Slashdot Mirror
Sony vs Modchips
Cryptnotic writes "Sony
has decided to instigate legal action against companies distributing two new Playstation 2 modchips, the Messiah and the NEO4. Sony has previously ignored modchip makers who made products which were only capable of playing CD-R copies of games. These new modchips, however, have legitimate uses, such as playing original import games or out-of-region DVD's. Aparrantly this is what has angered Sony." If I could read Kanji I'd probably care a bit more ;)
The solution is obvious, boycott the Sony Playstation 2 until they change their attitude. After all, there are alternatives.
Sony's just pissed cause the X-box is outselling the Playstation, and Microsoft stole all the developers.
Bzzt. There's no law that prevents you from importing software that is otherwise legal. You're not violating copyright by, for example, going to the UK, buying a book only printed in the UK, and bringing it back.
Hell, even if they are subject to licenses, which is certainly fairly doubtful, the validity of the licenses themselves are in doubt, as well as their applicability to a situation such as importing.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
The comment about was not meant to be taken literally; it was something called "editorializing", in which someone reporting a bit of news to another will insert something which is called "opinion"-- the stating of something which is not meant to be taken as pure fact, but rather an unprovable but hopefully well-grounded belief held by the writer. The writer of the slashdot blurb probably assumed that people reading what he wrote would read the article, and thus notice the article does not say the dvd/import mods are the part which makes sony upset, and thus deduce that the statement by the slashdot blurb submitter was the aforementioned "editorializing".
The "opinion" the slashdot blurb writer was most likely trying to express was this: Despite Sony's claims that piracy facilitation is the reason that they wish to stamp out sony modchip authors, video game piracy has little or no real impact ; and that, in fact, Sony is merely using the piracy issue as a diversion to unethically stamp out the unrelated, legal under fair use, and perfectly legitimate field of expanding a piece of electronics you have bought to (for example) play a legally purchased imported work, so that Sony can maintain their market control and political power, and demonstrate that their collective cock is bigger than that of the consumers'.
Does this make sense to you? If not, i will try to explain further.
Remember: Outlaw electronics with morally dubious consequences, and only outlaws will have EEPROMS.
Furthermore, if they were smart, they'd put in a cd key system where keys are assigned at the store based on your PS2's serial number. The store would ask Sony for the dynamically generated keys. Too bad it's not common to hook PS2's up to the internet; if it was the PS2 could warn Sony about invalid keys or suspicious changes in the hardware, and they could forward you to the police.
They could also put in physical barriers, such as a self destruct mechanism that is triggered whenever the case is opened.
The US government has today outlawed soldering irons, stating that they violate the DMCA in that they allow youngsters to MOD playstations and other games consoles. Civil liberties groups are outraged by the ruling and the American Soldering Association has said they will take this to the high court. Other groups have suggested alternatives, such as allowing soldering irons, but banning solder or visa-versa.
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