Sihai network

The first king's glory plug-in sentencing in China

Recently, Jiangyin City Court in Jiangsu Province sentenced the first criminal case of game plug-in of "glory of the king" in China. In the era of mobile games, all kinds of game plug-ins are popular, including the mobile game "glory of the king".

Xie Cheng and Wang Chao, producers of the game plug-in, were respectively sentenced to one year and three months and one year's imprisonment for the crimes of trespassing and illegally controlling computer information system programs and tools, and fined 20000 and 30000 yuan.

The reporter learned from Jiangyin procuratorate that Xie Cheng sold more than 20 versions of "King glory" game plug-ins through self-study programming, the establishment of "internal test group" and the promotion of "user experience". Wang Chaoyi is the sales agent of the game program.

Prosecutors believe that the three versions of the plug-in programs identified by the police have unauthorized modification and deletion operations on the game client, which have caused interference to the normal operation process and normal operation mode of the game, and are considered as programs that have destructive effects on the game server.

Report game cheaters to the police after they are banned

In August 2017, Zuo Fei (pseudonym) entered Sanfangxiang police station of Jiangyin Public Security Bureau, Jiangsu Province. The content of this man's report is not a common theft or dispute, but his account was sealed after he "hung up" in the mobile game "glory of the king".

The so-called "open hang" is to connect the plug-in server in the game.

Online game plug-in refers to the cheating program made by changing the internal program of online game software by using computer technology for one or more online games. Users can easily get the game effect that other normal users can't get, or they have to run the program for a long time.

Take zuofei's "King glory" as an example. If a game developer finds out about it, it may be banned.

The reporter learned from Jiangyin procuratorate that zuofei told the police that he had spent 75 yuan to buy a permanent version of the game plug-in from a plug-in provider, and the other side promised 'long-term operation and never sealing'. Therefore, after his account was blocked, the left surnamed man reported the case on the grounds that the plug-in provider was suspected of fraud.

After Zuo Fei reported the case, an illegal plug-in sales team began to surface. The team takes root software, operation process, internal auxiliary software and activation code as the technical core, promotes through QQ group, and looks for 'customers' with the help of agents.

According to zuofei, this kind of plug-in can open the invincible mode in the game and finish a game in a few seconds. In a short time, it can achieve the harvest of others in a day.

Police told reporters that the sellers and buyers of the plug-in are more involved in false propaganda than fraud in the sense of criminal law, so it is impossible to file a case of fraud.

Police said that although the case was not filed, the information provided by Zuo Fei still attracted the attention of the police. Subsequently, according to the clues provided by the man, Jiangyin police successively investigated in Fujian, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan, and a case of online plug-in manufacturing and selling has emerged since then.

High school culture men's self-taught production of plug-ins

Jiangyin police found that the game plug-in used by zuofei was developed by a man named Xie Cheng.

From game enthusiasts to plug-in developers, only Xie Cheng of high school culture has made rapid progress. The reporter learned from Jiangyin police that Xie Cheng had bought game plug-ins through the Internet. After tasting the sweetness, Xie Cheng, who had no programming basis, decided to start from scratch and develop game plug-ins independently to earn profits.

Xie Cheng's self-study means include consulting programming materials on the Internet, daily mixing in various game development communication QQ groups, seeing 'programmers' and actively talking to each other, paying to raise some problems encountered in self-study programming.

After more than a year of self-study, Xie Cheng began to write his own plug-in program. Two weeks later, the plug-in program was initially formed. This plug-in made by him can increase the sight distance and has the function of perspective. Users can know the danger ahead in advance and directly attack it. It can also make some monsters' appear and die 'and earn gold coins without hands.

Xie Cheng told the police that in order to seize the market, he constantly improved the user experience, built an internal test group by pulling people together, improved the functions, updated the plug-in program, and ensured that only paying users can use the plug-in program through the implementation of the verification code login function.

After continuous' improvement ', the plug-in developed by Xie Cheng has a small reputation in the user circle, and some secondary agents have also come to visit.

It is worth noting that in addition to selling plug-in programs, Xie Cheng also directly sold the program source code at a price of 200 yuan.

Source code refers to the code of the most original program, which is a kind of fixed program.

After Xie Cheng sells the plug-in source code, the buyer can carry out secondary development based on the source code.

There are also users who buy source code many times and develop it again. Police investigation found that after obtaining the source code, the above-mentioned users modify the source code and verification code of some functions, create their own customized plug-in program, and sell it on the market.

After the incident, several people involved, including Xie Cheng, were controlled by the police. As the first criminal case of "King glory" game plug-in in China, the case has aroused widespread concern in the investigation stage. At the end of 2017, the case was transferred to Jiangyin procuratorate for examination and prosecution.

■ case focus

Experts confirm that the source code is also destructive

The reporter of Beijing News learned from Jiangyin procuratorate that after examination, the undertaker of the prosecution found that part of the evidence in the case was relatively weak. For example, the three versions of the plug-in program identified by the police have unauthorized modification and deletion operations on the game client, bypassing the protection measures of the game, causing interference to the normal operation process and normal operation mode of the game, and are considered as destructive programs.

However, the involved personnel explained that they have developed and generated nearly 20 plug-in program versions, most of which are sold through QQ. During the review, it is not realistic to distinguish the specific sales volume of each version from the massive chat records.

Wei HONGPU, the prosecutor of Jiangyin City procuratorate, put forward that the focus of this case is whether the new plug-in program appears after modification on the basis of the same source code, and whether it is the same destructive as the plug-in program that has been seized at present.

Police technicians said that although some versions were not seized, they were essentially generated on a single source.

However, there are still problems with this interpretation. Wei HONGPU, the prosecutor, put forward that the identification report did not confirm that the source code of the plug-in program is destructive. On this premise, there are logical problems whether the program generated by the source code is destructive and whether it can be prosecuted for the crime of providing intrusion and illegal control of computer information system programs and tools.

Finally, under the proposal of Wei HONGPU, the project team contacted the professionals of the appraisal institution to sort out the problem.

The expert conclusion obtained by the prosecution shows that because the source code is not a general procedure, the appraisal agency cannot make a 'destructive conclusion'. However, because the plug-in program developed based on the source code can modify the game memory and game data, it can also be regarded as having a 'destructive conclusion'.

■ expert opinion

All over the country to crack down on game plug-ins with criminal responsibility

Game expert Chu Yunfan told the new Beijing news that in recent years, game plug-in crime has occurred repeatedly all over the country. The proliferation of plug-ins will affect the ecology of the game. Players who use plug-ins can get high scores at a very low cost, which will cause unfairness to other players, destroy the rules of the game, and ultimately affect the setting of the game program, which is highly destructive.

Wei HONGPU, the prosecutor, said that although there are still controversies on the nature of the charges in different game plug-in cases, the criminal phenomenon is dealt with according to law with criminal responsibility.

Wei HONGPU said that there are many reasons for this kind of crime. First, the open culture in the game environment has become the inducement for the developers and sellers of the plug-in to go astray. Second, the perpetrator does not know enough about the nature of the illegal criminal behavior, and the system is arbitrary, the sale is open, and the use of the plug-in is calm. However, few people can really realize the criminal legal risks contained in it; Finally, the operators of related platforms are derelict in supervision, and some platforms sell the activation code of external hook, which promotes the crime to spread, and the operators are responsible for it.

According to this, Wei HONGPU proposed that to prevent such criminal incidents, we should not only create a fair and reasonable game environment, but also enhance industry self-discipline, implement regulatory responsibilities and plug operational loopholes.