California Student Arrested For Console Hacking

[wraggster]

Matthew Crippen was arrested yesterday for hacking game consoles (for profit) in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He was released on a $5,000 bond, but faces up to 10 years in prison. This is terribly disturbing to me; a man could lose 10 years of his freedom for providing the service of altering hardware. He could well lose much of his freedom for providing a modicum of it to others. There is no piracy going on, necessarily — the games a modified console could run may simply not be signed by the vendor. It's much like jailbreaking an iPhone. But it seems because he is disabling a 'circumvention device' it is a criminal issue. Guess it's time to kick a few dollars over to the EFF

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/08/04/1319221/California-Student-Arrested-For-Console-Hacking

[fpcreator2000]

Wtf?!

[osgeld]

for profit

[NoQuarter]

Selling modding services IMHO is not immoral, as long as he is not providing bootleg games. What about clustering university projects that used modchips? They're not getting harassed.

[ComixSans]

I'm sure we all hope he doesn't get convicted... even if you think what he did should be a crime (and i don't) any prison sentence, let alone at ten year one!! would be a terrible, unjustified and deeply unethical cruelty against a normal student.

but i cant see that happening the judge would have to be a fool.

[Eviltaco64]

I don't see a problem in taking a couple bucks for hacking a console. Especially if it's a hard mod.

[Anger]

someone tell him to go out and murder someone - he will get a lesser sentence :-) its pathetic that you can be banged up for 10 years for providing a service yet murderers get maybe 2-3 years on good behaviour. anyone else think this is ****ed up?

[Eviltaco64]

Yeah. Crazy arsen bitch that burnt down our garage a few months ago and made terroristic threats may be getting out soon.

Don't you dare mod an Xbox, though!

[osgeld]

someone tell him to go out and murder someone - he will get a lesser sentence :-) its pathetic that you can be banged up for 10 years for providing a service yet murderers get maybe 2-3 years on good behaviour. anyone else think this is ****ed up?

no one says that he wont be out in a few weeks or months on the same terms

Murder in the us is 25 to LIFE, before good behavior and blah blah blah so if you can reduce 25 to life to 3 years by being a kiss up, some blue color vacation should be reduced to maybe max 2 months if they are not a complete retard

course we already know they are a complete retard, sofar they have attracted enough attention to themselves to warrant an investigation where they were proven without a doubt to do 2 counts, and make freakin international headlines

maybe next he can start broadcasting meth commercials on primetime tv, either way its one less desperate for attention wanna be bad boy wasting classroom space for people with a real future

[retrorom]

This is just ridiculous... I don't expect anything else from the american legal system… or just in general the legal system.

I never underestimate the stupidity of humanity, because stories like these prove it over and over again.

Ah whatever, I just hope the guy will be fine

[vatomalo]

I give 100% right to Retro rom, and add that this is capitalism in its true forms, ohh and about the dude saying he will get off for good behavior in about 2 months or so, well he never should have been there in the first place! ohh and about pirating and downloading, here in Norway we have no such law, or no one enforces it, and then comes a company from the US and takes our internet provider to court!

now that's free country for you!

[XDelusion]

You know... it was under Bill Clinton's reign that this constitutional violation was put into place. I don't think Clinton was the actual brain child behind it, just as Obama is not the brain child behind many of the things he him self supports, but...

Anyhow, the point being is that this is EVIL. If they are going to send people to jail for merely hacking hardware, imagine what they will do in the future when man will need to hack technology just to have a voice in the repressive face of Big Brother/Sister!

They are tying our hands and yet the masses do not see...

...certainly we are entering into a reality where 1984 and Brave New World are the blue print.

[kojiro7]

why they dont go to arrest any drug dealers or sellers.....

[VampDude]

Haha, that's just bad luck...

I've actually thought of buying pre-owned Wii's and then enabling homebrew (or just downgrading) then re-selling on eBay at a profit or a loss depending on if people wish to play homebrew related applications but have no idea how to set it up themselves.

[dcdood]

i can see i guy giving away Free bootlegs at a dirt cheap price being illegal!

what was illegal, doing it or doing it for money?

[VampDude]

i can see i guy giving away Free bootlegs at a dirt cheap price being illegal!

Homebrew - Not illegal, mainly because many people wish to code for their consoles but don't have the experience to be employed by the big companies... But much of the homebrew is for emulators, which allows people to play older games that they cannot otherwise play because many of the older games weren't released on a large scale as today's games and some classics can be quite expensive.

Piracy/Bootlegs - Illegal, because copying is stealing and selling stolen property is an offence which can later rely on a fine.

People often get the two mixed, or don't know the difference... I think you don't know the difference?


what was illegal, doing it or doing it for money?

Doing it (modifying a console) - Not illegal, unless the reasons are for piracy.

For money - Also not illegal... But rather than money, I would rather trade for another service (or an item) as no cash trades hands thus making it not illegal to modify someone else's console. Personally I've modified two consoles other than my own, but not for money though I received thanks which is enough. :cool:

[XDelusion]

Copyright helped destroy the mom and pop business, not to mention drive in the cheaply built over produced factor. We don't need it.