Man convicted for chipping Xbox in UK

balkieb2002

A man in the UK has been convicted of chipping and selling Xbox consoles through his website. The 22 year old is the first man in the UK to be convicted for modifying games consoles. He also fitted the new consoles with a 200GB HDD containing 80 games. He was sentenced to 140 hours community service in Caerphilly Magistrates Court in Wales. "This case sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy," said games industry spokesman Michael Rawlinson.

Since October 2003, modifying your gaming consoles with chips that can be used to bypass copy protection mechanisms has been illegal. Modchips can be soldered (usually - but "no solder" options can also be available) to the main board of the gaming consoles and not only allow you to play copied games, but also allow you to play import games. The man was tracked down by an investigator working with the UK games industry trade body, the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa).

He was selling his chipped consoles with the new hard drives containing 80 games for £380 (€561 - US$668). As well as his community service he must also pay £750 in costs. 38 hard disk drives, three computers, two printers and his three Xbox consoles were seized by Police also. "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," said Mr Rawlinson, deputy director general of Elspa. "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."

source BBC NEWS

i'd say he was convicted more of selling all those game with the illegal console then the actual chipping itself. good deal though

Cheeky monkey

he got aff realy easy

Prior Of Taize

Considering he lost ~4-5 grands worth of stuff (conservative figure) and he gets ~€500 per console chipped he is still finiancially better off than if he didnt do it at all...though any kind of criminal record sucks...

Sort of funny that "community service" and £750 is quoted as "a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy".


Also "It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved" now means that everyone realises they can get away with it and if they are caught all they have to do is cought up about 2% of what they already made to get away semi-free.....

Do they not realise that he might not legally even own a single xbox game never mind 80 of them???

monument

BTW this is not just not about the pirate 80 games, the act of chipping (your own or other people’s) consoles is now illegal.

Prior Of Taize wrote:

Sort of funny that "community service" and £750 is quoted as "a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy".

It’s a “major precedent” because of the above - part of his conviction is committing the unlawful act of chipping consoles - this is the first time (this part of) the EUCD law was tested in the UK.

KTRIC

Is it actually illegal in Ireland ???

CyberGhost

well why don't they "fix" slowness of PAL and I won't buy chipped consoles

Retr0gamer

Why don't the console manufacturers bring out a freeloader type disc. It was hugely successful on the Gamecube. Then the only reason for having a chipped console is to play copies. It gets rid of the gray areas.

Ciaran500

Why bother with regions at all?

monument

Retr0gamer wrote:

It gets rid of the gray areas.

No, the EUCD has got rid of any 'gray area', it just has yet to be tested in the Republic.

I’d imagine they’ll catch someone in Ireland in the same way they did in the UK – finding someone who is offering a console moding service vie the net.

CiaranC

This story has been repeated all over. The guy sold 80 pirated games with each xbox. He would have recieved a similar sentence if he was selling bootlegs out of the back of his car.

Do you think he would have recieved anything like that punishment if he was selling chipped boxes with no illegal software on them? I think not.

This is what happens when clueless journalists use industry sources to 'research' their stories - pure spin.

monument

CiaranC wrote:

Do you think he would have recieved anything like that punishment if he was selling chipped boxes with no illegal software on them? I think not.

And who has said he would have?

Retr0gamer

monument wrote:

No, the EUCD has got rid of any 'gray area', it just has yet to be tested in the Republic.

Well I'm not all that clued in on the EUCD but couldn't it backfire on them like with Sony in Australia. If somebody sells a chipped console with 80 games on the HD it's obvious that it's used for piracy but what about somebody who just has their console chipped to play imports?

monument

Retr0gamer wrote:

Well I'm not all that clued in on the EUCD but couldn't it backfire on them like with Sony in Australia. If somebody sells a chipped console with 80 games on the HD it's obvious that it's used for piracy but what about somebody who just has their console chipped to play imports?

EU Copyright Directive (EUCD) was put in place to harmonise copyright law in the EU. Yes, the results of the ‘good work’ of industries’ lobbies can be seen in it…

It ties up ‘grey areas’ like mod chips. And in theory it will make everyone buy “digital” music, as it makes other previously innocent acts such as copying your non-digital music (CD, tape etc) to a digital player or PC an illegal.

The part of the law that covers the end user [who mod their own consoles for import games, or copies their CDs to their PC for their own use etc], will most likely never be tested, not in the foreseeable future anyway. There’s a few reasons for this, it’s stupid in the sense that these people are paying for the games/music, the games/music industry could get a lot of back lash going after such people, and it’s just another ‘crime’ that’s near imposable to track. But I’d imagine this does make it easer to prosecute pirates, (larger) users of pirated games, and sellers of moded consoles.

Prior Of Taize

monument wrote:

BTW this is not just not about the pirate 80 games, the act of chipping (your own or other people’s) consoles is now illegal.



It’s a “major precedent” because of the above - part of his conviction is committing the unlawful act of chipping consoles - this is the first time (this part of) the EUCD law was tested in the UK.

FFS i am aware that they wanted to hang someone...i just found it funny that the full extent of the law was 750 quid and some hard labour..... :rolleyes:

Infini

CyberGhost wrote:

well why don't they "fix" slowness of PAL and I won't buy chipped consoles

Unless they remove regionalism altogether, I'll keep my chipped PS2 thank you very much.

monument

Prior Of Taize wrote:

FFS i am aware that they wanted to hang someone...i just found it funny that the full extent of the law was 750 quid and some hard labour..... :rolleyes:

FFS :rolleyes:

I was solely replying to your narky inclusion "a major precedent". Let me explain, the “major precedent" comment (taken in context) has little to do with the sentence handed down, it is in reference to the EUCD law which was partly used to secure a conviction, which now makes chipping a criminal offence, and is now a tried and tested law in the UK (inc Northern Ireland).

dearg_doom

Ciaran500 wrote:

Why bother with regions at all?

Exactly, are you listening SONY-san???

CiaranC

monument wrote:

And who has said he would have?

The article implies it.

monument

CiaranC wrote:

The article implies it.

Please, quote what part of the artical ìmplies that "he would have recieved anything like that punishment if he was selling chipped boxes with no illegal software".

BTW this would be my take on it… (not what I’d write in a news article, but in an opinion piece…)
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/online/archives/2005/07/05/chips_charge.html

Ciaran500

Ciaran500 wrote:

Why bother with regions at all?

Market control

ambro25

CyberGhost wrote:

well why don't they "fix" slowness of PAL and I won't buy chipped consoles.

That's lame - most games and/or consoles (thinking of XB here) now have a 60 Hz option, whereby you don't need NTSC/chips anymore, if refresh is your *only* motivation for a chipped console. :rolleyes: