InsideTech

"I think this sucks ass, I'm a modded xbox1 user and microsoft basically forced me to be, I do this to play games I legally own. Just because you've modded consoles and resell them doesn't make it illegal I believe. I mean it's like Ford suing people who drive thier cars by modifying the engine for resale, (look out pimp my ride the car manufacturers are coming for you) I modded my xbox for anumber of legal reasons. 1, as mo0st know the DVD drives are shitful, so the only way I can play games I spent hundreds of dollars on is off the hard drive, so I had to back up my entire collection to a PC drive (a monumental effort considering how screwed the DVD drive. my only other option was to contact Microsoft, send away my xbox for possibly 6 months, get a new drive and be charged $200, and at the time that was a little less than a new xbox was) ther reason I really find this BS, is because they mention the modded consoles, I do not see anywhere about this guy pirating softwatre, it'd be diffetrent if they said "We found 500 burnt copies of Mirror's Edge to be sold" I mean by this logic should all computer owners be arrested? As 99% of us have an addon device, most like DVD and Blu-Ray burners? So doesn't that make us criminals as we can potentially burn games and movies? Isn't every computer technician who pgrades people computers and charge them for it as guilty as this guy then? Sorry as long as I am paying for something I'll do whatever I damn well please with it. After all it is MY property. What next? arresting ebayers and garage salers for on selling goods for a profit? Lost jobs? HA! Maybe if the CEO's of these companies earnt a realistic pay (I mean who really needs millions a year to live on?) and didn't take golden handshakes when the company goes to shit and they "retire" with millions, we wouldn't have this problem. Maybe if games were reduced in price also, I mean If you could buy a new release"offical" game for about the same as a movie instead of Paying $100AU people would be more inclined to stay legal, and as they'd sell more, they'd make the same money if not more, and piracy wouldn't be viable anymore. The industry needs to take responsibility for their own doings, as they are the ones who have created this situation.Shit, 10 years for modding a "toy" damn get people do less time for raping or wiping out a family while drink driving. Mental world we live in, and America is just gonna keep getting worse, and now my countries slowly following suit. But hey, what do we expect from a country that rewards you with millions for being to retarded to realiseafter all your life drinking it, that coffee may be hot and could scold you."

The real issue here is not that he modded his XBox but he modded several and was selling them already modded and was doing so for personal financial gain. Granted I personally think buying a product then modding it for additional functionality and then reselling it is a far cry from being an illegal activity unless your not paying your taxes. I don't see how this is pirating software unless he was preloading the modded systems with loads of games that were ripped from file sharing services. It all sounds like BS to me. Of course why not go after the companies that are selling the tools for modding and the software for interfacing with the copyrighted code. Still it all sounds like a big steaming pile of BS.

The biggest lawbreakers as it relates to pirating are in China and other Pacific Rim countries. If the US wants to make a dent in the 750,000 jobs lost and the $250B lost, then go after these other countries and stop their pirating of software, hardware, music, and movies.

For most of us out there that are hardware junkies, we want more functionality out of the products we purchase. For some they just can't figure out how to do it our selves and would have to find it though people like Mr. Crippen. I know that when I bought my Apple TV and plugged it in and realized I would have to either convert my entire collection to fit their proprietary container or purchase each piece of content from them all over again, or I could "mod" my Apple TV to be more forgiving with what file formats it would accept by adding functionality. Does that mean I am pirating and cutting people out of jobs and revenue? I don't think so. I have spent money on every Movie, TV Show, and Music album I have. I have also purchased each piece of hardware I own legally which means these companies receive their moneys. But with each thing that is purchased they all have something lacking that would require either a new piece of hardware to accomplish what your trying to do or adding the functionality to it.