Judge "Berates" Prosecution in Xbox Modding Trial

[Comrade_Beric]

This is a law that must be so hard to explain in another context:

Buy a car, remove the engine, use it in a go-kart... get arrested for altering the car because you could have used the engine in a motorized death machine. The fact that you didn't is apparently irrelevant. Oh, and if you sell anyone else a manual or piece of equipment that helps them alter the car, then that's illegal too.

What ever happened to being allowed to do whatever you want with the equipment you buy? I mean, I don't see anyone getting sued for using Q-tips in their ears despite a very clear warning on the box not to use them that way...

 

[Danpascooch]

Fucking hilarious, I'm so sick of prosecutors treating a few pirates of games, or ones that may not even have pirated, as if they walked into the middle of a city with a machine gun and open fired into a crowd of pregnant teen orphans.

 

[Danpascooch]

This is a law that must be so hard to explain in another context:

Buy a car, remove the engine, use it in a go-kart... get arrested for altering the car because you could have used the engine in a motorized death machine. The fact that you didn't is apparently irrelevant. Oh, and if you sell anyone else a manual or piece of equipment that helps them alter the car, then that's illegal too.

What ever happened to being allowed to do whatever you want with the equipment you buy? I mean, I don't see anyone getting sued for using Q-tips in their ears despite a very clear warning on the box not to use them that way...

Apple happened.

I'm kidding (well, maybe half kidding)

It was around before Apple, but they sure as hell are the leaders of it now.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Suddenly I'm actually a bit more interested in the outcome of this trial. If this were just another case of every part of the legal system trying to 'stay friends' by negotiating and deciding on this man's future, I'd dismiss it as another wonderful little travesty of justice in regards to how vehemently anything is prosecuted these days regards to this topic, even in contradiction of their own pre-agreed laws.

Now however...this doesn't look like your average trial anymore. A judge that actually looks like he wants to point out the inherent hypocrisy for once? We'll see how far this can go...

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Buy a car, remove the engine, use it in a go-kart... get arrested for altering the car because you could have used the engine in a motorized death machine.

Sigh.

Your analogy isn't at all reflective of what the guy was doing. If you want a car-related analogy, the guy was selling "slim-jim" lockpicks to anyone walking in the door. Sure, an average driver might use the lockpicks only on his own car should he lock himself out... but the way to bet is that anyone picking one up (who doesn't work for EMS or a towing company or something similar) is going to use them for lawbreaking.

I have no sympathy for the guy; he wasn't modding his own consoles for his own enjoyment, he was doing it for others for pay. I think anyone who can't chip their own console isn't responsible enough to use a chipped console responsibly, and I'm sick of cheaters using modded equipment online to act like CENSOREDs. I want to see fewer guys offering that service, thank you.

That being said, more power to the judge for calling the prosecution on its BS moves as much as he does the defendant's.

-- Steve

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Can you imagen being sent to jail for 10 years, FOR THAT!

Hardend Criminal 1: "What you in for? I killed a man in cold blood"
Hardend Criminal 2: "Gun running"
Hardend Criminal 3: "Drug dealing and Murder in the 1st"
Matthew Crippen : "You guys think thats bad, I chipped my Xbox"
Hardend Criminal 1: "WOW, SHIT!"
Hardend Criminal 3: "WARDEN!! I DONT WANNA BE IN A CELL WITH THIS MAD MAN!"

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Jesus, you could get less than 10 years for killing someone. I'm glad those bastards got blasted for pretty much being the pot in this situation.

Wow. Judge Rage.

I approve. Even if what he was doing was wrong, that doesn't mean his prosecution can say bollocks to due process.

Think he looked like this?

Spoiler

Can you imagen being sent to jail for 10 years, FOR THAT!

Hardend Criminal 1: "What you in for? I killed a man in cold blood"
Hardend Criminal 2: "Gun running"
Hardend Criminal 3: "Drug dealing and Murder in the 1st"
Matthew Crippen : "You guys think thats bad, I chipped my Xbox"
Hardend Criminal 1: "WOW, SHIT!"
Hardend Criminal 3: "WARDEN!! I DONT WANNA BE IN A CELL WITH THIS MAD MAN!"

Pfft. More like:

Criminal 1: What you in for?
Criminal 2: Triple Homicide and two counts of rape. You?
Criminal 1: Chipped my Xbox.
Criminal 2: Come here sugar, you can call me daddy.

