[olug] [ot] not sure on the details

[Will Langford]

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Matthew Botts <mbotts00 at gmail.com> wrote:

> That's the way M$ runs. I don't know if he was pirating games yet or not.
> By
> the way I'm sorry!
> On Dec 1, 2010 11:08 PM, "Chad Homan" <choman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > not sure on all the details, but at first glance this has now gone too
> far
> >
>
> http://digg.com/news/technology/student_faces_three_years_in_prison_for_modifying_xbox_360
> >
> > again, I have not read deep into this yet. Just getting it in front of
> > everyone else
> >
> > Chad, CISSP
>

Matt: He was providing a service to people to install these mod chips.  He
wasn't just doing it to his own systems.

It's refreshing to hear an update to this case.  I was somewhat curious how
things had turned out.

The linked digg article (
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/student-prison-xbox-mod-chip/ ) does
cover a few of the more interesting facets of the case. The mentions of
copyright law possibly not being the right vehicle choice by the plaintiffs
is interesting.

I've not fully decided how I feel about mod chip stuffs, but I'd be heavily
inclined to say that mod chips in of themselves aren't evil... nor is
providing a service to install them.  I can modify just about any piece of
equipment I own (hammers, cars, firearms, computers, lawn mowers, etc) ...
and there are usually some regulations to follow ... but... I *can* modify
them.  It's what I possibly do with them after they're modified that
determines if they're legal or not (obvious exceptions to making a rifle or
pistol fully auto etc).

-Will