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ESA Initiates Police Raid Against Console Modder
Donkey Konga writes "A San Diego man was arrested after a raid turned up over a thousand counterfeit games, modded consoles and mod chips. Frederick Brown 'had allegedly built up a thriving business selling counterfeit games and installing mod chips, having advertised his services on Craigslist and other web sites. He allegedly sold pirated games from his Vista, CA residence as well, including both discs and hard drives preloaded with games that he would install into customers' Xboxes and Xbox 360s.' After the ESA learned of his activities, they contacted San Diego law enforcement and the San Diego Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Unit led the raid on his home. '"CATCH was very receptive to the evidence we brought them and were able to put the investigation together in very short order," ESA VP Ric Hirsch told Ars.' Brown now faces 10 felony counts related to selling pirated games and modding consoles."
You can live inside an operating system? Now that's virtualisation. It must be hell.
I understand the pirated games part, but how can he possibly be charged with anything about modding consoles? Sure, the console manufacturer doesn't want you to do it, and (in the case of the Xbox 360) they'll go to great lengths to prevent you from doing it (that's their "right"). They can't make it illegal though, can they? That's just stupid.
If he's selling pirated stuff, that's one matter but why should it be illegal to modify your console? If somebody wants to copy their own personal copy of a game onto their hard drive, that should fall under fair use (note I said should, not does). The headline makes it sound like modding consoles is all he's guilty of.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Brown now faces 10 felony counts related to selling pirated games and modding consoles.
OK, for pirating and selling games, sure. But it's a crazy world where someone can get raided for modding hardware legally purchased by its owner. I've never even seen an EULA for a console's firmware, let alone agreed to any contracts.
In typical /. fashion, headline is designed to get people impassioned about a poor console modder. A fairer headline would be "ESA Initiates Police Raid Against Games Counterfeiter." Yes, it says that in the summary but how many around here even RTFS nevermind RTFA?
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more COBOL.
...advertised his services on Craigslist and other web sites.
Why don't you just go ahead and put a sign on you lawn proclaiming your ill-goten warez? I'm all for Mod-chips (for import gaming) and pirating games off BitTorrent (if a game is hard to find), but when you make a business out of it, then you've just crossed the line.
Will take note of this, and start raiding Autozone. Although on the plus side, if they started going after modders, there would be fewer cars with really unnecessary spoilers...
I understand that this guy was also selling unauthorized copies of games and HDDs preloaded with games, and he should have to face penalties for that, but why should I be disallowed to by a mod chip simply because I "could" pirate games with it? Should I be disallowed from buying a computer simply because I could copy music, games, or applications with it? I have two Xboxes in my house that are modded, but only so I can use them as media centers and to let me and my daugter play games we own without risking damage to the original DVDs.
The DMCA sucks nuts.
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I might be reading a little too much into the summary, but can you run 360 games from the hard drive now? I haven't really been following the XBox 360 mod "scene", but that was one of my favourite things about my modded XBox. It's incredibly convenient.
This poo is cold.
Have to nip these little hooligans in the bud! One day they're modding consoles, the next they're building suicide vests for bombers. It's a slippery slope, I tell you!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Yes, modchips could be used for some legitimate, non-piracy purpose, like homebrew. But so far, I haven't seen it in real life.
Every single person I've seen who mod chipped their system used it to play "backup" copies of games they didn't actually purchase. Even the makers and sellers know it and vaguely wink at this. It's quite obvious what a mod chip primarily exists for.
Is it any wonder that this guy was caught with mod chips and counterfeit games? They seem to go hand in hand with each other.
This is one time I'm glad there's the DMCA. It screws people like me who don't mod, who purchase games legitimately who shoulder the burden of these freeloaders.
In my little college town, there was a guy who owned his own small business, doing mostly PC repairs / upgrades. He acquired a reputation in my geeky-friend circle as being a little shady and a lot overpriced.
Apparently he also started modding XBoxes on the side. I met a neighbor that had one that he'd worked on, and as a result of the mod you'd get an extra splash screen when booting your XBox. I'm futzing the details, but the splash screen said something like this:
This console modded by Bob's Smalltown PC Shop!
I'll mod your console too for $35!
Contact me at 1234 Main St, (999)-999-9999.
I was dumbfounded that he'd leave such evidence on something that he had to have known was illegal. It made me want to buy one and forward it to Microsoft just for spite, because it seemed a tragic injustice that someone could do something so stupid and never have to deal with the results.
I never got around to it, though, because then he skipped town without paying the last X weeks of back wages to his employees. As far as I know no-one ever found him, but I didn't pay much attention after the first bit of news.
You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
ESA = Entertainment Software Association
(Damn you for making me RTFA to find that out!)
I really think nobody reads the article or even understands law in general... It's illegal to develop something whose purpose is to undermine copy protection. Mod chips are designed to do that. Case closed.
No, it's not possible to run unsigned code or homebrew on the 360. It hasn't been, and probably won't ever be possible until we can find a way to break the keys, or the dependence on the cryptographic keys contained within the 360. Pretty much all that the mods are doing is spoofing the PFI (Physical Format Information), DMI (Disc Manufacturer Information, SS (Stealth Sectors), and video.iso (a short video) to the original information that's offset to a different spot on the disc. In layman's terms, it pretends that you're running a storebought xbox360dvd with all of its original disc information (ie: disc stamped in kanagawa, japan) while in fact you are running a verbatim dvd9.
