeath, CS-Guard, Paladin, CAC, CSBlacklist, Valve, Sierra, Epic, United Admins or any other anti-cheating organization, or something similar, and you enter this site. You are in violation of part of the European Treaty of Human Rights, from 03-09-1953.

...

If fixes are created by PunkBuster, CSGuard, CheatingDeath, CSHP, UTPure, Paladin, Tony Ray and his affiliates or other anti-cheating organization will be held responsible for violating part Of the European Treaty of Human Rights by denying us the rights of our civil liberties.

Apparently I'm now a war criminal or something?

[ezrast]

Unless they were talking about some other European human rights document ratified on 9 Sep 1953, they got almost half the words in the name wrong. I wish they had included an article number or something; the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights is a pretty longish text.

[Malakili]

Are they claiming that cheating in video games is a matter of Human Rights or I am missing something here?

[Kageh]

IMO it's one of those classic FUD moments. Throw legalese and mighty acronyms around, let God sort them out.

The date isn't correct either. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (aka European Convention on Human Rights) was ratified 1950 and only officially took effect on September 3, 1953. There also are a number of protocols contained in that convention which were adopted later.

I'm no lawyer, but I think the most important thing about this type of legislature is that the cases have to be taken European Court of Human Rights by anyone who feels that his fundamental human rights have been violated according to the Convention, and the ECHR decides on how and when it will pursue said cases. The decisions are not even legally binding (according to Wikipedia (link)).

[Lantyssa]

I'll assume it works in the EU mostly in the same way it does in America -- if you're playing on a privately owned server, you don't have a lot of rights.

[NiX]

Human Rights VS. EULA: FIGHT!

[Sheepherder]

IanC, we need some pictures with you in masculine poses if we are going to photoshop propaganda posters of you with random slogans in Cyrillic and/or German.

[UnSub]

Apparently I'm now a war criminal or something?

Actually, I thought you were a WAR refugee?

[Morat20]

Wow. That's like people bitching on internet forums that having their comments modded or deleted is "violating their first amendment rights".

People don't fucking understand Government, at all. Someone should pound some basic theory into their head, using one of Locke's heftier tomes as a hammer.

[KallDrexx]

haha it reminds me of all those Warez FTP sites way back when that would "protect" themselves by having a login message going "If you are a member of the FBI or any law enforcement agency you are not allowed access and thus accessing any this site is a breach of the computer information act".