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Calif. Men Guilty of Xbox Modding

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

May 11, 2006, 12:31 PM

Two California men will plead guilty to charges that they participated in a conspiracy to modify Xbox consoles so they could play pirated video games. Jason Jones and Jonathan Bryant, owners of the ACME Game store in Los Angeles, were selling the consoles for anywhere from $225 to $500 USD.

The posh store counts among its customers Snoop Dogg and actor David Arquette. Pricing on the modded Xboxes depended on what changes was made to the console. However, Jones still denies the charges, and says the store would remain open, possibly moving to a bigger location.

"I don't know how to modify a [expletive] Xbox," he told Reuters from the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. He said he settled to get the case behind him, and said that his customers have been extremely supportive.

A third named in the December complaint against the company, Pei Cai, has failed to show up for any court appearances and is considered a fugitive.

Cai would pick up the non-modified systems, make the necessary changes such as installing a special chip and larger hard drive, then return them to the store so that Jones and Bryant could sell the consoles, according to prosecutors.

Jones is scheduled for sentencing on August 7. If sentenced to the maximum penalty, he could serve up to five years in prison and be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution.

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By The Great Ho

edited May 14, 2006 - 1:23 AM

I can hardly wait until this utter nonsense of you can't modify and then sell a machine to enter into the automotive world. Now that ware wuold be something to watch.
And as far as the supposed contracts forced upon the buyer or any electronic "machine" those don't really hold water since the end user has to ability to negotiate or modify the agrement, makaing it not an agreement but instead a forced upon one sided demand and that ain't legal just like the "contract" you find on the back of tickets, the courts declared those void years ago, but people still print them. Frack the corporations, in the end it all depends on finding an honest Judge and a jury that is allowed to hear all the evidence and see the law, for few know that a Jury can declare a law invalide, yes they can.

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 12, 2006 - 12:15 AM

Yet more evidence that corporation-as-government is tyrannical.

Score: 0

By elftyrrell

edited May 13, 2006 - 8:31 AM

zridling: Well put. Corporations have become defacto governments - they own most of the politicians. Yet they have no discretion or sense of scale and seem to pursue every little 'infraction' as though it were capital murder.

Score: 0

By SorenMD

posted May 11, 2006 - 4:55 PM

I have 3 modded consoles.

Come git me!

Score: 0

By spiked

posted May 11, 2006 - 9:26 PM

Nobody was prosecuted for HAVING modded consoles. The article clearly states that these guys "were selling the consoles."

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted May 11, 2006 - 3:11 PM

It's just like a tobacco store. You can sell pipes, but as soon as anyone says the word "ganja", they can be arrested. If it's a "tobacco accessory", it's legal.

Same here. You can get a mod-chip. You can get a console. But putting them together and selling them is problem under DMCA.

It's roughly equivalent to selling a cd burner and blank discs. Horrific.

Given how loud my 360 disc drive is, I wish I could put the games on the drive...

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited May 11, 2006 - 3:37 PM

"It's roughly equivalent to selling a cd burner and blank discs. Horrific."

I'm not sure I see the problem with that. In fact they do sell them that way. Retail CD-Burners often come with some blank CDs or DVDs. I do understand your point though. :)

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted May 11, 2006 - 10:20 PM

Hopefully you found my sarcasm...

Score: 0

By M.Sweazey

edited May 12, 2006 - 6:01 AM

Score: 0

By doubleshot

posted May 11, 2006 - 7:37 PM

although, moding the console is no illegal as when you buy a peice of hardware you can modify it any way you please. Selling the two together is the problem. To get around this, you can sell the console, the chip, and then the service to install the mod chip ;)

Score: 0

By rijp

posted May 11, 2006 - 2:14 PM

... yeah who was it yesterday that said "I will be hacking the PS3 anyway..."

Well read this article, and tell me you are still interested in hacking it...

Score: 0

By The Man

posted May 12, 2006 - 1:32 PM

you bet!

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted May 11, 2006 - 9:48 PM

Still interested.

As long as I ain't selling it... all I did was void the warranty.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted May 11, 2006 - 2:54 PM

shlt, if you do a search of craiglist, you see million of posts to mod your console. there are tons of info on the web that teach you how to mod. you can even buy the mod chip online.

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited May 11, 2006 - 2:35 PM

What's wrong, did they scare you? These guys got in trouble because they have a very large store that was modifying and selling the consoles, not exactly under the radar you could say. Regular schmoes at home who modify their console have nothing to worry about. If you start selling them for profit on the other hand then you are asking for trouble. So yes, I'd say people are still interested. If I bought an xbox or any other console I'd modify it if I wanted too; they can take the DMCA and shove it.

