What is Digg?61 Comments
- alevel27mage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, they were distributing the Xboxes with illegal BIOS, illegal games. There is nothing illegal about modding an Xbox.
- ph33rm3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3misleading title
- xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@half-fast
indeed, the keywords are "preloaded pirated games". the reporters simply lump together the xbox mod thing to get your attention. - Cander, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"And this, my friends, is why I don't give media companies money any more.
It's YOUR Xbox, you should be able to do whatever the hell you want with it."
And that my friends is why you should actually read the article. You can do whatever you want with YOUR xbox, but when you start altering the product and putting pirated games on it and reselling, that you do NOT have the right to do. Think before you speak. Or at least read. - Hitchhiker90, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You the man junkyinny, if I can find the docs to this and see if I can do it myself I just might. I was gonna try to find someone local to do it and pay'em $50 or so.
- ezekielcrow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1actually, there is no EULA for a Xbox. for all practical purposes, an Xbox is just like a toaster. once you buy one, you can do whatever you want to it and all it does is void your warranty. now selling a Xbox with games copied onto the hard drive, that is blatantly illegal.
- wolrah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"And a EULA violation, so you can get nailed in civil court too...unless i'm wrong?"
I never agreed to any EULA to play my Xbox. Not once did I sign any document which would make a legally binding contract, and hell, there wasn't even a long piece of legalese which one has to press "I Accept" to get by. - kidlinux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In this case it's not just selling a modified Xbox. RTFA, these guys were selling a modified Xbox with a 250GB hard drive full of games.
"Customers paid between $225 and $500 depending on the extent of the modifications requested and the number of games pre-loaded onto the hard drive."
WTF did these idiots expect?? - killerofkiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@junkyinny damn strait! i love my xenium sp ice for my xbox.. just clipped in and now it's great.. even lets u customize the color of the led inside! loads Xbox media center great also!
there is nothing illegal about modding, think of like a car u can buy a car and do what ever the hell u want to it, it will just void ur warrenty (xcept turning back the odmeter, cause that's fraud) - PlayWithFire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Enforcement say they paid $265 to have a modification chip a hard drive and 77 pirated games installed in an Xbox"
Modchip is legal. These days the OS on the chip is also legal. It's the dashboard, and the games that got them jailed. It would be the same as if they would sell you a DVD with a copy of a game on it. - cyburdine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@autobahn
I agree completely... unfortunately I know this is not how they (MS) looks at it. Especially when they lose hundreds? of dollars on every xbox sold. It is their expectation that you WILL buy their games which they make $$ on in most cases just on licensing to 3rd party game makers.
I personally only have an xbox so I can stream video off my ReplayTV. And it's a used one at that! so that is my silent protest. ;)
justin
cyburdine.com - russizm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The best thing I've ever tinkered around with is my xbox. I absolutely love everything that a modded xbox can do.
- majik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wasn't some guy busted for selling an hd preloaded with ps2 games....who also happened to mod ps2's ? the headline spinned it as if it was illegal to mod the ps2, but after reading the actual article, it was the preloaded games on the hd that got him in trouble.
- mulletbum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually if you read some of those, just using the product constitutes acceptance of the EULA.
In court you would have to prove that someone read that EULA and without any acceptance dialog at all, there would be no proof that someone had to read it in any form. That makes it an ambiguous contract, thus void in court. - RichMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually, it is illegal to have a modded xbox anyways, because when you get a new dashboard on it, that new dashboard uses code licensed by Microsoft.
The only way around that is with OpenDash (uses linux coding), but it's still in development. . - ezekielcrow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0no Xbox comes with any form of a EULA.
- PlayWithFire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the DMCA does have a clause in there about reverse engeniering something for educational use
- wolrah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That is why any intelligent modder ships all their boxes with only FlashBIOS or Cromwell installed. It leaves the copy protection on games intact, and in fact disables the ability to even run such games, so it's totally legit.
- Sell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Most of you missing the fact that thats one hell of a deal $265 for a mod chip and 77 games *****!!!
- zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0
Seash! well they should have known better.
You cant give them the games if they dont buy the games from you.
What I would have done is put in a mod chip as well as a nice large 120 gig hd.
Give them a cd of file trading programs as well as a cool little client that lets you
drag and drop new game images right into the game directory on the xbox.
This little tool also lets you back up game disk you already have or rent
back to your pc for safe keeping or sharing with your friends.
But thats just me. - rohcky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Greed will always bite you in the ass. Just like those 5 kids who tried to sell 360s in the lot right after they bought them. Serves you idiots right.
- junkyinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hithiker90 get a solderless xenium chip with adapter, download docs..do it yourself.. simple.. bmmods.com :)
- xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@sell
haha, yea, what a bargain - Half-Fast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wonder if there is such a thing as "stupidity prison" for guys dumb enough to pre-load your chipped xbox with pirated games. Whoops....according to this article there just might be.
- cyburdine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I did the software mod and it works GREAT for streaming off the replay! I even supported MS by buying a used copy of Mech Assault to complete the mod install... all is good! It was so easy that I'm thinking of starting a business that... oh... jail time? never mind. ;)
Ironic that a MS product was one of the keys to defeating the security of another MS product.
justin
cyburdine.com - cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I wish that was true. But it's a DMCA violation isn't it? And a EULA violation, so you can get nailed in civil court too...unless i'm wrong?"
