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Arrests Made Near D.C. Over Modded Game Consoles
multiOSfreak writes "According to this Reuters articl, two video game store employees have been arrested for modding video game consoles. From the article: 'Authorities arrested two store employees on charges of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and conspiracy to traffic in a device that circumvents technological protection measures, the ESA said.'" It's not clear from the article whether the modded consoles were sold without copies of the games which had been installed on their hard drives, which would seem to be the most important distinction between convenience for buyers and actually ripping off game makers. Update: 12/08 22:43 GMT by T : This thread on boing-boing includes a comment from a would-be customer who says (among other things) that store employees "were also preloading the XBox systems with tons of emulators (arcade and console) and as many ROMs as they could find."
Sure, modchips can be used to boot Linux from your XBOX and other cool stuff, as playing imported games on your PS1, etc.
But let`s be honest. 99% of modded Xbox and PS1/2 serve a lone purpose : playing games without paying for them.
Of course, we must also realize that the popularity of the PS1 compared to the N64 was probably due to this 'feature'...
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This store was pretty blatant about it. Selling a $500 "Super Xbox" preinstalled with a modchip, upgraded hard drive and a few copied games on the hard drive. That's just asking for it.
Any business should know not to participate in such behaviour, especially openly. What people do in the privacy of their own homes is one thing... but selling Pirated material? Sorry, no matter what side of the fence you stand on, and wether you think it's right or wrong, it was pretty stupid of them.
-Vendal Thornheart
Quoth the article:
Now, I assume the reason that the feds were involved is that this was for-profit copyright infringement, which is a crime.
Who did what now?
Not only were they modding the consoles, but they were selling them with pirated games already installed for $500 a pop.
If that's not blatant piracy deserving of jail time then I don't know what is. Whine all you want about your right to do what you want with your own hardware, but these guys were begging to get busted.
Presenting the tools to a user to allow them to infringe on somebodys copyrights: Legal
Using those tools and infringing on somebodys copyright: Illegal
Hardware that circumvents restrictions put in place to keep me from accessing my legally licensed software should always be legal.
This reminds me of the old PS mod chip stuff I used to do for my gfs mom. I modded a few PSs, and copied rented games for her. It worked out great, because I _knew_ her. If you're going to do this kind of thing for pocket ching, keep it discrete. Like when you get offered Gillette Sensor Excel Titanium Pro(whatever) blades at the local barbershop at like %30 of cost because they fell off a truck somewhere. That's relatively discrete. Putting those same blades in the store window, not discrete.
Darwinism applies to illegal activity also. The stupid get busted, the smart don't.
Do you see the sig? Do you have it in your sights? Why yes, Miss Moneypenny...
Sure, the article is vague, but I can confirm it. I dropped in the store recently to ask about mod chips.
They were selling modded XBox systems with larger hard-drives and games preloaded. Each box had a printed sticker attached with the size of the drive and a list of included games. You could pick your XBox based on the size of the hard-drive and the list of included games. And it was current games - things like Burnout 3 and Halo 2.
They were also preloading the XBox systems with tons of emulators (arcade and console) and as many ROMs as they could find. I watched a customer walk in and ask about a specific original GameBoy game - the employee immediately fired up a GameBoy emulator with the appropriate ROM right there on the demo XBox and handed the customer the controller to play with.
They appeared to be to be doing pretty brisk business. I left the place seriously disturbed by what I had seen and wondering whether to report them. Guess somebody already had. They definitely crossed the line. And it is sad to see that happen with one of the few reliable local suppliers of mod chips.
I think they were doing the same practice with PS2 systems as well. I recall seeing a game list that was split into domestic and imports and imports really aren't an issue on the XBox.