No, it's illegal to sell something with no -other- legitimate purpose than to undermine copy protection. I don't believe it's considered a circumvention of copy protection to play games for other region's consoles, which is the major purpose of a mod chip (i.e. playing Japanese games on a NA console).
I thought it was only illegal to distribute or sell it. I thought I was free to develop anything I want. In any case its moot, because you can show a list of legitimate uses for modded equipment.
the mod chip doesn't undermine copy protection, the firmware on the modchip does. On the Xbox, at least, you can install different firmwares that enable you to do different things. I do not believe that all firmwares are illegal, like the Cromwell bios from the Xbox Linux project. So, I would argue that a modchip with this 100% legal bios would be 100% legal.
For a second, I wondered what the hell the European Space Agency had against a console modder...
http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
That depends on whether he is being charged for the modding. If not, then you are 100% right.
(And it also depends on whether the modding had anything to do with initiating the investigation. If the investigation was begun only over piracy of the games that's one thing. But if they began the investigation *because* he's a modder, and then happened to find game piracy in the process, that's another thing.)
I didn't RTFA enough to know whether he's been charged for the modding.
Where I live in Edmonton Canada you can get mod chips at a local asian supermarket. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
-Xoltri
Correct... and I'm sure the mod chips seized had Cromwell's bios on it.
But...lets look at how mod chips are used. While I'm sure there is a very very very small market for playing Japanese games on a NA console), I believe that the vast majority of mod-chips are used for illegal purposes.
10 felony counts related to selling pirated games and modding consoles."
Yeah, but will it earn him the respect of rapists and murderers who might only have four or five felony counts.
you're sure they had the Cromwell bios on them or you assume they had the Cromwell bios on them or are you attempting sarcasm?
... most of us aussies continue to time/format shift media, and circumvent copy protection devices schemes that we dont like. Or get a friend/relative to do so if we lack the skills ourselves.
I'd heard that our law enforcement agencies dont have the resources to police petty 'civil' crimes like these often, in preference to higher priority criminal crimes.
See my art -> http://herbevore.deviantart.com
>It's illegal to develop something whose purpose is to undermine copy protection.
Actually, Amendment 1 to U.S. Constitution, ratified Dec. 15, 1791 makes it illegal for Congress to write a law "....abridging the freedom of speech."
Instructing people to circumvent copyright law is certainly considered "speech." As far as I know, there is no law, or constitutional clause, requiring all U.S. citizens to speak in favor of law abidement at all times.
Expressing methods of copyright infringement is certainly not physically harmful in the way that "yelling fire in a crowded theater" is deliberately deceptive (i.e. fraudulent). At worst, expressing methods of copyright infringement is exactly as harmful as a "guide to criminality" (aka "Steal This Book").
The question is, does manufacture and distribution of devices intended to circumvent copyright considered "speech" or considered a "weapon"? In the latter case, whether you can establish a chain of responsibility from, metaphorically, a gun manufacturer to murderer is open to debate.
Ultimately, the question is whether the defendant himself intended to circumvent copyright or "aided and abetted" others in doing so. Providing general (i.e. non-specific or non-situational) information for circumventing copyright is clearly protected by Amendment 1.
So, use your judgement. After all, that's what the courts are for.
Anyone here thinks they'd have been after that guy if he just modded consoles? He advertised game copies publically, that was what led to the raid.
Use a little common sense. Ok, it ain't that common but I'd assume it is here.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Maybe I'm getting too old, but the last time I checked somebody like this is called a bootlegger.
"ESA Initiates Police Raid Against Games Bootlegger"
And then everybody would have gotten the correct mental image of a guy who was copying and selling copied video games.
'nuff said.
You seem to misunderstand how this works - for you to even show up in court you'll want a lawyer unless you're truly suicidal. Figure a couple grand retainer for starters. Then they will do all sorts of crap to tangle you in red tape, the judge likely won't have a clue as to what's going on, and he will also not understand the difference between a mod chip used for regions and something for pirating. They will claim it's for pirating, you will be the bad guy saying it's not, you will have to dig out of that hole - expert witnesses aren't free either BTW. My lawyer tells me that if I hire a Dr. for my case to testify they will simply hire two and claim I'm full of crap - the Dr. win or lose will want on the order of $5K for showing up. Is it getting clearer yet? The big bad media company says you're bad, you must prove otherwise because they will be believed and have hordes of folks lined up to testify about how you've done who knows what and it cost them cash. Geeks understand the tech stuff, juries and judges have NO clue. Do you think a tech savvy person would get past jury selection? LOL!
When done you might manage to win, maybe, or maybe after a few months they will drop it - maybe. When it's all done, win or lose or drop, the lawyer hands you his bill - YOU pay it not them. This is called losing when you've won and depending upon how expensive the lawyer was you could be looking at a second mortgage - seriously.... Welcome to our legal system!
Oh,this is civil court, forget a court appointed anything. If you're lucky the EFF will have taken up your cause but they cannot help everyone - this is why I give them cash every year. you should too!
This is how the RIAA manages to hand threats to people that amount to extortion. Pay them multiple grand and sign something promising to never do it again or take your chances in court where losing could cost you a bazillion and winning is sure to cost you more than they originally offered to let you go with.
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