Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Man Convicted For Hacking Xbox

Posted by Zonk on from the thinking-big dept.

PipianJ writes "Remember the ruling in Britain which outlawed mod chips last year? BBC News is reporting that a man has been convicted of modding an Xbox and sentenced to 140 hours of community service, a fine of 750 pounds (about $1300), and the confiscation of his PCs and Xboxes." From the article: "The man had been selling modified Xbox consoles which he fitted with a big hard drive containing 80 games. 'This case sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy,' said games industry spokesman Michael Rawlinson." Update: 07/04 22:12 GMT by Z : Updated to more accurately discuss the story.

2 of 343 comments (clear)

  1. Uh, aren't you leaving something out? by mcc · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article:

    "The man had been selling modified Xbox consoles which he fitted with a big hard drive containing 80 games."

    So.. um.. not just mod chips, then.

    Precedent or no, this guy no more deserves our sympathy or support than some guy selling bootlegged CDs on a street corner.

    --
    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
  2. Jurisdiction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This very much depends on your jurisdiction. Slashdot may be an American website, but there are still enough people from other countries here that the blanket statement "It's a criminal offence" is unreasonable.

    In Canada downloading *absolutely is* legal. There have been rulings on this point from the high courts, and the CPCC is steamed about it. The comment from the minister in charge of these things was something like "It is very disappointing to discover that this is the case in Canadian law. We'll have to fix that."

    They haven't fixed it yet, and Canada is hardly the most IP liberal country in the world. I believe France had similar rulings lately, largely because they have a similar copyright levy system.

    Even in the US, though, downloading is *not* a criminal offense. You cannot go to jail for downloading. You can only go to jail for distribution. It's illegal, and you'd have to pay damages to the RIAA, but you will not have a criminal record. The FBI and local police will not and cannot investigate downloading. There will be no wiretaps to find out if you're downloading.

    It simply isn't that kind of offense, which is why the RIAA has its own evidence gathering goons.

    Even if it were a criminal offense, it would be a stupid thing to try to prosecute. The burden of proof in criminal court is "beyond reasonable doubt." Hard for downloads, only really worth trying for distribution. In civil court it's "the preponderance of evidence", which is easy.