| Everyone's so caught up these days in computer | | | | source of the uploaded games. |
| forensics and forensic science to solve murder | | | | Nintendo's forensic specialists, trained in top computer |
| mysteries like those seen on the TV series CSI. But | | | | forensics programs, were able to trace all downloads |
| computer forensics is not all murder and police drama. | | | | of the game, starting from the beginning. Once the |
| There are far more necessary reasons for those in | | | | original download was found, the upload was traced |
| this particular industry, and a very interesting case has | | | | by time and IP address. Using computer forensics |
| come up recently involving the company Nintendo. | | | | tracking programs, Mr. Burt's IP address was matched |
| After noticing a recent news article from Australia, I | | | | with his location and he was apprehended by local law |
| was surprised to find that a US and Japanese based | | | | enforcement. |
| video game company was bringing a law suit forth to | | | | The next step for the computer forensics specialists |
| an Australian man who violated international and US | | | | was to present the information and evidence they |
| and Australian copyright laws. After an Australian | | | | were able to uncover during their investigation to the |
| game store accidentally released the new Super Mario | | | | lawyers and judge in the courts, where Mr. Burt was |
| Brothers game for their Wii system six days before | | | | found guilty of illegally uploading property belonging to |
| Nintendo had scheduled a global release, a 24 year old | | | | Nintendo, and distributing it without Nintendo's consent. |
| Australian named James Burt broke through the | | | | The courts in Australia found Mr. Burt liable for $1.3 |
| game's code and illegally uploaded the game to the | | | | million USD toward Nintendo's lost earnings. Additionally, |
| internet, allowing thousands to download the game | | | | $100,000 of Nintendo's accrued legal fees were also |
| illegally onto their own computers without paying | | | | designated to be paid by the defendant. |
| Nintendo any money. This perhaps cost Nintendo | | | | If it weren't for the expert specialists working for |
| millions of dollars. | | | | Nintendo, the company would not have been able to |
| So how did Nintendo track down Mr. Burt from the | | | | locate the defendant and most likely would not have |
| hundreds of millions of computer users across the | | | | been able to recoup the millions of dollars in lost |
| world, to the millions in Australia, to those in his area, to | | | | revenue. Proof that computer forensics and forensic |
| find out that he was the one who illegally uploaded the | | | | science is not all murder and mystery, but used every |
| game? They used computer forensics specialists, | | | | day to solve all types of modern-day crimes and |
| trained to trace the tracks of Internet usage to find the | | | | investigations. |