240 Comments
- crippledlemming, on 10/10/2007, -16/+50This is sad, not only because the US Government is ruining this guy's life, but because we do not live in a free country anymore. We live in a police state where the common person is nothing more than a proletarian and large corporations control everything. No I am not a socialist nut, I'm just a little guy that is tired of everyone stepping on us. First of all if I want to modify my car to not only take unleaded gasoline, I am free to do that. If I want to reprogram my car's EEC I can do that too... Yet if I don't wish to run a corporation's software on my device I can not... This is really not only about the mod chip community, it is about freedom in general and about allowing corporations to run a country. This really hits close to home when you are allowed to see someone else's life ruined before your eyes. We all hold individualistic views of the world where only the world that we perceive is important to us rather than holding a community view. The thing is eventually we will all be in a rough spot where a helping hand could be used, but if it is only about me rather than we, we will all be left by the wayside. We should find our way back to a community because if we continue as individuals the governments and the corporations will have an easier time conquering us.
- xero69, on 10/10/2007, -3/+33 I wasn't forced to turn over my stuff since they didn't have a warrant for where it all was, but they told me that if I volunteered it, it would look better when the case is reviewed.
What a dumbass! Cooperating with ICE when they have no warrant to search and seize. Enjoy your time in pound me in the arse prison little buddy. - nstavros, on 10/10/2007, -7/+37God this makes me want to install modchips even more, to get back at them. Thats America for ya, rich getting richer, poor getting poorer.
***** you microsoft, why not go after the real criminals, the people that rip your games and upload them to the net. You should be ashamed. - smurf22, on 10/10/2007, -3/+32Every time I get in my car I could potentially kill someone, when I put a mod chip in I could potentially steal games. Doesn't mean im going to, so should my car be taken away too?
- Brian48216, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29I dunno why it doesn't get mentioned...it's like you're all brainwashed.
#1 reason to mod your console is to play imports.
If they didn't make all their damn consoles region locked then I wouldn't mod. When Free-Loader came out for GC, I bought that instead of modding the GC so I could play Japanese Imports.
But for Wii, they don't have such things, so I got a chip to play Naruto EX, which still doesn't work to my chagrin. - tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -2/+28Yeah, but all he did was mod people's Xboxes. He didn't sell bootleg games. He didn't copy games for people. Maybe his modifications made that possible, but there are many legit uses for that too. Basically, I feel that they went after the wrong people in this case, and the "little guy with a soldering iron in his garage" got the shaft when he didn't deserve it.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+29You buy the box and you can do whatever you want to you box. He wasn't assisting in the production of counterfeit games, he was upgrade somebody's box for them. If you want to smash your xbox - that is your right. Same thing if you want to run linux or get a bigger HD for it. This is kind of like arresting the local computer shop that upgrades your PC and installs software you request, like bit torrent, because you might do something illegal. That ain't America boys. That ain't right.
You never do something stupid like turn your property over to the government without a warrant and if they have a warrant you call your lawyer while they are there. - ChrisRX, on 10/10/2007, -2/+27>> HSD - Hours before the raids were news and broadcast across the net and the mass media, an XS member (FallsInc) tried to warn those of us in the inner circle that the noose was about to tighten around US Modchip shops. In all honesty many amongst us didn't give too much credence to the tip. Those of us running this site aren't running Modchip shops. To our Utter shock and dismay, hours later we watched as one shop after another in the US market either went down, stopped answering the phones and stopped taking orders. Shops, big and small across 16 states were raided, and had modding, piracy, and alot of unrelated goods and materials confiscated under the wide brush strokes of the DCMA.
The following is a firsthand account, written in his own words of the last 24 or so hours in the life of FallInc.
