Gamer Faces $50K Fine For Mapping A Train Station

If you give a gaming community the tools to create a custom level, or "map," you'll end up with lots of fun stuff. Some people will even recreate real-life places, which is what Diego Liatis and friends did with Montreal's Berri-UQAM metro station. But the Société de transport de Montreal is worried the level will cause panic among straphangers presumably because it gives would-be evil-doers a handy guide to the underground system. The agency is now threatening a lawsuit if the custom level gets released.

The level was made for the military-style shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which is probably part of the problem. (It stands to reason that the transit authority wouldn't be up in arms over a game that didn't involve shooting.) Liatis told Le Journal de Montreal that he asked for permission to create and release the map to the public, was denied, then went ahead and did it anyway, figuring it was a public place and his right to do so. Officials felt differently, and sent him a letter threatening legal action if he made the map available publicly, saying trademarked parts of the metro couldn't be used.

The transit officials, according to The Escapist, are concerned about what someone with bad intentions could do if they explored the metro system using this map:

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