[ALL] Xbox Modder gets 3 years?

[manchild24]

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/01/5561705-xbox-modder-could-spend-three-years-in-prison?gt1=43001

[PP]

Hope the jury shoots this down but sounds like the judge selected a bunch of old people so this kid is fucked.

[jms493]

Thief!!!

[MrBill]

Unless they have evidence of him selling pirated games, the case will get thrown out on appeal even if the old folks convict him. If you buy a console, you own the console and can do anything you want with it. It's when you choose to profit directly or indirectly from pirated software that you get into a legal bind.

[jms493]

Unless they have evidence of him selling pirated games, the case will get thrown out on appeal even if the old folks convict him. If you buy a console, you own the console and can do anything you want with it. It's when you choose to profit directly or indirectly from pirated software that you get into a legal bind.

I guess the case is he is getting paid to modify Xboxs for the purpose of playing pirated software....yeah could get thrown out with a slap on the wrist.

He isn't actually selling anything that is stolen..........unless he loaded the Xboxs with games.

[MrBill]

I guess the case is he is getting paid to modify Xboxs for the purpose of playing pirated software....yeah could get thrown out with a slap on the wrist.

He isn't actually selling anything that is stolen..........unless he loaded the Xboxs with games.

That is a slippery slope for the legal system though. They have to prove that his intent was was defraud game developers and not just use his 360 as a media center or homebrew game system. Unless they have evidence of him selling games, they don't really have a big case.

[padman59]

Unless they have evidence of him selling pirated games, the case will get thrown out on appeal even if the old folks convict him. If you buy a console, you own the console and can do anything you want with it. It's when you choose to profit directly or indirectly from pirated software that you get into a legal bind.

That's what I think would happen. Unless he is found to be selling pirated stuff or directly promoting piracy (advising people where to get pirated games, etc.), he'll probably get a fine at most. I can't imagine he'd serve time otherwise.

[leaffan]

lol I loved this:

In an interview with Wired, Crippen said he tweaked the consoles not for illegal piracy purposes but to let gamers use decrypted copies of their own gaming software, suggesting that because the Xbox 360 has been known to scratch discs players might need to use a backup copy.

Rofl.

[MrBill]

lol I loved this:

In an interview with Wired, Crippen said he tweaked the consoles not for illegal piracy purposes but to let gamers use decrypted copies of their own gaming software, suggesting that because the Xbox 360 has been known to scratch discs players might need to use a backup copy.

Rofl.

Wikipedia: Xbox 360 Technical Problems

Almost at the same time the Xbox 360 was released in late 2005, customers began reporting rounded scratches found on discs used in their Xbox 360 consoles. Almost two years later, in February 2007, the website "The Llamma's Adventures" investigated the matter and concluded that some Xbox 360 drives lack a mechanism to secure the disc solidly in place. Tilting or moving consoles with these drives, when operating with a disc spinning inside, can potentially cause damage to the disc, in some cases rendering the disc unusable. Discs have also been scratched by stationary consoles during normal use. One side of the disc can also be scratched by the disc tray if it malfunctions by closing with the disc in an odd position. Also, technical engineers already knew about the problem before release confirm this with Microsoft with a list of solutions.[citation needed] According to Microsoft, decreasing the disk rotation would take too much time to load a game and bumpers in the disk tray would cost 25 cents per console—a total of about 11 million dollars and a delay of the Xbox release. In 2005, they were accused of many technical Xbox 360 problems and a poor lack of solutions and warranty.[citation needed] According to reports in news media the new Xbox 360 S still scratches disks when the console is moved while spinning the disk, however the 360 S ships with a sticker informing owners that moving the console while powered on risks this.

[JBregz]

Sucks to be him.

[padman59]

In part of the ToS, it says you may not modify any of the 360 software. Basically, you DO own the 360, but you don't own the software, so it's illegal to modify without consent from M$.

Though it's an extremely stupid rule set in place and this will most definitely get thrown out, M$ will continue to harass with their shitty ToS. Don't want your shit fucked with? Don't sell it. Better yet, don't sell a broken console and expect people to keep the shit legit.

Is modding necessarily illegal though? My impression is that violating the ToS will only void your warranty on the console.

[padman59]

The case was dismissed.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/crippen-dismissed/

[MrBill]

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez had blasted the prosecution’s case Wednesday, prompting a brief recess for prosecutors to decide whether they would forge ahead. The prosecution’s decision to continue would come back to haunt them as the government’s first witness ultimately unraveled their case.

Witness No. 1, Tony Rosario, was an undercover agent with the Entertainment Software Association who told jurors Wednesday that he paid Crippen $60 in 2008 to modify an Xbox, and secretly videotaped the operation. Rosario had responded to Crippen’s advertisement on the internet, and met Crippen at his Anaheim house.

All of that had been laid out in pre-trial motions. But during his testimony, Rosario also said Crippen inserted a pirated video game into the console to verify that the hack worked. That was a new detail that helped the government meet an obligation imposed by the judge that very morning, when Gutierrez ruled that the government had to prove Crippen knew he was breaking the law by modding Xboxes.

But nowhere in Rosario’s reports or sworn declarations was it mentioned that Crippen put a pirated game into the console. Shortly before Rosario’s testimony during opening statements, defense attorney Koren Bell told jurors that there would be no evidence of that kind.

Defense attorney Callie Steele objected to the new testimony. And as court was to get underway here early Thursday, prosecutor Chiu told the judge that he first learned of Rosario’s newfound recollection days before trial. Chiu conceded he never forwarded that information to the defense.

“That fact was disclosed on Sunday,” Chiu told the judge. “We should have disclosed that to the defense right away.”

In light of that omission and “based on fairness and justice,” Chiu moved to dismiss the case, conceding that the government had made errors in its prosecution.

So basically it was exactly what I said. The judge told the prosecution that without a hacked game involved that they didn't have a case and miraculously the material witness suddenly remembered that the defendant had tested it with a hacked game and the defense attorney jumped on it as a change to previous testimony.

What a waste of taxpayer resources

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Losing a 60$ game to a scratch sucks..Mod and backups FTW.