I am just impressed by the idea and execution. Just wow. Too bad he took it too far.

  • @[email protected]
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    5913 days ago

    Definitely an abuse of the system, but I’m struggling to see where criminal law says you can’t make a bunch of fake accounts to listen to garbage music.

    • @[email protected]
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      13 days ago

      In agreeing to be paid by music streaming platforms they almost certainly agreed not to do exactly this. Which makes it fraud.

      • @radiohead37
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        1612 days ago

        Sounds like a breach of contract, which is a civil matter.

        • @[email protected]
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          912 days ago

          I think that depends on intent and amount of money involved, but I’m definitely not a lawyer.

          • sunzu2
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            211 days ago

            Corpos commit cyber crimes against wage slaves daily… Feds don’t do Jack shit about it … I wonder why this would in the land of the Law 🤣

    • @[email protected]
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      2413 days ago

      Fraud is pretty broad and covers most things that deliberately misrepresent reality to take money from someone else.

    • Gamma
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      1612 days ago

      From justice.gov:

      SMITH, 52, of Cornelius, North Carolina, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 days ago

        This is a ridiculous law, it might as well be called “money fraud”. Justice is a bad joke.

  • @[email protected]
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    5113 days ago

    In a 2017 email to himself, Smith calculated that he could stream his songs 661,440 times daily, potentially earning $3,307.20 per day and up to $1.2 million annually.

    Great idea, but why would you email yourself about it?

    • veee
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      2812 days ago

      I have a friend that I’ve tried to convince using a notes app, but he swears that emailing himself notes and to-do lists is more effective. He’s wrong, but to each their own.

      • @[email protected]
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        1012 days ago

        Oh, sure. I get that. Sending yourself reminders is absolutely understandable. Sending yourself documented evidence of your plans to defraud someone is entirely different.

        • @[email protected]
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          211 days ago

          Recently, a bunch of people on tik tok found this “bug” in their banking app where you can write a bad check, then withdraw the funds before it clears… Then started crying about it when their balances updated

          Dude definitely thought he discovered a cool new life hack

        • veee
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          411 days ago

          I can definitely follow his logic, but there are better tools available.

      • JustEnoughDucks
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        412 days ago

        Google keep used to (don’t use it anymore) store your notes “backed up” by email. You could view all your notes in gmail.

        Maybe it was something like that?

        • veee
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          211 days ago

          I do vaguely remember that. Could be?

    • sunzu2
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      111 days ago

      The better people… Shiti organics just suck too much

  • @Case
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    911 days ago

    I’ve thought of this, but don’t have the wherewithal to actually make a project come to fruition.

    I’m also not a lawyer, but I’ve read multiple articles on this, and it doesn’t seem like any legal violation. Corporation got lazy, didn’t confirm where 10m in royalties went and under what circumstance, and got burned.

    Finally a corp gets scammed by the common man.

    I say good on him.