 

[thedeathscythe]

10 YEARS? there was a drunk driver that hit a kid in my area a while back and he only got 3 years.
this is bullshit, if they are doing this to make an example then they should set him free sooner regardless.

Could be worse, you could get sued for eighty eight billion dollars for playing an illegal copy of WoW[small]...well...actually it was only 88 million but that's besides the point.[/small]

That was for hosting a private server, while taking "donations" from people so that they can get in game items and you can get rich, I think she made 1.6 million off of it. All in all, I think Blizzard just wants to crack down on private servers (not just the ones that make cash from "donations").

 

[Samus Aaron]

It's nice to see the justice system actually doing its job.

I love this jugde. He literally tore a new one on these people, I hope the kid doesn't get jailed ten years just to be an example. But nobody will be afraid of this kind of thing!

Literally? Wow, that's pretty fucked up.

 

[Irridium]

That Judge is a hero of the system. Now lets see if he either gets replaced or suddenly changes his stance inexplicably, since it's pretty clear that trial is more crooked than a crushed beer can already.

Drunk driving/hit and run is peanuts compared to tinkering with consoles made by poor ol' Microsoft!

 

[Sonicron]

Wow, the judge flew off the handle? Cool. Gives me the impression of a 'harsh, but fair' kind of man.

Made me think of this fellow.

Anyone who knows Boston Legal knows this guy - best judge on the entire show, and I can totally see this character giving the prosecution (or anyone, really) a run for their money.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

You have no sympathy for a man getting fucked by a vicious prosecution, who have the kind of financial powers that one can only speculate on?

In this particular case, no. Explanation to follow.

You want to see this relatively harmless geek get locked in a prison full of GENUINE criminals? Your mainline peeve being, people cheat online...

The kind of crimes that get 10 years can only be described as the fucking serious kind, and this man would be entering the lower circles of hell for a long time.

He's not going to get ten years. Ten years is a theoretical maximum figure floated in the press to get eyeballs. (And it worked. See?) In the real world, if convicted (hey, the trial has yet to even start) the guy will probably get parole as it's a non-violent crime and a first offense. Even if he does get time, it won't be in a Federal supermax with the really dangerous criminals; it'll be in a lower-security facility, more like the Club Fed they send other white-collar criminals to.

You seriously need to look at yourself in the mirror IMO. Where is your humanity.

I got my humanity just fine, thank you. I wonder at the humanity of all the "Chicken Little" types running around in circles over this and screaming that the sky is falling, though.

-- Steve

 

[WorldCritic]

Ah, it's good to see that when lawyers and witnesses aren't trustworthy the judge can say something.

 

[Spectre4802]

Wait, exactly what does 'modding your Xbox' involve?

And ten years? Ten (10) whole freaking years for "modding an Xbox"? Fucking hell. I'm pretty sure drunk drivers and (in some cases anyway) murderers get less than that.

 

[fgdfgdgd]

10 YEARS? there was a drunk driver that hit a kid in my area a while back and he only got 3 years.
this is bullshit, if they are doing this to make an example then they should set him free sooner regardless.

Could be worse, you could get sued for eighty eight billion dollars for playing an illegal copy of WoW[small]...well...actually it was only 88 million but that's besides the point.[/small]

That was for hosting a private server, while taking "donations" from people so that they can get in game items and you can get rich, I think she made 1.6 million off of it. All in all, I think Blizzard just wants to crack down on private servers (not just the ones that make cash from "donations").

Eh, it still gets me with how much they demand in damages for some reason it seems to be justice when someone file shares a song worth 99 cents and gets sued for $200,000. I understand that it can be extrapolated by the number of downloads that were made from that specific file share but i'm yet to see a case quote how many times it was shared.

It always reminds me of these scenes:

Spoiler: Oh hai!

 

[antipunt]

A+ for rationality.

Why do we need lawyers? To combat other, evil lawyers. Pretty much. (the article is about a judge, but the general point remains the same I think)

 

[Comrade_Beric]

Buy a car, remove the engine, use it in a go-kart... get arrested for altering the car because you could have used the engine in a motorized death machine.

I have no sympathy for the guy; he wasn't modding his own consoles for his own enjoyment, he was doing it for others for pay.

So, if we continue the analogy... you'd have no sympathy if someone payed me to remove the engine from their car and put it into a go-kart for them... Yeah, still not making a lot of sense.