Score: 0

By altern8energy

edited May 11, 2006 - 1:31 PM

this is the biggest crock of BS I have ever seen. who gives a flying frick if someone is pirating video games with modified game consoles. how about going after big oil that's anally raping us through high gas prices when there is absoultely no oil crisis. Venezuela is paying 12 cents a gallon for gas.... Exxon has made 36 billion this year in the first quarter and a CEO just got a 400 million retirement package, yet we have the Feds going after petty little crimes like pirating games.. geezus what a joke...

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted May 11, 2006 - 3:00 PM

It's not a joke. If you read enough, you will realize their is only 1 industry in the oil get protection from the country. The oil industry. Many countries around the world send their military to protect the oil companies so they can profit from it.

What make US different than the rest of the world? The vice president is the CEO of Halliburton. The CEO president is current frozen until his return. The president himself and his family are close allies with middle easy, and probably own interest in them too.

Score: 0

By rijp

posted May 11, 2006 - 2:21 PM

You aren't getting it. Its not your box to hack. Its a device you buy and AGREE to use how the manufacturer INTENDED. Don't you people ever read anything?

You can't own an Xbox and pretend you didn't see the license agreement. You need to read more, and quit whining.

venezuela isn't paying 12 cents a gallon for gas, you dunderhead, the WHOLE world is getting jacked for gas. You want to move to Europe? They are paying 7-8 dollars per gallon of gas..

I am not defending Exxon, they are crooks, but 36 billion, do the math, the CEO get's a percentage of the profit.. which is equal to 400 million. That is 0.011% of TOTAL revenue. Not sure what profit was, but 400 million is huge, but its a SMALL percentage of the overall profit, that's how business works....

Every CEO has some bonus package, its called a perk. When the company is doing well, the CEO gets most of the credit, but when the company gets bad and things go awry, guess who is first to be pointed at? The CEO.

They take a lot of heat.. If you have a job, I dare you to go up to your CEO, and tell him he doesn't deserve a bonus when the company does well, if he doesn't put you in your place, I would be very surprised..

400 million is a lot of money, but the CEO is only 1 person, there is another group responsible for the company direction, they are called the board of directors.. the CEO is THEIR personal b****, that's why he was hired in the FIRST place.

Score: 0

By The Man

edited May 12, 2006 - 2:27 PM

i can do whatever i please with my electronics as long as they remain mine. i understand the terms of purchased equipment, and the warranty i void when i crack the case. the only time that differs, is with satallite dish receivers
(which bind you to a contract).

what i can't do, is buy a piece of electronics (tv, dvd player, game console, etc.), modify it, and sell it.

reason being, i have now compromised the integrity of that piece of electronics, and with another companies name on it, they could be held responsible.

but this post was more about setting up units to perform illegal activities and advertizing them as such.

i won't sell mine ;-)

"You aren't getting it. Its not your box to hack. Its a device you buy and AGREE to use how the manufacturer INTENDED. Don't you people ever read anything?"

that's not a binding contract, it's just a suggestion to avoid legal claims of fires or personal injury.

think a little eh!

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 12, 2006 - 12:19 AM

rijp, I love you man, but is there anything you won't defend as long as the government sanctions it? When the conservatives hand over the internet to the corporations who will in turn quadruple your access fees, will you defend that, too?

The US government has become the Chinese government and conservatives freely defend the daily erosion of their own rights.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted May 11, 2006 - 9:48 PM

You may be right...

...but I'm still gonna mod my stuff.

I just won't sell it. ;)

(Helps to have a a brain)

Score: 0

By dwaterman

edited May 11, 2006 - 6:29 PM

...and I expected him to understand the difference between two word definitions?

You can modify the console all you want and probably not even get in trouble for modifying it and then selling it. The problem is in making the console play illegally copied games and then selling it.

Score: 0

By altern8energy

posted May 11, 2006 - 3:44 PM

listen..you're an idiot... first off Venezuela is paying 12 cents a gallon. go look it up on Reuters news. secondly, screw the license agreement!!! corporations screw people over way more than the individual does to the corporation. this whole piracy issue is a load of BS!! ever notice the RIAA and MPAA and all these other organizations don't go after the major power hitters that are promoting the piracy?? You never hear about them going after usenet news server owners for holding terabytes of binaries on their servers... And don't give me this $hit that they can't control the content..
I know some popular bit torrent sites that when you do IP traces they end up in Redmond, WA.. They have trackers holding hundreds of terrabytes of pirated material and what does the RIAA and MPAA do?? Go after the end user.. WTF??? Also, the end user doesn't make the modchips that are enabling XBOX, PS2, and even soon the 360 to play backups or pirated copies of games. If M$ and game developers didn't charge out the a$$ for games, people wouldn't pirate. I personally can't wait til Devil360 comes out with their 360 hack so I can screw the corporation for making me pay $60-70 for a damn game.

