The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2

[Simca]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...life-2-article

Alram linked me an extremely interesting article on the theft of Half-Life 2 that I thought would be cool to share with folks.

Just a snippet:

At 6am on 7th May 2004, Axel Gembe awoke in the small German town of Schönau im Schwarzwald to find his bed surrounded by police officers. Automatic weapons were pointing at his head and the words "Get out of bed. Do not touch the keyboard" were ringing in his ears.

Gembe knew why they were there. But, bleary-eyed, he asked anyway.

"You are being charged with hacking into Valve Corporation's network, stealing the videogame Half-Life 2, leaking it onto the internet and causing damages in excess of $250 million," came the reply. "Get dressed."

Seven months earlier, on 2nd October 2003, Valve Corporation director Gabe Newell awoke in the large American city of Seattle to find the source code for the game his company had been working on for almost five years had leaked onto the internet.

[Deleted]

Impressive tbh... But yeah, he deserve it in some way, making unreleased content avaiable is bad

[Snuph]

good read, i remember when that went down.
i was so disappoint that HL2 was gonna be late.

[Deleted]

Made me think of the movie Hackers.

[Oneirophobia]

Reminds me of all the leaks happening with Blizzard. The product slate (which may or may not be fake), and the semi-unfinished ending of Heart of the Swarm (nothing says "this is legit" like hearing Chris Metzen's voice overs...)

[Deleted]

Really cool and it was awesome to read for me as I were waiting and heard about the leak etc ^^ Thanks simca for this! (also thanks Alram)

[Lucifersam]

Cool story and great read!

If anyone wants to read another article about cybercrime the NYtimes has a great expose on conditions in Chinese gold farms!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/ma...PAS6a0GJGI2lNg

[pateuvasiliu]

Can't believe this.

He's smart enough to hack into Valve and doesn't smell the interview trap?

[Deleted]

Not sure the weapons were necessary, but I guess it sends the message. Quite a good read either way.

[Simca]

Can't believe this.

He's smart enough to hack into Valve and doesn't smell the interview trap?

Smart people do really stupid things sometimes.

[Yooya]

Can't believe this.

He's smart enough to hack into Valve and doesn't smell the interview trap?

Stupid people aren't the only ones capable of being naive.

One word sums up the article. Interesting.

[pateuvasiliu]

Smart people do really stupid things sometimes.

yeah but still,that guy was pretty smart by reverse-engineering the hack and learning about it.

How could he walk into such an obvious trap?

It's like doing a bad thing and leaving a ''I,[insert name here] did it"

[Yooya]

Honestly - it seems like he got off easy.

[twin2]

Great article! thanks for sharing

[volescue]

Can't believe this.

He's smart enough to hack into Valve and doesn't smell the interview trap?

He smart, came into direct content with one of his heroes, and was offered what he always wanted. Plus being young I don't think he understood the vastness of his actions.

[Bikni]

Honestly - it seems like he got off easy.

Well, if hed caught that plane to the US he would probably still be in prison, fortunately the German police got to him 1st and instead of ruining a young kids life they managed to rehabilitate him and it looks like hes just a regular law abiding citizen now... I dont think he got off easy, i think it was the German justice system working has intended.

[Simca]

Well, if hed caught that plane to the US he would probably still be in prison, fortunately the German police got to him 1st and instead of ruining a young kids life they managed to rehabilitate him and it looks like hes just a regular law abiding citizen now... I dont think he got off easy, i think it was the German justice system working has intended.

I actually agree - what would be the point in ruining this kid's life?

[Yooya]

That is not quite what I mean. It just seems like he got a very lucky break.

From what I read out of that article stealing Half Life's source code was one of many illegal things he did.

I'm, in fact, happy that he got off - I can even sympathize with his passion for gaming, and not being able to afford all of the great titles he wants (I was much the same). Yet he -was- very lucky, and got off very easy undeniably.

[Simca]

That's also true - I would have expected him to get more, but I'm happy that he didn't.

[Archer]

I honestly feel bad for the kid. Granted what he did was a crime but he wanted to know so bad that he found a way. He didn't have to come confess the way he did, and I thought it was actually kind of cute that he asked for a job.
Had he come to America he would have been put in PRISON not jail, with murders, rapists, and thugs. He never would have survived. Honestly I am ashamed that rather than hiring the kid Steam decided to just go after him. Look I realize what he did was wrong but he was obviously better versed in hacking and anti hacking than the Steam people. Most of the programmers out there today that work on anti-piracy were once pirates.

Actually I am one of those people. I used to do QA/encoding for some fan-subbing sights. I decided to go to school and become a programmer to help eliminate lost revenue from companies due to piracy and hacking. Totally opposite spectrum from being a teacher.