British Modder Convicted Under New Law Options

[Xbox-Scene]

British Modder Convicted Under New Law Posted by XanTium | December 8 20:47 EST

From gamasutra.com: [QUOTE] In stark contrast to Wednesday's news that mod chips were to be formally legalized in Australia, British trade organization ELSPA has announced that a man in England has been sentenced to one hundred and twenty hours community service for running a "while you wait" modding service. The conviction was made at Carlisle Crown Court on the Scottish border, where Stephen Fitzgerald pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to "chipping" games consoles, contrary to the British Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (copyright circumvention offenses). He was ordered to pay £2,500 towards prosecution costs and subject of a Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) confiscation order for £2,710, to be paid by May 23rd or face three months in jail. Fitzgerald was picked up by Police, Cumbria Trading Standards and an ELSPA investigator in April 2004 when, trading as www.mods-and-sods.co.uk, he operated a stall at a computer fair held at the Swallow Hilltop Hotel in Carlisle, where he offered to modify PlayStation and Xbox consoles while people waited. His stall also offered and advertised for sale pre-chipped PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. [/QUOTE] [RM] gamasutra.com

[appleguru]

That... sucks :/

I wonder if he was offering to install pirated games/etc (My guess is no, given the relatively minor fines).. still.. not cool.

[sabbath_dude]

I was surprised to read this. I didn't know it was against the law to chip consoles in the UK . Pirating games yes but being fined and facing jail for simply fitting modchips doesn't seem right!. Its not illegal to buy and sell them so why should it be illegal to fit them?. I wonder if the law is as strict here in Scotland?. Doesn't put me off modding boxes though since it seems to have taken them a whole 2 years to convict him .

[Altima NEO]

They have stuff like this in Mexico too. However, no one seems to care about the law down there =P

[blakholephysics]

As much as I disagree with the law, I do think that modding consoles is a major concern for developers. Lost profit from pirates is a big problem. I wholeheartedly believe that it should be legal though.

Good luck to him.

[edwinmcdunlap]

That's too bad.

I don't see anything wrong with modding a console...

[quall]

At least he didn't get anything worse than 10k and 120 hours of service. If he was in the states, he would have probably got 150k, and 2 years in jail (yah the US is messed up like that).

[juan_2006]

That is terrible .... well good luck to the guy

[Dirvance]

Ugh what crap. In a minute regardless of what our rights are (which allow us one copy of any software we buy) we aren't gonna be able to crack open the box without fears of getting arrested. Can't get a region-free anything, can't get import consoles. Its like even though we have the money and the right to buy it...we can't get it or use it because they don't want us too :/

Us: Why can't all games and consoles be region free? Kinda wouldn't need to mod it if it was...

Companies: We are only protecting from certain content that might not be appropriate for you.

Us: Shouldn't i be able to make that decision? Ya know the whole freedom of choice thing...

Companies: No?!? i mean yes? kinda...hmmm Your kids could be playing your stuff without you knowing. We are only protecting the children!

Us: Yeah cause the worse thing my son could possible see in life is a tit....ooo the scars he would have /sarcasm

Companies: You still can't have mod chips though. Pirated ware is still going to cripple our industry and we will not allow it!

Us: Yeah cause look how the movie industry just collapsed after VHS won. You guys never recovered, VCR ftl /sarcasm

Companies: Are you being sarcastic with us? No Mod chips so there!!!

Us: You suck anyway...:/

[Sord_Fish]

Damn i remember buying a psone modchip off him at a computer fair a few years back.
hopefully installing a modchip to boot linux is still legal?

If any one asks i dont know how to use a soldering iron

This post has been edited by Sord_Fish: Dec 9 2006, 05:20 AM

[TheIrishLad]

Lost profit from pirates is a big problem.

Not everyone who mods an Xbox/Playstation is a pirate.

[scottmuller28]

I would say that everyone who gets a mod for xbox has at least have one illegal game on there system or disk. Only about 1% of people who mod ps2 would only play legit region free games the rest would pirate.

The news about Australia laws making it legal is not correct. Australia is still pushing these laws in the next couple of weeks.

This post has been edited by scottmuller28: Dec 9 2006, 06:02 AM

[Ninja Sniper X]

Not everyone who mods an Xbox/Playstation is a pirate.

True but most are pirates... Yarr...

[Awes0me Dude]

True but most are pirates... Yarr...

I agree, I would be hard pressed not to believe the vast majority of modders here don't pirate games.

And Dirvance, I disagree, I completely see developers and manufacturers not wanting you to mod their systems...they lose profit, plain and simple. People will pirate games, which equals lost revenue. Why wouldnt they want restricitons if you manufacture something for the sole purpose of making profit off of software, that some people may get for free? It's common sense.

This post has been edited by Awes0me Dude: Dec 9 2006, 06:22 AM

[epsilon72]

True but most are pirates... Yarr...

Yarr...