Man May Face 10 Years in Prison for Modding an Xbox

[nik3daz]

This is ridiculous. I find everyone in support of the prosecution in this case to be thoroughly disgusting.

If the man is convicted, it's akin to saying a checkout clerk at Walmart is responsible for letting kids buy lots of toilet paper which is likely for a nefarious use. Why do people always assume modding equals piracy. There's no basis for that.

 

[Wintermoot]

so modding a iPhone is okay,but modding a 360 is bad?

 

[Susurrus]

Anyone who hasn't read the Wired article really probably ought to. It strongly suggests that the prosecution's case is likely to fail, due to illegal conduct of two of four witnesses, as well as judge's reversing of refusal to admit "fair use" defence (presumably because he now knows more of the details). He also suggests that the "Mens Rea" of the crime (one of the two crucial elements in establishing that a crime has been committed, translating roughly as the required mental state, which sits alongside the "Actus Reus" (the required act)) is absent, and that the prosecution is trying to imply that a different (and lower) mens rea than case law states as necessary is sufficient to successfully prosecute the crime.

SO:
Illegal witnesses
Defence reinstated
Prosecuting crime under wrong terms.

I can't see that this will convict.

EDIT: Also, he MAY get up to 10 years for two separate offences. So that's five years per offence, with presumably some grading within that. Rape is probably the same - not that I know anything much about the US legal system - in that it can be graded by severity, other circumstances etc. More serious rape almost certainly attracts must harder sentences.

 

[SlyderEST]

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.

Well, if you really want to know...

Any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute, or use for other purposes the Service, any game, application, or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console is strictly prohibited and may result in cancellation of your account and/or your ability to access the Service, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft.

http://www.xbox.com/en-us/legal/livetou

And don't ask for my opinion about this. I don't want to start (or take part in) a huge argument that I don't know much about.

 

[Kurokami]

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 these modifications allow people to play pirated games. Which is probably what the lawsuit is all about. And chances are, more then a few asked for the modifications for that reason. He can say that the people asking for modifications said they wouldn't play pirated games, but chances are they were simply lying.

Yes, but I don't think that's something that they can hold him for in court. If they find pirated games on his system, or that he really encourages it or w/e than yeah, you've got something to stand on, but otherwise this seems alot like locking a guy up for offering to overclock a persons graphics card (or whatever its called). Might help people to play pirated games, and surely he's enabling them, but in both cases I think they've got sufficiant deniability. (I realize the example is a bit rediculous, as you're right that most people will surely mod their Xbox for the sole purpose of playing pirated games, but is it really enough to go on to convict him of a crime?)

By the way, I didn't read much of the OP, so if I missed anything feel free to point out. (tired and off to sleep! =])

 

[Kurokami]

This is ridiculous. I find everyone in support of the prosecution in this case to be thoroughly disgusting.

If the man is convicted, it's akin to saying a checkout clerk at Walmart is responsible for letting kids buy lots of toilet paper which is likely for a nefarious use. Why do people always assume modding equals piracy. There's no basis for that.

I think misinformed or perhaps simply haven't put much thought into it, but who knows.

"So, what you in for"

"Modding Xbox's"

"...You fuckin' with me?"

I can imagine the serial killer will be shitting his pants in fear.

 

[Kurokami]

Goddamn, tripple post.

Edited

 

[linwolf]

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.

anyone that agrees with this is a fool.

Modification of an intellectual property is illegal. end of story.

Under that definition writing in a book is illegal.

 

[dochmbi]

It is a travesty of the legal system that this should even be possible. Unfortunately he did break a law in performing the modification. The DMCA specifically prohibits any act which circumvents copy protection.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/DVD/1201.html#a_A

Yet another reason the DMCA should be overturned. Under it we no longer own, and therefore have he right to modify or use however we see fit, the hardware which purchase.

Indeed.
If this is what they want, then the Xbox 360 shouldn't be sold as if it became your property and as if you had full property rights to it, instead what youd get is usage rights to it, but the console still remained Microsoft property.

 

[kurtzy23]

Was the federal agent undercover or did he just want a modded X-Box also if he was undercover why are they wsting their time on an X-Box modder when their are much worse crimes anyway.

 

[Reaper69lol]

10 years? Are you fucking kidding me? People with more serious offense get 5 years ( rapist scum etc). But the kid who was trying to make ends meet gets 10 years for modding an xbox? Wow, just wow. I mean yeah sure it's illegal and he shouldn't have done that, but 10 years is too much for that kind of offense.

