Banned Xbox User Slaps MSFT With Class-Action Suit

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thecolorblue

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[citation][nom]xerroz[/nom]I get the feeling this banned person isn't telling the whole story. For all we know she could've had the Xbox's drive modified to allow pirated games to be played. Which is most likely the case. If MSFT banned everyone for that reason you would've heard of it all the time since the Xbox was released.[/citation]

It is possible but I'd put my money on her having a legitimate case... it's hard to imagine someone spending so much money on a lawsuit that they are guaranteed to lose if she was trying to hack to victory.
 

Mathos

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[citation][nom]tolham[/nom]how did msft find out Ann had someone else fix the DVD player? and how is it legal to make a contract that says the other person can't take legal action if you do something wrong?[/citation]

My guess would be that the DVD drive hardware fingerprint no longer matched the one that was listed as part of the system on her live account. Which would literally happen if replacing a failed drive with a working drive from another dead xbox. If the repair would of been done by MS, it would of likely been entered into their system. Since it wasn't her xbox was likely flagged as a modded device. That's just my guess though.

And as far as the TOS thing goes. They can put anything they want in their TOS. But, things in the TOS like said clause aren't enforceable because the right to class action suit is a federal law, at least here in the US anyway. But, you have to realize that these devices are sold in other countries, where said clause may be enforceable.
 

Sakkura

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[citation][nom]Mathos[/nom]And as far as the TOS thing goes. They can put anything they want in their TOS. But, things in the TOS like said clause aren't enforceable because the right to class action suit is a federal law, at least here in the US anyway. But, you have to realize that these devices are sold in other countries, where said clause may be enforceable.[/citation]
The plaintiff appears to be a resident of Santa Monica, CA.
 

aicom

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[citation][nom]Mathos[/nom]My guess would be that the DVD drive hardware fingerprint no longer matched the one that was listed as part of the system on her live account. Which would literally happen if replacing a failed drive with a working drive from another dead xbox. If the repair would of been done by MS, it would of likely been entered into their system. Since it wasn't her xbox was likely flagged as a modded device. That's just my guess though. And as far as the TOS thing goes. They can put anything they want in their TOS. But, things in the TOS like said clause aren't enforceable because the right to class action suit is a federal law, at least here in the US anyway. But, you have to realize that these devices are sold in other countries, where said clause may be enforceable.[/citation]

Yeah, you've got to transfer the old drive's FW signature to the new drive. Given that a simple YouTube or Google search can yield that information, I'm not sure about that repair guy.
 

chuckydb

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honestly, I hope she wins.
This stupid big brother/overlord from MS is the reason I never modified my old xbox, not because I wanted to hack anything, but because I just wanted to prevent the ¤¢¬¢@¤¦¤@¦ RROD.
Now I have gone throught 4 xboxes and my current one is still broken and out of warranty.
Am I gonna pay 300$ for the same thing I bought in 2006? HELL NO... Better get a new GPU with that monwy.
Full time PC gamer ever since.
 

slabbo

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i can understand the ban, but they really should have given her back all her credits and not just take it. Fine, ban her from using the service, but prorate her back what time she didn't use for Xbox Live, and refund all her credits back.
 

marthisdil

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[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]Interesting. I can't see why it would be cause for M$ to ban anyone for getting their consoles fixed by someone NOT working with M$.
M$ said:
we want to make as much money from our customers as we can. so pledge to make a horrible console that will break so they have to send it back to us "for repair" for a FEE
That is a horrible mentality, users should be able to repair their consoles on their own or have their own choice of technician to repair their own consoles.None of this should be in any way an excuse for M$ to ban an user.Now if she or anyone would "fix" their console to play pirated software/games then that's another story.But even then I think that the penalty should be End of Warranty and NOT a ban from a service that they PAY for.PS: I'm NOT a 360 user, I do my console gaming on PS3, but this is NOT fair for 360 users.[/citation]
If you go in and have someone non-Apple certified repair your apple laptop, it can void your AppleCare warranty. Being an online gaming system, MS goes a step further and can ban the account associated with it because, quite likely, in the past, it's found people cheating, etc, to have done similar.

But who am I to say.
 

marthisdil

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[citation][nom]zeratul600[/nom]i can't believe that in USA they can force you to sign a contract where you give up your rights! that its just wrong dude!, hey by signing this you become our slave, also we can have sex with you whenever we want to... that doesn't seem right!!![/citation]
Umm, stupid non-USA person, remember, no one FORCES anyone to do anything. You can voluntarily give up rights if you CHOOSE to do so.

She CHOSE to do so by agreeing to the TOS by USING the device covered under said TOS.

If she didn't LIKE the TOS, she could have returned it for full refund.

