College Student Sentenced to 10 Years for Modifying Game Consoles

Oh wow, judging based on stereotypes. Does using stereotypes actually make you feel better about yourself? Making yourself so superior that anybody, especially gamers, are beneath you. Yes, let's paint a picture of them as these "fat, smelly, & lazy" people who do nothing productive in their lives.

I just love it when people like to rant about something they ABSOLUTELY KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT.

Also, your pathetic attempt of an analogy to the situation doesn't even work. It can easily be turned around to people who mod video games. Team Fortress 1 is a mod, Counter Strike is a mod, etc. Whoops, I guess they should have been sentenced to prison too right? Oh well, darn them for being hired by the companies that made the original games (Half Life is the original game for both).

And looking at it from another point, 10 YEARS IN PRISON WITH RAPISTS, MURDERS, AND GANG MEMBERS IS BEYOND EXCESSIVE. But nooo, the corporate companies want to make an example of a few good people and sent them to PRISONS, may I emphasize again, RAPISTS, MURDERS,AND GANG MEMBERS. Let's think about this shall we? Person that modified a console? Person that killed his neighbor? Hmmm, I wonder who should be sent to prison? It's not that hard. I'll give you 3 tries.

As always, people like you go RAWR RAWR RAWR when the lack of understanding is apparent. And of course, resorting to "All gamers are just these fat, lazy, unproductive, smelly, and ugly people." stereotype is about the most basic understanding you got. Good for you, you like to follow stereotypes. Says a lot about you doesn't it?

hmmm, well anglcazn does not appear to fall anywhere near that "ugly" part, quite the opposite really ... and unproductive.... ok well, read this

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4685909/

or you could google "surgeons play video games" and read any one of the other 292M articles.

So yeah... anglcazn, I would not feed the troll, it is not really worth it.

But 10 years compared to 1 year for a guy who rapes a kid? Don't you think there's something extremely wrong with that, DESPITE the legal and copy right issues?

You seem like the type whom likes to throw around stereotypes sir. Please keep your argument within the bounds of non-bias and non-stereotype splatter or else not only is your argument moot, but it also show your lack of intellect.

Sorry to bring this into the real world for you, but you are going wildly overboard with accusations based on the ability to solder, kind of along the lines of the GW Bush administration's if you smoke marijuana you support terrorism commercials.

This person modded a console to play back up versions of games, is it illegal? probably, but lumping him in with identity thieves and "government hacking" is insane! There is virtually no correlation between the knowledge it takes to mod a console and the ability to hack into government facilities or the crime of identity theft! You assume way too much with nothing but wild guesses and paranoia for evidence! and the "i doubt the 10 years is all for his action, but mainly a preventative course of action." comment is just more proof you have no idea what you are talking about! The guy has not even been sentenced, yet you already have him imprisoned for 10 years to prevent him from being a terrorist hacking into government facilities and stealing identities!!! WOW! This article has certainly brought out the extremes in people's views of the government's roll in our society!

That GW comparison was pretty legitamite guy, and generally when someone is playing a devils advocate... well, I will not get into, if you really were trying to play a devils advocate you should avoid doing so in the future, you are no good at it.

Yeah, no one fought those in court either, except that one lady recently, but she made a bad case, I would have fired those lawyers the first time they opened their mouths... unfortunately she set a bad precedence and it will have to go to appeals court pretty much strait off on all music downloading charges... regardless, people are scared of the man... the man has a lot to proveif you stick it to him though.

heh, I replied to the wrong post... screw it...

I'm unclear then to how this would fall under the law as the stated purpose of these x-box mods by the accused was not to gain access to unauthorized copyrighted materials, but to to allow for the lawful act of accessing back up discs of the authorized/bought copyrighted material.

"Since copying of a work may be a fair use under appropriate circumstances, section 1201 does not prohibit the act of circumventing a technological measure that prevents copying."
-Also page 4 of the DMCA (great citation btw)

So the question is, if the manufacturer designs block fair use of back up discs with the same element that blocks access to pirated discs . . . wouldn't the user be in the right to remove that element under the fair use principal? Wouldn't use and intent of use become paramount in determining the legality of these mods?

Score, I think you get the genius of the week... maybe of the decade award... that is perfect, I mean absolutely perfect. Someone contact this guy with this.

I think it’s very difficult to make assumptions based on these few articles. We haven’t heard the accused person’s side yet (NYT tried to get in contact). We hardly know what he actually did. There is too little information.

But lucidstone you could be right. IF the element, which blocks back up discs, is also responsible for blocking pirated discs, then he could rest upon this, as long as his primary intent wasn’t to alter the consoles for playing pirated discs. But as far as we know at the moment, this was his purpose. And is the same element responsible for that?