 

[Gigano]

Apparently the kid is facing up to 10 years, he hasn't been convicted yet. Even the American justice system would hardly be harsh enough to go anywhere near that limit.

Of course such a maximum, and a trial by Jury for something like this, is utter overkill. It's illegal around here as well though; with the maximum penalty attached being a fine.

As long as copyright laws are grossly disproportionate and slanted towards industry rights with virtually no mention of consumer rights, it'll be exceedingly hard to get the general public to accept them as normative. Make a balanced law with sensible sanctions, and people might begin to sympathize with and care more about it.

 

[MagicMouse]

Too harsh.

The people making/selling/using the pirated/copied games are the criminals not him. Same concept with gun manufacturers. Sure they made the product, but they didn't commit the offense.

 

[KYoukai]

My big concern is the precedent that it would set if something like this caught on. Using the same logic, all firearms dealers -- like myself -- could become criminals. Why? We're making money off someone who MIGHT do something illegal with the service we've provided! Take it a step further, car dealerships would all be indicted on the CHANCE that their cars might be used in a hit-and-run!

 

[Something Amyss]

This shouldn't even be a case, he bought the system, he's allowed to do what he wants with it.

actually, legally, he's not.

Sorry, but the DMCA is law. I think it's dumb, but it's law.

 

[JDKJ]

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.

Sure did. The article said can be used to play pirated games - 'can' being the keyword. It also mentioned homebrew games. The are other reasons too, some people may simply wish to run Linux on their 360. Hell, people might just want to play copies of games they do infact own (not illegal).

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.

Did you read the Wiki page or just link it? There's nothing in it even remotely similar to these circumstances that would constitute this as being illegal.

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.

anyone that agrees with this is a fool.

Modification of an intellectual property is illegal. end of story.

Actually that's not true. Modifying intellectual property for commercial use is illegal. You could try to argue that he was profiting off of modded 360, but there's a difference here. He was charging for his services, similar in the way that a mechanic would. Had he been stockpiling modded 360s and selling them as his own product, then you'd be right. This is not the case.

It's the fact he was charging money for a service that condoned/encourage pirating and related activities. You can't do that, its like charging money for pirated copies of a movie.

It's not even remotely close to the same thing... At all.



Another very popular use for modifying consoles that these articles make no mention of is so they can play games that aren't compatible with their region of hardware. This is for those people who want to import games from Japan and whatnot that do not see a North American release.

Again, there are plenty of legit reasons to mod a 360. Because these legit purposes exist, it is impossible to say it was for piracy's sake.

A mechanic is allowed to change the headers in a car, slap on a turbo charger, etc. However, the mechanic is not responsible if the driver chooses to speed excessively. Hell, a mechanic can throw straight pipes on a car (which aren't street legal), and again, is at no fault if the driver gets caught with them.

If you buy a product, you are allowed to do what you wish with that product as long as it remains for personal use. If playing pirated games was the only thing such a mod enable, they might have a case. This is almost exactly the same as the iphone jailbreak mentioned in the article, the judge is just too inept to realize it because the 360 serves a different purpose.

Under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the circumvention of copy control and access control mechanisms is illegal, with only a few narrow statutory exemptions and generally regardless of the underlying reason for the circumvention.

And it doesn't look from the public cock-slapping the Judge administered to the prosecution on opening day that he's half as inept as you think he is. Looks to me as if he knows more than a little bit about what's happening in his courtroom. But I'm willing to bet that the poor AUSA who got cock-slapped wishes the Judge was as inept as you think he is.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Uh. Not sure on this one. On the one hand I tend to come down on the side of the law in all cases regarding piracy, cracking consoles etc, but on the other hand ten years is ridiculous for something like this. Even a regular thief wouldn't be looking at anything more than 4/5 years with a harsh judge, but then again someone running a fencing operation (which is sort of maybe equivalent in console terms) would get a higher sentence.

Plus, I don't like his first defence. People are ready and willing to spring on corporations using loopholes in the law to escape charges, and his claim of 'it could be used for non-illegal means of homebrew software' was clearly trying to take advantage of a loophole he had been exploiting in order to crack consoles for pirated games.

I know some people would use this sort of modding for homebrew software but let's not delude ourselves, most of his customers were using this to play pirated games, and now he's just trying to escape the higher charge. For that alone I would put him close to a perjuror in my mental scale of wrongness.

Also, I have a tendency towards the law. I'm not on his side for his actions, but I am on his side for what seems to me an overly harsh punishment.