Please stop spreading FUD.
 

marthisdil

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[citation][nom]mrmaia[/nom]PC gamers don't have to deal with that kind of BS.[/citation]
PC Gamers agree to TOS' all the time for the games they play. Quite a lot of them also state they won't sue under class action and are to go to arbitration.
 

thebigt42

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[citation][nom]zeratul600[/nom]i can't believe that in USA they can force you to sign a contract where you give up your rights! that its just wrong dude!, hey by signing this you become our slave, also we can have sex with you whenever we want to... that doesn't seem right!!![/citation]
Does not surprise me at all....The Government can force all it citizens for purchase Health Insurance they don't want under penalty of Law.
 

whiteodian

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Damn, I never read all those TOS and EULAs. I better be careful or I might become the next human centopad... or get my Xbox Live banned!
 

back_by_demand

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[citation][nom]Camikazi[/nom]Except for Blizzard banning random Linux users who try and play Diablo 3[/citation]
Who gives a fig about upsetting 0.86% of PC users, some of which won't even be gamers anyway as they will use their Windows machine for real gaming...
 

gogogadgetliver

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[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]Interesting. I can't see why it would be cause for M$ to ban anyone for getting their consoles fixed by someone NOT working with M$.
M$ said:
we want to make as much money from our customers as we can. so pledge to make a horrible console that will break so they have to send it back to us "for repair" for a FEE
That is a horrible mentality, users should be able to repair their consoles on their own or have their own choice of technician to repair their own consoles.None of this should be in any way an excuse for M$ to ban an user.Now if she or anyone would "fix" their console to play pirated software/games then that's another story.But even then I think that the penalty should be End of Warranty and NOT a ban from a service that they PAY for.PS: I'm NOT a 360 user, I do my console gaming on PS3, but this is NOT fair for 360 users.[/citation]

MS is not making money off repairs. They are *at best* breaking even. The reason this person got banned isn't because they gave repair money to someone else. The reason this person got banned is because they used a 3rd party to replace a component that can be used for piracy detection and it just happens to be the #1 mod used to allow altered software to run.

Sucks to be this gamer but as another XBL user I'm glad they did this.
 

rantoc

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Without any details at all what happened its fun to see how many have jumped to conclusion that's its either party that's wrong without any facts at all. Prejudging much?
 

hakesterman

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Their User Agreement isn't saying you can't Sue them, it states you can't get a bunch of signatures and Sue as a Group of People, Big Difference. I'm with MS. on this one. But i
think they owe Ann Talyancich an Apology and i think they should restore her Account immediately..
 

HEXiT

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lol microsoft actually think they have a leg to stand on because if you sign the eula you agree to the terms...

heres a news flash the terms are deeply unreasonable and do not surpass any given legal rights. no matter how much they thing they do.. rights such as free speech cant be given up because sum1 says they agree to a page of terms that mave no legal basis...
basically mega corps like m.s are getting way ahead of themselves thinking they can create laws where the people who use the software give up all the rights there forefathers lived and died for. really its become a joke how bad american companies and some european, are at implementing legaly binding contracts. as soon as they infringe on your rights as a person the contract is nolonger valid... its called basic fair trade... but they dont get that... what happened to american quality, american service, american freedom... oh yeah it got bought by the koch brothers and other multi billionaires... so its left to the eu courts to uphold the basic laws that american mega companies so readily trample... this aint a slight at the american people they are the victims 2. american government and government lobbyists are to blame and should be brought to book... get the money out of politics and the lawmaking process and get america back to being the land of the free instead of the home of the corporate slave.
 
G

Guest

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[citation][nom]tolham[/nom]and how is it legal to make a contract that says the other person can't take legal action if you do something wrong?[/citation]

You've clearly never dealt with an auto accident insurance claim.
 

xrodney

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[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Funny, the latest TOS states that but she agreed to abide by the previous TOS...Unless they un-ban her she will be unable to agree to the new TOS, therefore in order to stop the class action suit they should just remove the ban and get her to tick the box[/citation]
Question is if change of TOS is even binding for anyone.
In normal circumstances terms at sign of service contract cannot be changed without agreement on both sides.
Not even mentioning that asking for giving your rights is illegal in most of europe.
 

kyuuketsuki

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[citation][nom]Marthisdil[/nom]Umm, stupid non-USA person, remember, no one FORCES anyone to do anything. You can voluntarily give up rights if you CHOOSE to do so.She CHOSE to do so by agreeing to the TOS by USING the device covered under said TOS.If she didn't LIKE the TOS, she could have returned it for full refund.Please stop spreading FUD.[/citation]No, actually, you are wrong.

No matter what you agree to in a contract like an EULA or TOS, you cannot sign away rights given to you by law, nor can any clause in a contract ever supercede law in general. This is especially true with "click-wrap" contracts like these because ticking a box on an online form is not equivalent to a physical signature, and expecting everyone to read 50 page agreements written in legalese word-for-word every time they use a new product (and then reread them every time they're changed) is unreasonable. Clauses like the one in question have been invalidated in court before and it's quite possible this one will be as well. Seeking restitution against a company through the court system is generally given as a legal right, though I believe the exact laws vary from state to state.
 
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