I don’t know how it’s in the U.S, but if you are in possession of copied games, which aren’t originally from your, a family members’ or a friend’s purchase, it counts as piracy, as long as the usage of them aren’t for private purposes. At least in Switzerland, but this will change soon.

So I prefer we should wait for updates.

Crippen, in a telephone interview with Threat Level, said the purpose of the jailbreaking was not for illegal piracy, but to allow patrons to use decrypted copies of their own DRM-laden gaming software. The DMCA, however, is not on his side, especially because he is accused of profiting from his hacks.

“This if for your legally made backups. If you’re talking about piracy, I’m not helping you out,” he said.

With the Xbox360, he said, “It’s a given that any game will be scratched in that system. ”

Excerpt from: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/game-console-jailbreaking-arrest/
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As for the declared intent of the accused, it wasn't hypothetical. Wired got him on the phone and that is his declared position. If he is telling the truth, then I'd imagine that it would "have" to be the same element that is blocking piracy that is also blocking fair use practices . . . "IF" he's telling the truth.

Otherwise it wouldn't add up, it couldn't be separate elements if his real intent was to unlock access to back up discs.

The possible defense I suggested was more of a question than statement. As I'm not a lawyer I was really just looking to hear a counter argument to see whatever holes there might be in my logic.

Also, this defense would completely and entirely crumble apart if the 2 undercover agents have the accused talking about piracy on record.

[edit: I imagine that this Crippen will have a lawyer that knows more about this than i do (at least I hope so), but nonetheless i reposted this question of possible valid defense on Wired's comment page. Like any human he should be periodically checking the website he gave an interview for, so he should see it and make use of it if it is in fact valid. I'm still waiting for someone to drop the other shoe, I mean it can't be that easy to find the proper defense can it? There's got to be something I'm missing.]

Maybe, maybe not, sometimes all it takes to find a solution to a problem is to ask someone that does not know that much on the subject, they can look at it more objectively sometimes... then again it might not hold as you said... only time will tell.

I completely agree with you lucid. I don’t see any holes in your logic. But somehow this whole thing is weird. As he said in the interview, he provided his services to two undercover agents. Why would they arrest him, if he didn’t do anything illegal? Of course the legal system isn’t perfect and a lot of mistakes had happened in the past, but I don’t know – very suspicious situation. Either Entertainment Software Association, which gave the tip to the ICE, is trying something out or Crippen’s intent was indeed illegal.

Are there any updates?

Shows how money is literally worth more than the life of a child. . .

1 year for raping a girl, 10 years for modding a console...

Which is telling our society to assault and rape girls instead of recreating and reconfiguring technology.

Way to go, legal system.

Reverse engineering is legal in the United States,

Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corporation

Look it up, reverse engineering was declared legal in 1999

Man, that sucks. You can not build a device to circumvent it... but you can build an identical device that is missing that part... for the purposes they intended that is actually very well written... not good news for the guy being prosecuted though... could be great news for someone who wants to go through the effort of doing that and thinks they can make a profit.

That bill seriously obfuscates the fair use clause, I am not a lawyer or politician, but I have read my fair share of bills and legal documents, and I have never seen the verbage "in certain circumstances" before. That is freaking crazy and leaves a ton of room for a zillion interpretations... can not say I like it, it very obviously would fall more in favor of the corporation.

Seems to me that the only way to work this one is to challenge the legality of that bill... good luck on that... I say sell one to someone in another state and scream interstate commerce... Kinda flimsy but the supreme court tends to historically like that one.

What would you do?

Did it stop the kid that got cained for graffiti in Singapore? no, it did not, he did it again and got the cain again.

Aside from that any punishment at all for this is stupid, after you buy it, it is yours to do with as you please.

really games are seriously overpriced takes them like 5 dollars to make the dam dvd

technoghost1, The DVD doesn't cover the whole cost... its also cost of development that the developers are trying to cover.

Uh... No you cannot buy the modified consoles from Hong Kong... Pirated games? Yes. Modified consoles? NO

technically to play those pirated games from Hong Kong you need a modded console, so basically both are NO, because it would be usless to buy the game.

reminds me of the whole suing-a-lady-for-millions for downloading music..hmmm

You both are right on the money with your statements! At least the woman who was sued for millions was told she was being made an example of. I think this kid must have dropped to the floor in shock when he was sentenced!

word up!

well put..

I like your idea

"American Drug War: The Last White Hope"

Check out this Docu

the drug war is B.S.

THIS... IS... AMERICA!!!(Kicks random Conservative down a well)

THIS IS GAME TOWN!!!!

I heard Canada is beautiful :)

Instead of being defeatist, we could work to change the laws, no?

Just because you're a dissenter doesn't mean you should pack up and leave. What if Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc. packed up and "moved to (insert country name)"?

Spoon2013, do you work for CIC?

I think you ought to disclose it, if you are.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp

I came here to say what alexander_supertramp said. These laws are made by men and thus can be changed by men.