FallsInc - When ICE hit me, they had a warrant for my grandma's house where I had all my packages sent. They had a picture of the house, and a description of it, meaning they were ready to come find me. When they were there, they didn't find much, since I hadn't had my computer and most modding stuff there for a while, but I continued to have the orders sent there for security of the packages. They went in the house and woke everyone up and watched them get dressed and started going though everything that was in my old room, and the stuff I had in the garage. They took anything that was related to gaming. They opened all the mail I had waiting for me there (which included someone's Xbox and $150 for a mod and 400gb), and took all the consoles and all console parts that I had stored there they even took my original xbox1 games, that were in retail cases. They took my 360, power brick and video cable, while its modded with xtreme 5.1b, it has never had 1 single burned game booted on it. They also felt it necessary to take all my old Xbox parts, mostly dead, my controllers for the 360 and Wii (?) and packed it in a box, and left.
They got my phone number from my grandma and they called me, but I was sleeping, just like everyone else in Ohio. They eventually figured out where I was, and came to find me at my girlfriends' house. They asked me about modding and what I did, and how I did it. They showed me the list of modchips that they collected, and asked me if I ever imported modchips from Canada. I told them I did, but I didn't know it was a Canadian site until after I made the order. They asked me how much money I made, and how many mods I've done, and how many chips I still had, and where they were and where my computers were.
I wasn't forced to turn over my stuff since they didn't have a warrant for where it all was, but they told me that if I volunteered it, it would look better when the case is reviewed. They also said that I would have a better chance of getting it back (at first, they promised that I would get it back in 10 days, but once we got to the location, that was changed to "better chance" and "looks better in the eyes of XX". I did the only thing I felt I could do, I let them take what they wanted. We went to where I had my workshop area. They took my laptop, and desktop, and the soldering iron (which was one of their main things to find for some reason). All the chips and relative parts were taken on the recommendation of the computer forensics guy who was to be doing the analysis on my things.
In their defense, the ICE people who came to my girlfriends house were nice people, and they tried to help me make the right decision. I knew they were just doing their job, but I have been out of work since early may, and modding is the only thing that was keeping me above water with the bills. Now I can't mod, and I can't even sell anything off to pay for bills either since it has all been confiscated due to a ludicrous interpretation of the DCMA. Now it's all said and done, and I just have to wait for them to decide what I did wrong, but while I'm waiting, I have NOTHING of any worth anymore, other than a computer monitor, and my car. Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter, and last night, I slept in my car and my girlfriend sent me a text message telling me it felt like someone was taking me away from her. They took my life away. I would like to formally thank Microsoft and Nintendo for cracking down on the little guy with a soldering iron in his garage, rather than going after the people that are responsible for the bootlegs being available.
HSD - Xbox-Scene and it's affiliate sites do not condone or endorse piracy, however we do strive to discuss, educate, and explore methods of modifying and operating game consoles in ways not originally intended or envisioned by the manufacturers. We whole heartedly believe in the right to backup your investment. This act in and of itself isn't legal in many jurisdictions. Running a "modchip" store, site or service in many jurisdictions isn't legal. XS advises that anyone, regardless of country you are in take the time to educate yourselves on what is legal, and not legal in your jurisdiction. FallsInc wasn't some large modchip site or service. He was an individual making a few coins on the side. While his story won't be the last we'll hear about the raids, we do encourage everyone reading, especially those in the US to take the time and the measures necessary to ensure that you won't be in the next batch of raids.
This isn't JUST a problem for the United States. Europe isn't exempt from the broad strokes of the bloated DCMA legislation. Europe in 2001 passed the EU copyright Directive which has many similarities to the DCMA. There are many good resources on the net about the DCMA and the EUCD. Wikipedia is a good start Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
I'd like to thank FallsInc for coming forward and sharing his story with us. - oriondr, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17Saying you can't mod your xbox is like saying you can't put ketchup on your cheeseburger you bought at Burger King because it's not in the original recipe.
- sKizZz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14My boy was one of the 30 people to get raided and I was absolutely in awe when he told me. He got really lucky though, he had shut his business down about a week before and they just seized all the spare parts that he had when they got there. He said he thought they were looking for modded consoles which he didn't have any of on hand.
