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 Post subject: modchip installers raided by ICE for DCMA violations
PostPosted: Wed 08-01-2007 8:58PM 
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Source: Fidelity
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070801/ap_ ... k0plus0NUE

its bullshit, the DCMA is stretching further and further.

I know a lot of good people affected by this and these arent big timers, making money, just hobbyists in their garages with soldering irons.

here is one story from a great guy in the scene:

FallsInc - When ICE hit me, they had a warrant for my grandma's house where I had all my packages sent. They had a picture of the house, and a description of it, meaning they were ready to come find me. When they were there, they didn't find much, since I hadn't had my computer and most modding stuff there for a while, but I continued to have the orders sent there for security of the packages. They went in the house and woke everyone up and watched them get dressed and started going though everything that was in my old room, and the stuff I had in the garage. They took anything that was related to gaming. They opened all the mail I had waiting for me there (which included someone's Xbox and $150 for a mod and 400gb), and took all the consoles and all console parts that I had stored there they even took my original xbox1 games, that were in retail cases. They took my 360, power brick and video cable, while its modded with xtreme 5.1b, it has never had 1 single burned game booted on it. They also felt it necessary to take all my old Xbox parts, mostly dead, my controllers for the 360 and Wii (?) and packed it in a box, and left.

They got my phone number from my grandma and they called me, but I was sleeping, just like everyone else in Ohio. They eventually figured out where I was, and came to find me at my girlfriends' house. They asked me about modding and what I did, and how I did it. They showed me the list of modchips that they collected, and asked me if I ever imported modchips from Canada. I told them I did, but I didn't know it was a Canadian site until after I made the order. They asked me how much money I made, and how many mods I've done, and how many chips I still had, and where they were and where my computers were.

I wasn't forced to turn over my stuff since they didn't have a warrant for where it all was, but they told me that if I volunteered it, it would look better when the case is reviewed. They also said that I would have a better chance of getting it back (at first, they promised that I would get it back in 10 days, but once we got to the location, that was changed to "better chance" and "looks better in the eyes of XX". I did the only thing I felt I could do, I let them take what they wanted. We went to where I had my workshop area. They took my laptop, and desktop, and the soldering iron (which was one of their main things to find for some reason). All the chips and relative parts were taken on the recommendation of the computer forensics guy who was to be doing the analysis on my things.

In their defense, the ICE people who came to my girlfriends house were nice people, and they tried to help me make the right decision. I knew they were just doing their job, but I have been out of work since early may, and modding is the only thing that was keeping me above water with the bills. Now I can't mod, and I can't even sell anything off to pay for bills either since it has all been confiscated due to a ludicrous interpretation of the DCMA. Now it's all said and done, and I just have to wait for them to decide what I did wrong, but while I'm waiting, I have NOTHING of any worth anymore, other than a computer monitor, and my car. Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter, and last night, I slept in my car and my girlfriend sent me a text message telling me it felt like someone was taking me away from her. They took my life away. I would like to formally thank Microsoft and Nintendo for cracking down on the little guy with a soldering iron in his garage, rather than going after the people that are responsible for the bootlegs being available.

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PostPosted: Thu 08-02-2007 3:25AM 
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thats gay.. stupid dmca

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PostPosted: Mon 08-20-2007 8:45PM 
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Source: Fidelity
Quote:
Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter,


Why?

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon 08-20-2007 9:35PM 
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Drowning
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not quite sure.....didnt understand that part myself

either way, still a shitty situation

using the DCMA in this case they are making a precedence for vague jurisdiction. They are saying since the chip CAN be used to break copyright law that it itself is illegal. This logic makes all dvd and cd burners illegal as they are obviously means of breaking digital copyright law.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon 08-20-2007 11:02PM 
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Source: Fidelity
Complete bullshit. Its your console, you should be able to do whatever the hell you want. Yeah, modchips may promote copyright infringement, but the entire internet promotes copyright infringement and we're not banning the internet now, are we?


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PostPosted: Mon 08-20-2007 11:06PM 
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LostBoyz wrote:
using the DCMA in this case they are making a precedence for vague jurisdiction. They are saying since the chip CAN be used to break copyright law that it itself is illegal. This logic makes all dvd and cd burners illegal as they are obviously means of breaking digital copyright law.


I think the main distinction between this and dvd/cd burners is that the mod chips themselves circumvent digital rights management (where the DMCA comes in). In the case of a cd/dvd burner, any circumvention would be done through the use of software as opposed to the burner itself. Also, note that one test of violations of the DMCA is: "has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title". CD/DVD burners have many significant purposes other than copyright circumvention... mod-chips, not so much.

Of course, it really doesn't make much sense to get into the "can be used illegally" argument... I figure that you could find an illegal use for any tangible item, and for most intangible items as well. As much as the DMCA sucks, it is the law, and was implemented to restrict the use of technologies designed to circumvent digital rights management. Regardless of whether or not mod-chips have legitimate uses (debatable), they are likely illegal under the DMCA. I say likely, because while it hasn't been tested too much in court, all recent signs have been pointing in that direction...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue 08-21-2007 6:40AM 
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Source: Fidelity
I am not saying there shouldnt be law for digital copyrights. I agree with that part. I dont like the government stretching a law to prosecute pretty much whoever they want.

Modchips have many legal purposes, such as running linux, making fair backups of games, playing import games, and running homebrew applications.

All the shops I am aware of that got raided were not found with anything that looked like the sale of pirated material. None of these guys were selling copies or filling peoples harddrives with games. They are guys in their garages with a soldering iron and a website. Sure the modchip CAN be used to circumvent security and used to break copyright law but that is after you: install the chip, flash a non linux based bios on it (stolen XDK), load some applications, then copy games. It is by no means out of the box ready to do anything more then run linux. If anything burners are more capable out of the box then they are.

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