Man May Face 10 Years in Prison for Modding an Xbox

[Ravek]

the iPhone case does not pertain to game consoles.

Wtf is the difference? That sounds completely arbitrary.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

This shouldn't even be a case, he bought the hardware, he's allowed to do what he wants with it. So are the people he enabled to do the same. There are plenty of legit reasons someone would want to mod a 360.

And he doesn't have any. He is doing it to let people pirate games.

And you know this because you personally know the guy? Some people do this sort of thing just for the challenge. It's a skill like any other, he's free to market that skill, he's not responsible for how people use his work.

Also for all those saying "he broke the law, it's illegal" or something to that extent, feel free to let us know what law he actually broke, being you all seem like such keen legal minds.

Almost no one does it for the challenge, and secondly, obviously he broke a law, he's been INDICTED.

Again, feel free to specify which law. Follow the rules blindly, as you clearly do, and you'll find that the governing body tends to make things up as it goes along. He did not break any law here, the reason he got indicted is because there is a definitive lack of technological understanding in not just the judicial system but the government as a whole.

 

[Psydney]

I'm guessing the fact that he was modding the consoles as a for-profit business had something to do with the decision to prosecute. That said, the case sounds like it's going to be a disaster: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/xbox-judge-riled/

 

[Skizle]

the iPhone case does not pertain to game consoles.

Wtf is the difference? That sounds completely arbitrary.

Yes I'm a bit curious myself about that too. Also if this does go though will I get in trouble for modding my dell to play Xbox games?

 

[Palademon]

Hear that, casual gamers? ITS NOT A CONSOLE!

 

[AnAngryMoose]

He gets 10 years, and rapists and dog killers get 5 years? The juridical system is fucked.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Remember the teachings of Maddox, kiddies. "Civil disobedience is still disobedience."

Whether or not what he did should be legal or illegal, it is still currently illegal and thus he's subject to the punishments of the law. If you want to change the laws, you need to write your congressman or whatnot. Breaking the laws is fine if you want to be a martyr, but if not, you'd better not do it because the courts don't except "but it should be legal!" as a defense.

This line of thinking sorta fails when you realize that our lawmakers are, at this point, more firmly in the pockets of corporate America than ever before. There are pretty clearly two types of modern law - law to protect the people and the foundations of society, and law to protect the financial interests of an extremely greedy, influential, and fundamentally destructive minority. I've no objection to people outright ignoring the second group whenever it suits them.

I'm not advocating or defending piracy, but I'm definitely for consumers maintaining their rights with respect to property they've legally purchased.

 

[Vault Citizen]

While I'm not sure I mind too much that he is facing charges for modding ten years is way too long a setence, if he deserves any sentence any more than a couple of months is just cruel.

 

[Canid117]

This shouldn't even be a case, he bought the system, he's allowed to do what he wants with it. So are the people he enabled to do the same. There are plenty of legit reasons someone would want to mod a 360.

Yes but he was modding his to run pirated games. Did you actually read the article?

Though the most he should do is pay a fine comparable to a traffic ticket or something.

 

[Vault Citizen]

While I'm not sure I mind too much that he is facing charges for modding ten years is way too long a setence, if he deserves any sentence any more than a couple of months is just cruel.

ten years is too much for sure but a couple of months is a doddle. Hell I'd do what he did if thats all i had to worry about. I'd say somewhere between 2-4 years to put the fear in them.
(He gets money for allowing people to play pirated games, thats pretty unethical).

Fair point, I was trying not to be too harsh.

 

[Treblaine]

Crippen's lawyer then tried to compare the moddification to jailbreaking an iPhone, an action explicitly allowed by the DMCA, but the Judge again disallowed the defense, stating that the iPhone case does not pertain to game consoles.

Yes, it's not like iPhone can play games or anything.

Oh wait, phones are almost universally socially accepted, so they get a free pass. But video games consoles, dear god... people still blame Columbine on video games.

 

[Canid117]

This shouldn't even be a case, he bought the system, he's allowed to do what he wants with it. So are the people he enabled to do the same. There are plenty of legit reasons someone would want to mod a 360.

Yes but he was modding his to run pirated games. Did you actually read the article?

Though the most he should do is pay a fine comparable to a traffic ticket or something.

actually its worse than that since he was selling the modification to people, thus making it an enterprise and earning money from it (probably didn't pay tax on that income either but thats a whole 'nother issue)

That is worthy of some prison time but ten years is a slap in the face to the concept of justice.

 

[iviv]

He gets 10 years, and rapists and dog killers get 5 years? The juridical system is fucked.

He's recieved 10 years? Woah, I must have missed that, I was under the impression they had only just selected the Jury, they must have sped this case though court to get a sentence of 10 years delivered so quickly...

 

[DigitalSushi]

This shouldn't even be a case, he bought the hardware, he's allowed to do what he wants with it. So are the people he enabled to do the same. There are plenty of legit reasons someone would want to mod a 360.

And he doesn't have any. He is doing it to let people pirate games.

And you know this because you personally know the guy? Some people do this sort of thing just for the challenge. It's a skill like any other, he's free to market that skill, he's not responsible for how people use his work.

Also for all those saying "he broke the law, it's illegal" or something to that extent, feel free to let us know what law he actually broke, being you all seem like such keen legal minds.

Almost no one does it for the challenge, and secondly, obviously he broke a law, he's been INDICTED.

Again, feel free to specify which law. Follow the rules blindly, as you clearly do, and you'll find that the governing body tends to make things up as it goes along. He did not break any law here, the reason he got indicted is because there is a definitive lack of technological understanding in not just the judicial system but the government as a whole.

Here you go

Crippen is charged with two counts of violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

That one, its from 1998.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

Bill Clinton signed it and everything, blame him!

Thats the basis of the law, now the reason he's going through this is because he profited from allowing others to pirate games, he made money from people pirating stuff thanks to his know how.