- tehbored, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14It sounds like he did everything the police told him to. PLEASE tell me he only did that because his attorney told him to. It's pretty stupid to act like that without consulting an your lawyer.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14how are the modders "stealing" anything? The modder isn't doing anything but modfing hardware that has been bought and paid for.
- xero69, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Now get back to work slacker!
- torched, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11How would they prosecute this one? If they go after this guy just for chipping xbox systems why not go after sony or phillips for making CD-R discs? Both could be used for aiding in piracy, but the manufactures, wholesalers, and retailers don't have any control over what you do with it.
- kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Little guy with no money Vs Billion Pound Companies.
We all know that while there is a right for people to go to court it makes no difference. If you go up against a billion pound company, 9 times out of 10 you will lose. If the other side has money to burn your screwed,. - MeneerR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Lots of people actually mod an XBox to use it as a cheap linux server. Why in gods name would that be illegal?
- tehbored, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11Hey, he may have been cheating the system, but the system is corrupt and needs to be done away with anyway. It's not like he broke any laws that were actually worth following. ***** the DMCA!
- dunlop, on 10/10/2007, -8/+17I feel bad for the guy, but you play with fire......
Gaming has become the #1 money maker in personal entertainment now, these crackdowns are going to get worse as the big companies want to protect their billions. - arthritisankle, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13thanks for the cliche, douche nozzle
- jacquesm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8good thing this was not going when I was a kid or I would have never learned how to program. I pretty much got my total experience with learning assembler from taking apart trs-80 coco cartridges and figuring out what makes them tick. It's simple: If you've bought it *ITS YOURS* otherwise you should not call it a sale. Then you should *rent* the device instead. These companies are trying to get the best of both worlds, take your $ and have their machine on a rubber string they can pull whenever you do something that may not mesh with their carefully thought out marketing bs. Wake up, smell the coffee. Switch to linux, boycott the brands that use the DMCA for leverage.
and vote for a politician that exudes some common sense and that does not take campaign contributions from corporations. In other countries that sort of deal is a crime, and rightly so. This is what you get when you allow your government to be bribed. - Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -3/+11"if you cant do the time dont do the crime"
*sigh* It shouldn't even *be* a crime to modify an X-Box for backup purposes. It's a direct violation of Fair Use, the DMCA is.
Enjoy your police state. - Hermmunster, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Tying this to organized crime and to money laundering is nothing more than an excuse for an abuse of the law enforcement agencies. Their radical interpretation of the DMCA is nothing more than criminal in it's own right (or wrong).
What needs to happen is that congress needs to take an examine the use of the DMCA, especially when it is determined that the vast majority of these people are just average individuals trying to help others get the most out of their old hardware, hardware, BTW, that is mostly unsupported and out of warranty.
There's no excuse for adding encryption just to get the legal authorities involved. For instance, adding encryption to anything could in a way be used to stifle innovation and there's nothing reverse engineering can do about it. And interpretation can find these guys perfectly within their rights. Such abuse. It is inexcusable. And the DHS? Where's their charter?
The EFF is essentially incapable of defending people's rights. These laws should have been challenged when they were created.
But Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are very abusive of the law and the people's rights to fair use by organizing this type of sting on just average people doing what they like to do--experiment, create, enhance. Some serious reexamination needs to take place in order to rid our society of these types of unfair laws that harm consumer rights. - iamhrh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7It doesn't matter if there are 10,000 people using mod chips to pirate, it still doesn't make manufacturing mod chips wrong.
- 2010student, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8So if I make a living customizing cars, I'm doing something illegal; just because I can make pay my bills doing it.
- straxus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I'm under no legal or ethical obligation to agree to a company's 'terms of use' to use hardware I paid for. Those words are meaningless, and have nothing to do with the law (DMCA) that these people will be prosecuted under. Speaking of that, the DMCA is a very bad law.
- j0keR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7"There's a court system he's going to deal with. He gets a lawyer and goes to trial. He can even sue for lost funds and time from his girlfriend after all is said and done."
