What does the law state for modding?

sucks. I thought we were moving forward with the new Lite-on being cracked. Oh well, all good things always come to an end.

 

Get a real job. Become a family man.

 

yep. lol

 

that would be like selling a legal bong and throwing in the weed for free. might have a tough time explaining that one also...

 

Circumventing copy protection by any means is a crime in the USA as of 1998 when the DMCA was passed.

Whether your create that firmware or just use it, it is a crime. This has nothing to do with charging money for the service or not charging money. There is no grey area.

The situation with CDs and tapes is different because there is no copy protection on CDs and tapes.

That being said, there are TONS of people out there who violate the DMCA every day. A few of them get popped every year. Just don't be stupid and you'll be okay.

 

Not really if as stated above is a true statement. I think weed is a bad example comparing to a xbox mod.

 

How so? They are both illegal.

 

I think the modding got changed down the road. It seemed to be legal until recently. I actually always thought it was legal to mod your own console you bought. I think the world needs to concentrate on more important things than some kid modding consoles. I mean it's not like he made millions

 

It never got "changed down the road". It has never been legal to modify a console for the purpose of playing backups, even if the backups do happen to be legal.

And the world is still concentrating on more important crimes. It's not like law enforcment is dropping all it's other priorities. They now have the resources and teams to focus on hardware/software piracy. It's a multi billion dollar-a-year crime.

No. But surely he made hundreds. Now, multiply that by the tens-of-thousands of others who are modding consoles for cash.

That there is enough reason for The Man to start cracking down.

 

Anyone know if its illegal in the UK?

 

as far as i know UK is prolly less strict about it but has the same rules, UK, US, & CA all usually follow suite. The others, could care much less.

 

The only area where it might be a gray area in the U.S. is if you do it just for yourself. If you aren't profiting, and are doing it only for yourself, it would be tough for a solid case against you (although if it is just for you, I don't know how you would get caught in the first place).

The big thing is when you help someone else circumvent copy protection, regardless if it is for free or if they are paying you.

Cliffs notes version:

gray area = Doing it only for yourself and no profiting

Black area = doing it for others, regardless if you are getting paid.

 

Well, I wouldn't call it a grey area, but if you only mod your own console it's pretty dang hard to get caught.

 

I would call it a gray area because it really could go either way if it went to court.

But I agree, only way you could get caught is if you show it off.

Pride, probably one of the biggest reasons some people will get caught.

 

DMCA says circumventing copy protection for any reason, even for private use, is not legal. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

Of course you'd have to try very hard to get prosecuted for DMCA violations if all you have done is mod your own gaming console.

 

The way it was explained to me recently was:

softmodding (flashing) is 100% illegal, as you're altering copyrighted software on the machine to force it to act in a way unintended.

hardmodding (modchips) is borderline legal, because you don't alter any copyrighted material on the the machine. The modchip contains everything needed to circumvent protection, and is simply considered an add-on.

I'm no expert on this by any means, it just sounded pretty logical to me.

 

You bought the modchip and are using it to circumvent the copyrighted material.

 

I agree with andmill on this one. Of course I am not an expert, either.

By the way, andmill, is your screen name short for "Andy Millman" by any chance?

 

What i don't understand is if you bought your xbox you should be able to change or do whatever it is you want to do with it...you know?

its like buying a civic and dropping a prelude motor in it.. thats how i see it. Still drives but just goes faster.

the whole law just sucks. if they don't want us to mod then make it impossible. which the act of making something uncrackable is near impossible itself, but still.

 

I agree, for what it's worth. It's a stupid law. Hopefully one day it will go away, but I doubt it.

If it makes you feel any better, when the law was being passed in 1998, it was a huge deal. The gaming community came out big time against it at the time, and there were major blogs (before the word was coined) reporting on it. Basically everyone was calling it an end of the world type scenario. Obviously it wasn't the end of the world, but it still ended up being a real pain.