First Criminal Trial Regarding Console Modding

[tuanmai]

Will this end the era of modifying and hacking game consoles? Doubtful.

First Criminal Trial Regarding Console Modding : Read more

 

[zachary k]

if piracy has taught us anything, is that lawsuits don't change anything, in this internet era, lawmakers will have to be more crafty to stop things like this.

 

[dogman_1234]

...if he wins,( like many others)...Microsoft ans the other BIG GUYS will become weak....hopefully dropping price to compete with pirates. It is, however, a demanding consumer market. Whoever has the best deal wins!

 

[Guest]

I can understand software piracy problems, but if I buy a console, I should be allowed to modify it any way I want to. I bought hardware...not a license to use the hardware.

 

[applegetsmelaid]

This is the stupidest thing I've heard so far today. They're just trying to make an example out of this kid. Mr Crippen, I sympathize that you have to endure this... I'll be routin for you.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

[citation][nom]LinuxLover[/nom]I can understand software piracy problems, but if I buy a console, I should be allowed to modify it any way I want to. I bought hardware...not a license to use the hardware.[/citation]You can modify it, just not to play pirated games. That defeats the purpose of Microsoft selling you the console and developers making games in the first place... HELLO! The only purpose of those machines are to entertain and make money. Just like 1,000's of other consumer products on the market.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

I just don't understand why people don't get the "MONETARY" system. Let me rephrase that, I just don't understand why over 50% of the readers that post on Tom's don't understand these laws and regulations. If it is truly a burden, voice your opinion to the government... your words will be lost in time here. If you think you have a valid argument and think you can state a case "beyond a reasonable doubt", then go for it! Tell the law makers and Microsoft why you think DMCA is a joke!

 

[cronik93]

Regarding the main reasons of piracy on PC:

Cheap P2P lobby systems(Mw2)
Badly Optimized(Metro 2033)
scripted singleplayer(Call of Duty: Black Ops)
Benchmark games(Crysis)
_____________________________

They really expect people to stop pirating, hacking, and modding because they picked one out of the millions? Lawsuits don't change a damn thing. Just shows how you could avoid sh*t like this......by not making "How to do" video's.

 

[f-14]

if he was modding it for testing or researching he's in the clear, if he was caught selling any of these to people, he's screwed. i ran across those exceptions in the dmca made by the judges involved with the copyright and patent offices in lawful exceptions clauses just last night regarding encrypted message protections while looking up all the charges the dude from wiki is going to be facing with just the DOJ in the usa over his part in the leaks.

 

[XZaapryca]

An Xbox360 is a five year old PC disguised as a console. People modify PC's all day long. I think it's ridiculous that this guy has had to go to court. As a precedent case, I'm glad it's happening though and hope it goes this guy's way. If so, less BS like this will happen. However, M$ vs some guy without billions of dollars is a bad match up.

Other than for playing with friends and family in the same room, consoles have a lot of drawbacks. Draconian measures by manufacturers to maintain an iron grip on every aspect of their platform being one of the problems with consoles. Lawsuits, banning, 12yo idiots, lack of scalability, expensive DLC, lack of input options, etc. Can you even dl pr0n? Consoles are weak-sauce.

Last year I won an Xbox360 on a bet and enjoyed it for a time. But it was no replacement for my PC for gaming. Sold it a week before last years ban and that just reinforced how right I was to get rid of it.

 

[kinggraves]

[citation][nom]mlopinto2k1[/nom]I just don't understand why people don't get the "MONETARY" system. Let me rephrase that, I just don't understand why over 50% of the readers that post on Tom's don't understand these laws and regulations. If it is truly a burden, voice your opinion to the government... your words will be lost in time here. If you think you have a valid argument and think you can state a case "beyond a reasonable doubt", then go for it! Tell the law makers and Microsoft why you think DMCA is a joke![/citation]

The issue is that he himself is not violating copyright laws, and while mods can facilitate others to break copyright laws, they can also have legit uses. Take the Wii for example, a mod can allow you to copy and illegally play games, but also allow a better web browser, media player, and access to games from a USB device, features which many find beneficial. Piracy is but a small aspect of what the mod community accomplishes.

Also, I wouldn't mind you telling me why DMCA and DRM aren't a joke. They've done nothing to prevent piracy and constantly make it harder for legit users to use their products as they wish. This case will do nothing to prevent console modding, since most mods are based out of Asia.

