California man pleads guilty to Xbox tampering

Co-owner of a Hollywood video game store pleads guilty to selling video game consoles modified to play pirated games.

The story "California man pleads guilty to Xbox tampering" published May 10, 2006 at 8:35 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[Maccess]

Modding a crime?

He's guilty of Piracy, not of hacking/modding/tinkering.

God help us if hacking/modding/tinkering with your stuff becomes a crime. Everyone who's ever tweaked and hot rodded his car would go to jail.

[lorcro2000]

Yes, it is.

I believe modding an Xbox now in order to bypass copy protection is indeed a crime in the US. It's asinine, but there it is.

In my opinion, the crime in this case was preloading copied games onto the boxes. That clearly is a copyright violation in order to make money on it, and that's the kind of stuff I wish the "pirate hunters" would focus on, not people sharing stuff with each other.

[ddesy]

Sure... DMCA

Under the DMCA you cannot circumvent measures used for content control such as the copy protection on a game console. It can be used against people whether they are really responsible for actual copyright infringement or not.

[Johnet123]

What will the next thing be to be illegal?

Pardon my anarchistic tendencies but, personally, I feel that if I
have slapped down my hard earn money for something, I should
be able to do anything I wish with it, without it being some type
of crime.

I would agree that modifying a device to circumvent copy
protection for others should be illegal. However, what I do in my
home for my own amusement, with my possessions, should not
be a crime.

Lastly, making it illegal for moronic hackers to circumvent copy
protection is not the solution. It is up to the industry that wants
copy protection to devise bulletproof schemes. You cannot
legislate human nature away, and it is human nature to try and
get something for nothing.

[tanis143]

No big deal

To be honest, these guys were stupid. Selling a hacked xbox with preloaded games is like waving a red flag in front of a herd of ticked off bulls.

However, the DMCA is so flawed that hopefully it will be eradicated someday. If I buy a DVD I should have the right to back it up. With video games creaping into the $60's I should have a way to back up that investment. The DMCA is just another way the consumer is getting bent over buy greed. Lets face it, the only reason why Napster (my opinion the start of this whole piracy wanna be crusade) was so popular was the price of CD's was still way to high.

[Get_Bent]

Not so fast...

> Pardon my anarchistic tendencies but, personally, I feel
> that if I have slapped down my hard earn money for some-
> thing, I should be able to do anything I wish with it,
> without it being some type of crime.

Really? Try this one then:

- Buy an AR15 rifle
- Modify it for full auto
- Show off its abilities at a target range
- See how quickly the cops show up to arrest you

[Johnet123]

What's your point?

An Xbox is not an assault rifle. If I modify an Xbox, there is no way
I can use it to mow down people with it...well, real people, not
virtual people.