Score: 0

By kungfubeer

posted May 12, 2006 - 9:03 AM

Reguarding Venezuela.....

Venezuela's gas subsidy is the subject of endless grumbling by economists who say it promotes waste and costs the state billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Critics say the subsidy largely benefits middle and upper-class vehicle owners at the expense of government income that could be spent on the poor.

"They call it the 'Hood Robin' subsidy," said Jose Luis Cordeiro, a petroleum engineer who writes about energy issues. "Instead of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, it's the opposite."

He estimates Venezuela would have taken in at least an additional $8.81-billion last year -- almost 8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product -- if Venezuelans had paid market rates for fuel.

The subsidy also encourages rampant fuel smuggling to neighbouring Colombia and leads to huge lines of Brazilian drivers waiting to fill up along the southern border. But past efforts to raise gas prices have not gone well. Authorities in 1989 raised fuel prices at the height of a recession, leading to three days of rioting during which at least 300 people were killed. Human rights groups say troops may have killed several thousand people.

Gas around the globe

Gasoline prices have soared around the world, but not in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, where oil is produced by state-owned companies and fuel prices are kept low by governments. Prices are in Canadian dollars and cents per litre.

Canada: $1.04

United States: 79¢

Belgium: $1.77

Netherlands: $1.96

Norway: $2.09

Germany: $1.73

U.K.: $1.78

France: $1.68

Italy: $1.72

India: $1.08

Saudi Arabia: 26¢

South Africa: 98¢

Australia: $1.09

Brazil: $1.34

Venezuela: 3.5¢

China: 63¢

Japan*: $1.11

Posted 5/12/06

http://www.theglobeandma...tory/TPBusiness/America/

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted May 11, 2006 - 2:31 PM

so you're telling me that if i buy and xbox and hammer it to pieces, im risking to get sued because nowhere in the manual said that i should hit it or brake it ???
Is MY xbox and i paid for it, i can use it in any way i want and wish. even if i want to take parts out of it and use them somewhere else....
The difference is that those idiots were profiting from it.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

edited May 11, 2006 - 3:02 PM

Rijp is wrong about this--it does require you to use as intended to have any support or warrenty, but not legally requires. To add to what you said...well, use it how you wish unless it breaks other laws or regulations. Sadamm "supposedly" used those PS2 consoles and took out the processors to be used in self-guided missiles. THAT is illegal!

Microsoft despite whatever efforts they use cannot legally bind you to use as directed unless it breaks compliance with FCC regulations or you do it to make a profit. Selling a modded XBox could be considered profiting off of Microsoft's intellectual property, and therefore can (and likely will) be won in court.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted May 12, 2006 - 8:43 AM

well technically that would be illegal if it was america, but since that was iraq and it has its own government they didnt really have to listen to other countries laws. although they did get invaded and taken over, still doesnt mean the chips in the missle thing was illegal

Score: 0

By Das mod

edited May 11, 2006 - 6:01 PM

nicely said
well agreed

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited May 11, 2006 - 2:33 PM

"Its a device you buy and AGREE to use how the manufacturer INTENDED."

LOL, I do no such thing. When you buy a console I don't recall them making you sign any agreements. Once I buy it and take it home I'll do whatever I feel like with it. You're confusing intellectual property with physical property. I can't modify the software and sale it, true. But when I buy the console, I OWN the console. I can turn it into a toaster or tear the guts out and built a PC into it, I can set it on fire and dance around it if I want.

Score: 0

By The Man

posted May 12, 2006 - 7:58 PM

lol, i'll have to try that ;-)

Score: 0

By rgrah

posted May 11, 2006 - 10:10 PM

When you buy the console you have signed the contract stating you will abid by the rules of the manufacturer's agreement to you. If you had to sign for everything you bought dollar stores would be bankrupt trying to supply all that paper. Yes sir that pack of gum must be chewed by someone over the age of 6. Please sign here...

Score: 0

By dougthor42

posted May 11, 2006 - 1:36 PM

Fools... you're not supposed to SELL them after you mod them :-P

Score: 0

By AngeIDust

posted May 11, 2006 - 1:41 PM

Why not?

Score: 0

By Banquo

edited May 11, 2006 - 3:54 PM

Because there are draconian laws called the DMCA that makes it illegal to bypass any form of copy protection for any reason (even to make backups of movies you own). If you modify your console and then offer it for sale you're just asking for it, at least in this country. Modify it at home and keep it for yourself for your own personal use and there's nothing to worry about. There are legitimate uses for mod chips too, but it's still against the law. :)

Score: 0

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