Judge Bars ‘Fair Use’ Defense in Xbox Modding Trial

[MilesColtrane]

A California man charged with violating the DMCA by installing mod chips in Xbox 360 consoles won’t be allowed to claim “fair use” at his scheduled jury trial next week, a federal judge ruled Tuesday — a decision potentially devastating to the defense, and not particularly favorable to anyone who thinks they have the right to tinker with hardware that they’ve bought and paid for.

Matthew Crippen, 28, faces three years in prison on two allegations of violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for financial gain. Crippen, whose from Anaheim, allegedly had a business modding Xbox 360s for between $60 and $80 a pop, allowing the consoles to run pirated games or unapproved homebrew software. He was indicted after allegedly performing the silicon surgery for an undercover corporate security investigator with the Entertainment Software Association, then again for an undercover federal agent.

His trial is set to begin on November 30 in Los Angeles, and would be the first federal criminal prosecution for console-modding to reach a jury.

more:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/crippen/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

[glen123098]

1. When you buy a product, shouldn't you be able to do with it what you want with it?

When you buy an Xbox its yours. If you want to mod it, why can't you? Why do the corporations have a right to say what you can do with your own stuff?

[Better Today]

3. Though I think it's wrong to charge him, I think it isn't for modding his own

as much as it's for modding others' for profit.

[ET Awful]

4. In this case he wasn't doing it to his own, he was doing it for others, for money.

Basically, he was offering a means for others to violate copyrights and gaining from it financially.

You certainly CAN mod your own Xbox. What you can't do is modify them for others for profit. You also can not offer the materials to circumvent copyright protections.

Do I agree with the law? Nope.

I just think people need to know what the case actually involves instead of spreading misinformation about it.

[qazplm]

5. you can

what you can't do is mod it to run pirated aka illegal stuff and then sell it and make a profit off it.

I'm generally not a fan of modern day copyright law but quite frankly I don't see any issue with the criminality of what this guy did, now I don't think he should go to jail over it, but it's pretty clear he's violating the law IMO.

[TheBigotBasher]

7. No you buy a license to use it.

[TheWatcher]

2. But if he was a War Criminal, he would get The Medal Of Freedom.

[FiveGoodMen]

8. So true

:grr:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. Plastic surgeons do modding for profit, they add parts and they

take parts away... hmmmm.

[Riftaxe]

9. The catch is that he used

the Modified gaming platform online. Violating the contract he agreed to.