Here’s a tip: this isn’t 1998, and you shouldn’t go around making “Web pages” that are filled with Nintendo ROMs. If you do, you could end up like the Japanese guy who’s now facing two years in prison and a $96,000 fine.

The man, one Yoshiaki Asagiri, had set up a Web site that had more than 1,000 Nintendo DS ROMs available for download, à la a site you’d find in the early days of MAME. (You’re better off getting your ROMs from Usenet, or from a “trusted” BitTorrent source, in my professional opinion.) In any event, yeah, The Man found out, and now the Kyoto District Court has ordered the 38-year-old to prison, plus a nice fine to go along with his sentence.

And apparently the presiding judge said the guy’s piratical actions had “trample[d]” all over anti-piracy efforts, including, but not limited to, time and money.

Makes me wonder how much “people I know” would owe, when they have entire system sets (NES, SNES, Genesis, etc.) sitting on various hard drives.