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

The scary thing is...

[jnadke]

If you read closely, they're not only invoking DMCA for pirated games, but also the modchip itself (conspiring to circumvent...).

This could set a precedent that means the end of:
TiVo mods
Linux on XBOX
Tinkering with Trusted Computing (!)
Pretty much modifying any hardware with basic protections

Re:The scary thing is...

[Rude Turnip]

In this case, the modchip actually was used for pirating games, so that's why it would be included in the charges. There are about 2 or 3 stories like this that pop up each year and the editors always seem to omit the fact that software piracy was involved.

still probably illegal

[sherlocktk]

Although it is not illegal to install a mod chip in the box, by far all of the software run on these in one shape and form is illegal. Yes I know there is a perfectly legal way to run linux on this machine, but that is not what is used in practice. Even without using "commercial" software, you still need 2 pieces of sofware to make this work

1. You need to get a hacked bios that lets you boot soemthing else besides the DVD drive
2. you need to run some sort of dashboard. (basically a menu manager on which programs to launch.

Since all of these are built with an piece of software that MS owns, and is not licensened to build "homebrew" software its still technically not legal to get this software. That is why this software is not availiable for blatent download, you have to do a little bit of digging.

Now ethically I have no problem with the abouve steps to lets say get xbox media center working (my favorite reason for my xbox). But I think the store selling the box with games is totally wrong and just blatent copyright infringement/theft, depending on the camp you talk to. People worked hard on the games, and they deserve to get paid, just like you deserve to get paid at your work for what you do.