You have no idea what it is like to try to fight the government. People spend decades, and most don't win. Those who do win rarely receive anything worth the time spent fighting it. Most people just want to get on with their lives. The courts are *****. The government is never held accountable. The individuals responsible are never held accountable. The only thing we the people can do is educate the ignorant population about the current and expanding police state. They do whatever they want, are never held responsible, and have the courts to back them up. On the rare occasion that a SINGLE police officer is held accountable (usually has to be a heavily publicized murder) they are usually allowed to keep their pension and are given far less time and better treatment than the rest of us. The law is not equal. Never. - MankeyWanker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Never Take legal advice from agents working for the government. They aren't your friend and are actually allowed to lie to you to make their bust. Don't ask to be "Mirandized" - if they forget to warn you it might just be a get out of jail free card you can play later on.
Also depending on seizure laws in your area, don't involve grandma or her house because they might just seize her property too. Forfeiture laws can sometimes mean that grandma just lost her house. - Fraff5, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Mr. Noise, you troll everywhere you go, just please, leave digg.
- everywhereasign, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Please Shanobi, finish that thought.
You said earlier that Guns have more purpose then killing someone. You're right. So selling them is okay.
Alcohol has more purpose then getting drunk and driving, So selling it is okay.
Cars can be used for more then driving into people and killing them, So selling them is okay.
Modding a car with a new chip, engine, spoiler can be used for more then illegal street racing, so modding them is okay.
Mod Chips have many purposes (just like alcohol, guns, and cars) that are legal. So selling them SHOULD BE OKAY! - galael, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6During which he could have removed anything that might have been incriminating. When the Feds or the coppers come a knockin', the only thing you do or say is, "I want a lawyer." It doesn't matter if you're innocent or guilty. They THINK you are guilty, or they wouldn't be there.
- j0keR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6He was working for himself. He's what we used to call an entrepreneur in free countries. In police-states we call him an outlaw.
- itspuddingtime, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7obviously this guy didn't read the "10 things not to do when you get arrested" article
- DrPh0bius, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I almost never post comments, but something he said really bugged me.
"In their defense, the ICE people who came to my girlfriends house were nice people, and they tried to help me make the right decision."
That is the kind of backwards thinking that sees people end up in bigger trouble than they may have been in. When you have a f**king task force at your house, you shut up and ask for a lawyer. The LAST thing they had in mind was helping him make the "right decision" unless by right decision he meant the decision that was best for them. All my sympathy to him, but that was stupid. - mywhitenoise, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7If it has a loud, useless muffler, that doesn't effect the performance of the car other than just to annoy people and show off your rice rocket, then yes.
- iamhrh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6How is modifying something that I own illegal in any sense?
I didn't steal the xbox, I didn't steal the chip.
The ONLY thing being stolen here are the games...and the guy in this story wasn't selling games.
Oh, and that bit about consoles "are supposed to be closed boxes" really doesn't hold any water either. Reverse engineering always has been a part of fair use. That doesn't give you the right to then build your own device that does the same thing, but afaik there isn't a law that prevents you from figuring out how something works; even from changing it by "modding" the device away from its original intended design.
All I'm saying is this: it isn't illegal for the body shop around the corner to install an airfoil onto your ricer, why the hell would you think it was illegal for someone to install a chip into an electronics device? - acarr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I feel bad for the guy who sent his Xbox to get modded and just got it confiscated by ICE.
- dunlop, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Thanks.
- everywhereasign, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6@ Shanobi
"You have zero right to back up a game. There are absolute laws written against such a thing, throughout the industrialized world. People who tell you that it's *okay* to own a back up copy, are either lying, or believing a lie."
Man, it's going to be really hard to prove you wrong...
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html
I hope the government isn't lying, or believing a lie. That would open a whole new can of worms. - knetworx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I'm a game developer, and I have stock options with my company, but I still believe there is nothing wrong with making mod chips. While stealing games is illegal, making a mod chip is not (or at least should not be.) I have a soft-modded PS2 with a bunch of games on it. But if you look at the shelf next to the PS2, you will find the cases for every game on the hard drive. The only reason I have a hard drive in my PS2 is because I hate switching CDs, and loading from a hard drive decreases loading times. Should I be taken to jail for that?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6@dunlop. that is immaterial. There is still no "theft" on the part of the guys doing the modding.