This case also seems based on shaky grounds, with illegally acquired video as evidence and the fact that changes in the DMCA this year allow for mods for "testing purposes"

 

[NuclearShadow]

Modifying a console that you own is hardly a crime no matter what reason you did it for.
You have to do the illegal act of actual pirating for a crime to exist. While I am sure he is likely guilty of this trying to hit him with modding a console just doesn't make sense.
At the very most modding a console may (key word is "may") suggest a conspiracy to commit piracy but even that charge wouldn't make much sense.

What next hardware companies going after over-clockers because we are "stealing" performance?

 

[techguy911]

Just goes to show you that people in the US are loosing their rights, next thing you know they will make modding a terrorist act.
Pretty sad really they broke into the guys house and put up cameras with mikes without getting a a court order breaking 3 laws in fact, if you follow what is going on the government is the one who filed the case even though they refused his plea of the fair use act.
You should be able to make a backup of any software/games you own but copy protection prevents this.

 

[TheWhiteRose000]

Wait I saw this on all in the family last night.

xD
Sense his Civil rights were broken shouldn't the case be dismissed instantly.

 

[rohitbaran]

I bet Apple is going to sue the jailbreak software coders if this stupid case goes in the favor of MS. Someone buys the hardware, so he is its owner. Where does law come in between him modifying his owned hardware? Bull.

 

[surfer1337dude]

Wait? Did I read this right? He is being sued for making a console able to play pirated games; not for making pirated games? Why not sue apple/microsoft for making MP3 players that play pirated movies? or sue any company that has made a cd/dvd drive for making them able to play pirated games/music/movies. Yes he is changing a console to be able to but last time I checked, it is his private property since he paid for the console and therefore should be able to do what he wants with/to it. At this point Apple should sue all those who bought an iPad the first day and smashed them for fun. Even if he is selling these modified consoles there shouldnt be a real reason to sue someone. I understand if he is selling pirated material with it, but selling something to play on doesnt seem right. I hope that he wins and counter sues for defense costs plus defamation of his good name (I am against being sue happy... but this kind of action hits a nerve for me).

 

[alidan]

let me ask this, if there was a thing that you could attach to the back of your x box, between the eathernet cable and the system,that would let you play online, with basically all the same services you currently have, but all it cost was 50$ for life, would you use it or the x box live? i would love to see something like that happen

 

[demonhorde665]

ok granted i dislike pirating games , but just how the hell do they know for fact this was the reason he was modding xbox360's for ???

its like saying hes guilty till proven innocent. pirated software is NOT the only reason some one would mod thier console , remeber the previous xbox , the older ones had post holes int the main board for extra ram chips and many people modded thier original xbox just by doubling the ram via saudering a new memory chip onto the main board, did this all of a sudden make an old xbox able to play pirated games ?? no it didn't , yet is was a console mod . and beofe this even goes to court these a--hats are already sayign the only reason that he'd mod a 360 is to pirate stuff. justice fail ..,

 

[ericburnby]

[citation][nom]kinggraves[/nom]The issue is that he himself is not violating copyright laws, and while mods can facilitate others to break copyright laws, they can also have legit uses. Take the Wii for example, a mod can allow you to copy and illegally play games, but also allow a better web browser, media player, and access to games from a USB device, features which many find beneficial. Piracy is but a small aspect of what the mod community accomplishes.[/citation]
What a crock of shit. This is what all people who pirate/steal use as an argument to justify their actions. You could say BT is a great way to distribute large files, but the fact is most BT traffic is used for piracy. I know a lot of people with jailbroken iPhones. They can argue that it allows you to customize your phone, but all the ones I've seen are loaded to the hilt with free apps (many of them $50 or $100 apps like navigation).

Every person I know who has a modded console has done it for free games. So stop with the bullshit about how it allows extra features to be added, cuz that's just a smokescreen to hide what you're really modding for.

 

[nick8191]

Poor guy, this is a bit ridiculous. If he was stealing things, then maybe there should be a small fine or something... A REALY small fine. However, If he bought a console there is no reason he shouldn't be allowed to modify it. They should reference the case that Apple lost for bricking jailbroken iPhones if that's the case... And for all the people commenting about pc game pirating -its a crappy thing to do, but when the pc keeps getting a half-assed version of a game for the full price, it's hard to get mad at people for doing it (hello blackops).