Xbox Modders Charged Under DMCA

JamesAlfaro wrote to mention a News.com article about a pair of game store owners charged with Xbox modding. From the article: "Jason Jones and Jonathan Bryant, two Los Angeles residents who own the ACME Game Store on Melrose Ave., allegedly sold Xbox game systems that had been modified by Pei Cai, of Pico Rivera, Calif. Cai allegedly equipped the Xbox consoles with modification chips and large hard drives to allow the user to copy rented or borrowed games onto the device for future playback. Buyers would pay from $225 to more than $500 for the changes."

Comments

Silly Law

[TastyWheat]

So if I buy a car I can't um "mod" it to be faster?
Who the hell would cheer for any of this?

The DMCA is silly. Don't our Federal Agents have better ppl to track down? Like maybe the terrorists?

Bzzt wrong

[argoff]

First off, it's not piracy it's illegal copying. The fact that they have to call it piracy when it clearly has nothing to do with boarding a ship and killing people should tell you something about the nature of the accusors. And second off, just becasue it's illegal - doesn't mean that it's the slightest bit wrong, or that it is the slightest bit just or acceptable that these people were attacked. They were serving their customers, and they wern't harming others. That's what businesses (unlike Microsoft) are supposed to do.

Would you be out there cheering, "she got what she deserved because she broke the law", when Rosa-Parks was arrested for not going to the back of the bus? It is only shallow people who see right, wrong, and law in that way.

SO WHAT!!!

[argoff]

This is not a "Your rights online" story, it's a story about blatent copyright violation.

Listen to what you're saying. These people aren't bank robbers, rapists, con artists, gangsters - they are simply copying and modding stuff, and for that they are going to get hard time? WTF, next time someone drives 5mph over the speed limit - would you recommend death by lethal injection? Next time someone someone fails to report that extra 50 cent tip they made on their taxes, would you recommend life imprisonment? (with boy lover bubba) Next time someone tears the label off the matress, how about just skipping the trial and beat the F*** out of them right there ... really, I sense a serious values problem here.

Microsoft is a hypocrite, if they support these kinds of punishments for simply copying - then I can only imagine what they deserve to get for anti trust behavior themselves.

Re:But where's the problem?

[DM9290]

They deserve to be prosecuted and to go to jail,

why so merciful? Wouldn't death be a more effective deterrant against such crime?

In fact.. why not also confiscate all their worldly possessions and condemn them and 10 generations of their ancestors to eternal slavery, so this kind of atrocity never happens again.

Re:DMCA

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry. You're evil. You are a foul, snot-eating beast. We all know that you masturbate to copies of the DCMA, that you dream of having anal sex with RIAA spokesmen. You are a foul worthless piece of filth, with someone else's cum dripping out of your engorged asshole.

That is explains it...

[tktk]

I've been to that store. It's large, something like 2 or 2.5 times the size of your average EB Games or Gamestop. IMO, the selection wasn't that great--mainly just the recent titles only and, few, if any, used games. They supplimented the games with T-shirts and other gaming-related items, like anime DVDs, etc.

I always wondered how they stayed in business. Guess I know now.

Re: Immanuel Kant syas there is "moral wrong"

[Musteval]

Someone just finished Philosophy 101 and wants to look smart.

Here's a hint. Kant and real life are completely different things. And not everybody is a Kantian.

It's criminal!

[paulproteus]

It's criminal that customers were charged so much for this!

Re:But where's the problem?

[ralph1]

Put a star in your life fuck a deputies wife.