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Mod Chippers Ordered to Pay $9 Million in Fines
GameDaily is reporting that that ESA is announcing a major victory against game software piracy in California. A judge has handed down over $9 Million in fines to Divineo Inc., some employees, and international subsidiaries. From the article: "The defendants had apparently violated the DMCA by trafficking mod chips and the HDLoader software application that enables users to copy whole video games to a console's hard drive ... Mod chips then can be used to allow a console to play illegally obtained/pirated games. Both the mod chips and HDLoader application therefore circumvent the copyright protection technology built into video game consoles and video game software and are in direct violation of the DMCA."
From TFA: "Once the entire video game file is on the console's hard drive it probably isn't too difficult for a hacker to transfer it to his PC and then illegally distribute it on the web." PROBABLY? I'm no cracker, so I have no idea how easy or difficult this is, but COME ON. I seriously hope nobody got fined for theoretical damages caused by distributing a game online when the only evidence was that they had copied it to their console's HD.
USE colorful confetti ON heavily-armed clown
I dream of a day when I won't have to get off my couch to put the legally-purchased games I own into my game console, stream video, pictures, and music from my Linux PC, check the weather, etc. all without the use of these law-breaking modchips. I guess the Wii has a lot of that covered, and probably the PS3 and 360, I don't know. But for me, I really am THAT lazy, that I don't wanna switch the discs. :) That's a benefit of using a modchip even to those who don't pirate software.
These firms are being punished in the same way a lockpicking tool company is being punished in that the tools they sell can be used for evil.
However, modding has not started with computers, people have always modded. They modded cars, their houses, their radios, their tools, and anything else they have bought. And all of these mods have potentially illegal uses.
Imagine if Honda struck back against Aftermarket makers, using the DMCA, and telling people that only "Honda certified" parts are allowed in the vehicles honda bought.
I can't help but think that electronics companies are getting a free ride from the government here.
Although I can see their point of not wanting piracy, don't they notice what people are actually doing? Aren't they making their consoles do what they want them too? I have to admit, if I saw my console, one I manufactured, being modded with face plates that read off disk space and allow games to be moved to the drive, etc, wouldn't it be smarter to build these in myself and charge more for the device? Obviously you should put in safeguards, but learn from what is going on around you and adapt your product to your customer. Isn't this a lesson in Business 101?
If they'd get rid of region codes on games, a lot of incentive to modify consoles would go away. I modded my PlayStation so I could play some fun games that never made it here, like Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Macross VFX 2, and Gunnm: Martian Memory.
Nintendo has it right. The GBA and DS are region-free.
I'm surprised that no one picked up the fact that it is Japanese company suing French company in US court.
They won. SFW? How are they going to enforce this ruling in France? From the coverage of this ruling on Ars Technica I know, that the company is still offering those modchips on their web page. And they will. The only thing they can't do now is to visit US. And maybe Iraq or Afghanistan. All of the international treaties about enforcig court rulings abroad have one basic assumption written into them: no party to such treaty shall enforce a court ruling for something that's perfectly legal in the country of residence of defendant party.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Robert
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
...damages against corporate defendant Divineo, Inc., and Canadian resident Frederic Legault.
...damages against corporate defendants Divineo U.K. and Divineo SARL, and French resident Max Louarn.
It sounds like the suit wasn't defended. Plus, ESA won't see a dime unless Divineo corporate assets are in the US (which I would doubt). Legault, Lourn, and Divineo UK are not subject to personal jurisdiction in the US, and any judgment against them most likely won't be enforceble in their home countries. I would guess Legault and Lourn didn't appear in the US to defend the suit. If the above is true, this case has absolutely no precedential value, despite what the ESA claims. Plus its a N.D.Ca decision, so even if it was a fully litigated case, this "precedent" is only be binding in that judicial district.
Yes. He's using it as a media center. Doesn't have any games for it at all.
Yes. Me.
I installed a modchip in my XBox specifically so that I could run XBMC. I have used it precisely once to play an XBox game which I ripped from a game I purchased to see how it performed. Since then, I have used it exclusively to stream music to my stereo, as the UI is better than any of the other devices I had tried.
I only decided to hack my XBox after I realized I hadn't played games on it in several months. All of my gaming now is on my DS.
First I thought the americans were exporting the concept of freedom, but I soon came to realize they're actually giving their own away.
Seconded: I have a modded XBox that has never had a pirated game copied to or played on it. It's a great media box.
The right people are making judgements. The wrong people are making laws. It's a pretty clear DMCA violation whether you agree with the law or not.
More like speculative. Do you actually KNOW anyone who has a modded xbox who DOESN'T use it for pirated games? Regardless of whether modding HAS to be used for pirating, and regardless of whether pirating is "bad" or whatever, modded xbox systems are for playing pirated software. That's it. If you're going to pick a hole in this argument, this is the wrong one to choose.
/gam/
Yes, I know someone. *I* have a modded xbox that I use to play the games that I have purchased so they have a faster load time, you insensitive clod. I also don't like getting up to change the game out, not having to worry about scratching the media, and other benefits of not relying on the physical disc to play my game. In addition, I have all of my CD music ripped to MP3 on the thing and use it as a media center -- CD music that I bought. Your comment is extremely thought provoking, nontheless. Not.
"In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they are not."
Until we pressure our government into requiring justices presiding over an issue to have at least a bachelor's degree in the theory behind the issue we will not see this kind of nuance considered at all.
At this point even the lawyers involved can't fully grasp what's going on enough to understand the subtle but important difference you've just outlined (unless theyre from the EFF, then they just don't know how to play the legal game correctly).
The fact that we have such important issues to consumer rights and personal freedom judged and debated by complete morons is proof positive that "god" cannot be perfectly compassionate and just.
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