Actually, it would only be illegal to copy games with it, thus circumventing copy prtection. If all you do is mod it to add functionality, like XBox Media Center, then you're fine. Also, as long as you're not paying for the software to use on the mod chips it doesn't violate any software copyrights either since you already have paid to use the software. Its just a modified version. - C0D3R, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually, the Xbox modders were charged with conspiracy.
Conspiring to traffic in technology used to outwit a copyright protection system carries a maximum five year prison term and or a $500,000 fine.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ipmanual/06ipma.htm - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"There is nothing illegal about modding an Xbox."
I wish that was true. But it's a DMCA violation isn't it? And a EULA violation, so you can get nailed in civil court too...unless i'm wrong? - RichMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"it's not illegal to mod the xbox. MS has stated they won't go after anyone who mods or sells modded xboxes. BUT these guys were selling pirated games so that's different. modding your xbox itself basically kills your warranty and xbox Live experience, but you won't be arrested for it. it's the games, not the console." - quoted from xLiKx
sources, plz? - xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@richman
there was an article the the Official Xbox Magazine last year about it. they even linked a site in Singapore that sold modded Xboxes and said it's not illegal to mod or sell modded Xboxes. - xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0it's not illegal to mod the xbox. MS has stated they won't go after anyone who mods or sells modded xboxes. BUT these guys were selling pirated games so that's different. modding your xbox itself basically kills your warranty and xbox Live experience, but you won't be arrested for it. it's the games, not the console.
- alevel27mage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When I first said that "There is nothing illegal about modding an Xbox," (second comment), I meant modding w/ Cromwell BIOS (Which is all any smart, good modder does).
- wolrah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Back in that time, many modchips were not flashable, so they came with the hacked BIOS (containing MS code) preinstalled. That was illegal. All current chips come with Cromwell, FlashBIOS, or their own legal BIOS that usually only boots Linux and it's up to the user to add an "unsupported" BIOS if they want to play games on it.
- Kman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I see you've found pictures of my summer house.
- Siamak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting...
According to "ars technica" (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030409-388.html), even selling mod chips is illegal:
"David Rocci, former owner of the popular gaming website isonews.com, has been sentenced to 5 months in prison and fined $28,500 for selling Xbox mod chips. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act forbids the manufacture or sale of these chips as they can enable an Xbox to play pirated games." - vernsan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well the guys were stupid in the first place to put pirated games on the system, everyone knows thats a major no no. Installing hardware will void warrenty ofcourse, but also flashing the chip with a illegal bios will also be stupid, while putting a flashbios that enables the modchip to be flashed with any bios actually, its not illegal just enables a way to flash what you want on it.. They should of just installed the chip, hard drive, and just told the guy who bought it what to do or send them to www.xbox-scene.com and do the rest.
- BlueBlade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've always used http://www.how2xbox.com. It's a site explaining how to softmod the xbox, without having to open it up. Used it on both my Xbox's.
- terrya64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0MS shouldn't sell the xbox's at a loss. I will only buy a 360 if you can ever mod it. Sell it for a profit and at least they could make some cash from all the modders.
- Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Long live the Pc...modding and pirating away so suck on that xbox!!!
- mongocrush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Now I've read through all of these post and read some people say it illegal and some saying it's legal to sell moded Xboxes (not games or anything just a moded Xbox). So which one is it?
If it is illegal wouldn't that be like arresting a gun store owner because a gun "might" be used to kill someone. - velodave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Immigration??? Don't they have more important things to do?"
Read the second part of the name. Customs and Immigration got bunched together after 9/11. What these guys did falls under laws that the Customs guys enforce. - Stormcrier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Haha. A year or so ago, Popular Science did this great article about Xbox mods. Check it out online:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/95c70e0796b84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dangerous misinformation. Good one.
- Siamak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe things are different now in the States, but according to this 5 July 2005 article in Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050705-5061.html), in Europe, or UK at least, the mere act of modifying a console is illegal:
"Back in 2003, the UK adopted the European Union's Copyright Directive, which makes it illegal to bypass copy protection systems. Game consoles fall under the category of protected devices, so in the UK, the very act of adding a mod chip to an Xbox or PS2 is illegal."
And later in the same article, it seems that Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (elspa) agrees:
"It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in chipping consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt with accordingly"
and
"The modification of consoles is an activity that Elspa's anti-piracy team is prioritising. It is encouraging to see the UK courts do the same." - flakCannon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"it's not illegal to mod the xbox. MS has stated they won't go after anyone who mods or sells modded xboxs. BUT these guys were selling pirated games so that's different. modding your xbox itself basically kills your warranty and xbox Live experience, but you won't be arrested for it. it's the games, not the console."
He is on the money, absolutely right. I have a modded xbox, and have helped others get modded xboxs. Every person that I have delt with installs the chip, maybe the drive, and then says thats all he can do. The rest is up to me or the person getting the box. The software is easy found on the net, as well as many tutorials telling you what to do afterwards. These guys were dopes, end of story.
flakCannon
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www.format-c.us - SamLachance, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0no digg. the mod itself isnt illegal, it's the bios that is.
- IraqManiac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nice... I wish I could have gotten a hold of one of those, 77 games, wow
- tortan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0uh duh. same thing as selling warez. nothing wrong with modding your xbox, or selling an xbox that is modded. its about the warez on it.
- republicoftexas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"holy *****, felony conspiracy for selling a modded box. the world is really coming to an end."
Yes! Have you not noticed? - flakCannon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think selling it with preloaded games is where they messed up.
flakCannon
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