Must be cooking heroin in that spoon to be so out of touch.

Damn, I wish I had said that instead. Well put, magnusdeus.

No I was becoming completely serious for people like you to move... This man knowingly broke a law to aide others in their breaking of the laws. Stealing countless dollars from the creators of software (other games) and while some of you still think that faceless cooperations deserve to be stolen from most of us don't.

Laws like that are put into place for a reason. He knew he was breaking the law, didn't care, and did it anyway.

I'm no where near Canadian...
Not a defeatist I seriously just wish that people like him and those who are outraged by his conviction would leave this country to be rid of more criminals (and supporters)

It's not about his conviction. He is clearly guilty. It's the principle of justice that the punishment should fit the crime. You clearly are not very well educated or you would understand this legal concept. Maybe you should move to Canada, too. The US doesn't need any more ignorance.

That and corporations thrive by giving their products away to consumers every day of the week, look at Redhat Linux, Sun Micro Systems (Java, OpenOffice, etc), Mozilla, this is a very long list... things like this copy protection lead to what we call excessive profit... corporate survival and there payed for laws, hah.

To further the dibocle, the law here known as the "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998" found here

http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

~thank you settler

forces manufacturers to include copyright protection modules such as the one being circumvented by this guy... and as lucidstone pointed out really violates the fair use clause... which is also a law in the United States. Laws are made by humans and can be changed by humans. Protecting laws that are designed to do nothing but protect corporations is self deprecating. Laws that provide for the well being of humans both physically and mentally... those are the natural laws... this law... this is BS.

Obviously the law isn't bs and the punishment does fit the crime... This is why we have checks and balances perhaps you should both take a 9th grade civics class.

When I went to high school we had what they called "The Citizenship Test" that didn't measure how good a citizen you were but your knowledge of government.

Thanks :-)

Something else you should have learned in civics class in High School, Spoon, is that America has a long history of unjust laws and policies that were changed by people who fought hard.

13 minutes to late, that was almost exactly what I was going to say there flyingkick.. good work... well that and he must have failed that test...

Clearly you did not pay attention in Civics Class. As I stated in an earlier post, there are terrible laws still on the books from previous centuries, there are revised laws every year that are found to be flawed or even unconstitutional, so just because something is a law does not make it right, the sentencing guidelines for hundreds of laws are reviewed and changed every year. there are laws removed from both federal and state statutes every year.

If you want to pretend we all live in a black and white world you are entitled to have that fantasy. But the truth and facts for the rest of us is the punishment does not always fit the crime. In some cases, laws are passed under pressure, or even as part of a bargaining process. BUT above all else if you want to close your eyes and let the government be your guide and master you are free to do so, but there is not a single person that should leave this country if they do not agree with the laws here, we are free to try to change laws, do you even remember civics class?? If anyone should leave this country it is people who blindly follow their government, and I guess no one here has made it more clear they do not understand how the USA works than you, you more than anyone else that has posted, do not belong in this country. This country was not founded on the principles of the government knows what is best for you, and we MUST never blindly follow the government as they certainly do not have the citizen's best interest in mind when they are passing some laws, laws are often created that are later repealed for being unconstitutional. So again you can repeat your chant over and over again but it does not make it moral, correct, or even ethical just because it is a law. So if you want to blindly obey the government, you should move to North Korea, a communist country where the government tells you what is right and what is wrong and the people have no say, no influence, and no rights. You seem to follow those rules very well and believe we all should do the same.

Here in America, if you were actually paying attention during civics class, you would know our laws can be changed to reflect the wants and needs of the citizens, and that we are always right to question our government. To think otherwise is foolish and extremely dangerous.

Clearly I've stated a reasonable case which you would choose to ignore the future criminals of the world that you are.
Yes there are many "unjust" laws that remain on the book and for some reason aren't enforced but if someone got a while hair up their ass to do so you'd be held liable...
I'm sorry to say for this young man that ignorance of the law isn't an excuse... and leave it at that...

If you feel this strong as it seems you all do, perhaps you should gather your troops and go protest his conviction....

Definitely failed that civics class... the only way to challenge a law is to well, challenge it and do what it says not to do.

Shall we start referencing cases for you? I mean because the ummm what was the word, oh yes, precedence for THIS IS HOW THE F*** THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAS LEGAL SYSTEM WORKS is umm quite extensive...

That fact is that you are flat wrong, people who have never ever agreed about something on this message board before are agreeing and telling you you are wrong, this astounding that you continue to hold to these ridiculous convictions. Absolutely flabbergasttingly astounding.

Agreed, unfair punishment. Modifying a game console does not fit into the category of pedophiles, murder or transportation of assault weapons.

I'm pretty sure a trip to jail and a large fine would have scared the student enough not to do it again.

But 10 years in prison? Really?

Completely agree.