YouTuber raided by Italian police for reviewing handhelds with preloaded ROMs

[DragonSlayer101]

WTF?! An Italian YouTuber has reportedly landed in legal trouble for reviewing Android-based retro gaming emulator handhelds that came with preloaded ROMs. Francesco Salicini, who runs the retro gaming channel Once Were Nerd, says he could even face jail time under Italian law for merely discussing pirated games on his channel.

In a video titled "They Reported Me," Salicini alleges that the Economic and Financial Crimes unit of the Italian police raided his home on April 15 and seized 30 consoles. These included handhelds from TrimUI, Powkiddy, and Anbernic, which came bundled with microSD cards filled with ROMs. The police also confiscated his personal phone but returned it in late June.

Salicini was told he had violated Article 171 of Italian law, which prohibits promoting content that infringes on intellectual property rights. He claims that the complaint against his channel mentions the illegal reproduction of copyrighted content from Sony and Nintendo. However, it remains unclear whether either company filed a complaint or if the police acted independently.

In Italy, law enforcement officials are not required to disclose the exact charges or the identity of the accuser. Authorities claimed that Salicini's reviews of Anbernic devices containing pirated ROMs violated Italian copyright law.

If found guilty, he could face significant fines or up to three years in prison. Officials could also deactivate his YouTube channel, which currently has more than 50,000 subscribers.

Salicini has defended his content, stating that his reviews do not constitute promoting pirated material. He also denied publishing sponsored reviews of Anbernic products and said he never included affiliate links in his videos. Salicini added that he has hired a lawyer and is fully cooperating with investigators. He has also launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his legal expenses.

For those unfamiliar, Anbernic is a Chinese company known for producing retro gaming handhelds that emulate classic video game consoles such as the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. These devices typically run on Android or Linux and are often shipped with microSD cards containing thousands of retro game ROMs.

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YouTuber raided by Italian police for reviewing handhelds with preloaded ROMs

 

[NumberNine]

Italian law enforcement seems to love feeding their own people to foreign media companies. There must be financial compensation at play.

 

[VariableSpike]

Italian law enforcement seems to love feeding their own people to foreign media companies. There must be financial compensation at play.

With it being Italy, I unfortunately wouldn't be surprised if someone was getting kickbacks or money under the table to investigate

 

[toooooot]

Oh EU, you are crazy.

 

[dangh]

Oh EU, you are crazy.

How? It's Italian law, not EU law.

 

[RudyBob]

He shoulda known

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

You never know who is watching your channel when you do things like this. Just like when people upload videos of themselves doing stupid things on social media and getting arrested. Maybe soon to be Youtube too?

 

[daffy duck]

Italian law enforcement seems to love feeding their own people to foreign media companies. There must be financial compensation at play.

Sounds like Sweden when the MPAA went after movie downloaders. Those scumbags glady handed over user data.

Any way, Mussolini would be proud.

 

[umeng2002]

Mama mia

 

[scoffer]

I wonder how many rapists/muggers/murderers/Mafiosos they've arrested lately?

 

[umeng2002]

I wonder how many rapists/muggers/murderers/Mafiosos they've arrested lately?

No, no. That costs money and effort.

 

[pnntmp]

OK, there's nothing worth mentioning lately since this is 'news'.
Some overzealous m0ron decided to justify his existence, that's all.

The guy is not in prison and will never be, up to 3 years is the max for a broad category of crimes, not a real possibility in this particular case.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Games from decades ago... that Nintendo or Sony don't make any financial gain from.

What the hell Italy, that would result in a fine, not jail time.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

OK, there's nothing worth mentioning lately since this is 'news'.
Some overzealous m0ron decided to justify his existence, that's all.

The guy is not in prison and will never be, up to 3 years is the max for a broad category of crimes, not a real possibility in this particular case.

Spoken like someone who has never had to deal with the "justice" system before. Even if you avoid jail time, he will still have to deal with the cost, the stress, and the mark on his record going forward. And if he cant afford a decent lawyer, there is a good chance he will serve jail time.

How? It's Italian law, not EU law.

Italy is in the EU. Euros always scream "Crazy Americans" when an article comes out about a State's law, not a Federal law.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Doing something that annoys big corporations whilst residing in a third world country is not advisable.

 

[seeprime]

The case is under investigation only. He's not in jail. It will probably be dropped in six months due to the Italian government looking like fools.

 

[Sovietrebel]

Doing something that annoys big corporations whilst residing in a third world country is not advisable.

I had no idea Italy suddenly got demoted to a third-world country. Must’ve missed that breaking news. Mind sharing the solid facts behind that hot take, or are we just tossing around buzzwords for fun?

 

[ZedRM]

Typical Italian corruption. Go after a small guy for the wrongs of a big company.. Clueless dimwits.