- plizard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5for everyone saying '***** the dmca' you should be saying '***** this guy'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Coble
he is the one who brought the dmca into law. - chance2002iu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5probably didn't know that. definitely didn't read http://www.karemar.com/blog/top-ten-10-things-not-do-if-you-are-arrested
- darkkmind, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7WOW! What an idiot. Buddy if your ARE guilty never cooperate! Make it as hard for them to put you away as you can. As soon as they said "We don't have a warrant for your apartment", I would have immediately told them to ***** off and figured out a way to discreetly get rid of any incriminating evidence at my place.
- innocentsinner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"Therefore, since modchips are known to be used to pirate games, the government must stop the production/selling of modchips."
Therefore, since guns are known to be used to kill people, the government must stop the production/selling of guns. - Drizzit, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6As opposed to the last 8 years of hell?
- knetworx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Damn, you're right, I guess we should give up our right to bear arms as well. It's "just the second amendment." The only thing people buy guns for is to shoot people.
/sarcasm @Shanobi for being a retard - straxus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Shanobi:
First: The software is licensed. Not the hardware.
Second: Breaking a software license and continuing to use said software is a civil matter, not a criminal one. If I break my XBox software license (I did), and then run Linux on it (I do), it's not even a civil matter.
Third: Nothing in your post is relevant to the matter at hand. The only applicable law here is the DMCA, which makes devices that circumvent copy protection illegal - even if no copy rights are actually being violated. That's just bad law making.
(Oh, and don't bother getting a warrant guys. I flashed my XBox's TSOP with the Cromwell BIOS. Never touched a modchip. The DMCA can't touch me on this one. You'll just have to pay congress to make an even more ridiculous law now.) - jbarrio5, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I really think you are all missing the point. Modding has been around for decades, since the first vehicles came out, people moded them. Why would you mod your car? to go faster of course. Thats breaking the law, or I mean you might break the law. So lets go to your local auto parts store and start arresting people for purchasing performance parts for their vehicles. While we are at it lets weld shut the vehicles hoods and through people in jail who dare open them, and put those guys from pimp my ride in the slammer, in fact outlaw all car related TV shows, books and magazines.
You see the point is if you own it, its your to do as you please, future crimes do not count (Minority Report, great movie), all the what if and maybe are just speculation. The list can go on and on, blank CD's for pirating music and software, guns and knives because you could kill someone, etc.
Well thats my two cents. - azy891, on 10/10/2007, -9/+13From XS:
Raid casualty comes forward to tell his story
>> HSD - Hours before the raids were news and broadcast across the net and the mass media, an XS member (FallsInc) tried to warn those of us in the inner circle that the noose was about to tighten around US Modchip shops. In all honesty many amongst us didn't give too much credence to the tip. Those of us running this site aren't running Modchip shops. To our Utter shock and dismay, hours later we watched as one shop after another in the US market either went down, stopped answering the phones and stopped taking orders. Shops, big and small across 16 states were raided, and had modding, piracy, and alot of unrelated goods and materials confiscated under the wide brush strokes of the DCMA.
The following is a firsthand account, written in his own words of the last 24 or so hours in the life of FallInc.
FallsInc - When ICE hit me, they had a warrant for my grandma's house where I had all my packages sent. They had a picture of the house, and a description of it, meaning they were ready to come find me. When they were there, they didn't find much, since I hadn't had my computer and most modding stuff there for a while, but I continued to have the orders sent there for security of the packages. They went in the house and woke everyone up and watched them get dressed and started going though everything that was in my old room, and the stuff I had in the garage. They took anything that was related to gaming. They opened all the mail I had waiting for me there (which included someone's Xbox and $150 for a mod and 400gb), and took all the consoles and all console parts that I had stored there they even took my original xbox1 games, that were in retail cases. They took my 360, power brick and video cable, while its modded with xtreme 5.1b, it has never had 1 single burned game booted on it. They also felt it necessary to take all my old Xbox parts, mostly dead, my controllers for the 360 and Wii (?) and packed it in a box, and left.
They got my phone number from my grandma and they called me, but I was sleeping, just like everyone else in Ohio. They eventually figured out where I was, and came to find me at my girlfriends' house. They asked me about modding and what I did, and how I did it. They showed me the list of modchips that they collected, and asked me if I ever imported modchips from Canada. I told them I did, but I didn't know it was a Canadian site until after I made the order. They asked me how much money I made, and how many mods I've done, and how many chips I still had, and where they were and where my computers were.
I wasn't forced to turn over my stuff since they didn't have a warrant for where it all was, but they told me that if I volunteered it, it would look better when the case is reviewed. They also said that I would have a better chance of getting it back (at first, they promised that I would get it back in 10 days, but once we got to the location, that was changed to "better chance" and "looks better in the eyes of XX". I did the only thing I felt I could do, I let them take what they wanted. We went to where I had my workshop area. They took my laptop, and desktop, and the soldering iron (which was one of their main things to find for some reason). All the chips and relative parts were taken on the recommendation of the computer forensics guy who was to be doing the analysis on my things.
In their defense, the ICE people who came to my girlfriends house were nice people, and they tried to help me make the right decision. I knew they were just doing their job, but I have been out of work since early may, and modding is the only thing that was keeping me above water with the bills. Now I can't mod, and I can't even sell anything off to pay for bills either since it has all been confiscated due to a ludicrous interpretation of the DCMA. Now it's all said and done, and I just have to wait for them to decide what I did wrong, but while I'm waiting, I have NOTHING of any worth anymore, other than a computer monitor, and my car. Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter, and last night, I slept in my car and my girlfriend sent me a text message telling me it felt like someone was taking me away from her. They took my life away. I would like to formally thank Microsoft and Nintendo for cracking down on the little guy with a soldering iron in his garage, rather than going after the people that are responsible for the bootlegs being available.
HSD - Xbox-Scene and it's affiliate sites do not condone or endorse piracy, however we do strive to discuss, educate, and explore methods of modifying and operating game consoles in ways not originally intended or envisioned by the manufacturers. We whole heartedly believe in the right to backup your investment. This act in and of itself isn't legal in many jurisdictions. Running a "modchip" store, site or service in many jurisdictions isn't legal. XS advises that anyone, regardless of country you are in take the time to educate yourselves on what is legal, and not legal in your jurisdiction. FallsInc wasn't some large modchip site or service. He was an individual making a few coins on the side. While his story won't be the last we'll hear about the raids, we do encourage everyone reading, especially those in the US to take the time and the measures necessary to ensure that you won't be in the next batch of raids.
This isn't JUST a problem for the United States. Europe isn't exempt from the broad strokes of the bloated DCMA legislation. Europe in 2001 passed the EU copyright Directive which has many similarities to the DCMA. There are many good resources on the net about the DCMA and the EUCD. Wikipedia is a good start Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
I'd like to thank FallsInc for coming forward and sharing his story with us. - iJessicaRabbit, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but why do these companies care so strongly about this? When I read the word 'raid' and 'modchip' i was thinking that the person modded something they owned in a way that it was causing physical harm to others; like building a weapon. I could understand a raid being necessary in that case. As I was reading the article I kept waiting for something horrible to jump out at me.
It seems like what this person did to their xbox would only further the development of current xbox and other gaming systems. Shouldn't we learn from those who venture out and explore better means to improve what's there? Isn't that why and how devices get upgraded? Coming from an uneducated viewpoint of this subject I see what this person is doing as beneficial, and even if he was turning around and selling many of whatever he modded, wouldn't the original chip or handset or technological device have to come from the original companies selling the consoles which would equal money in their pockets? -
Show 51 - 100 of 240 discussions



What is Digg?