The end of mod-chips as we know it?

[Alpha]

Just a few days ago, mod-chip sellers were raided by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Because of this, even Team-Xecuter, leader in XBOX and XBOX 360 mod-chips, have thrown in the towel and will no longer be making products for the industry. This could only be the beginning.

 

Federal agents have carried out a series of raids against individuals and businesses in 16 states as part of an investigation into the distribution and sale of mod chips. Dubbed "Operation Tangled Web", the 32 search warrants were executed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from 22 offices, with assistance from the gaming industry.

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* Modder faces jail time after raid turns up counterfeit games, mod chips

* Mod chip seller hit with million-dollar damages

 

Those targeted by Operation Tangled Web are accused of direct involvement with the console-modding community, including those engaging in the import, distribution, sale, and installation of mod chips for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The ICE was the lead agency in the raids due to its responsibility for keeping counterfeit and pirated goods off of US store shelves.

 

The raids come in the wake of the arrest of a San Diego resident for selling pirated games and modded consoles. Frederick Brown was arrested in late June by the San Diego Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Unit after advertising his services on Craigslist and other web sites.

 

"Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections," said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in a statement. "These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering."

 

Despite Myers' assertion that mod chips are created for the sole purpose of subverting copyright, the truth is that they are popular with gamers for a number of reasons—some of which arise from frustrations related to fair use. Mod chips extend the functionality of the consoles, allowing gamers to load full games onto hard drives (making it easier to lug one's favorite games to a friend's house), use the consoles as media centers, and play homebrew content. In contrast, the hardware companies and the Entertainment Software Association can't stand them because they can also be used to play pirated discs; that's the rationale given by the ICE for the raids.

 

In a statement released this afternoon, the ESA applauded the crackdown. "Enforcement initiatives of this scope send a clear message to both the public and pirate community that this illegal activity will not be tolerated," said ESA president Michael Gallagher. The ESA estimates its total worldwide losses due to piracy at $3 billion annually. Those numbers should be taken with a large grain of sodium chloride, as actual losses from piracy are notoriously hard to assess, and the software industry is not above inflating its piracy-related losses.

 

Those arrested could be charged with violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, specifically its provisions dealing with the circumvention of copy-protection controls. Although the raids won't wipe out the modding community, it is likely to drive sales of mod chips further underground—especially since some storefront retail operations were targeted in the raids.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070...wide-raids.html

[Lucandrake]

Assholes, they don't even know why mod-chips are really important, they just care that companies 'loose' moneys (Which are 'legit') companies somehow added into their calculations yet never really received.

[Alpha]

I found some more information,

 

Here are some of the resellers that were hit by the bust:

 

otbmods, norcalmods, micromods, teammodders, and appleguru

 

Also, you can see pictures of the items taken straight from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement:

 

http://newsstory343.notlong.com/

[Diso]

Can't say that we didn't see these raids coming. I'm not sure what mod chips can do nowadays besides playing pirated games so I can see why they would do this.

[Mooney]

This raises the argument that we should be able to do whatever we want to the consoles we buy yet again.

 

But hey, now I know which modchips are the best. I mean, if the government is grabbing them, they MUST be good!

[Lucandrake]

to bad you won't be able to buy em anymore eh mooney?

[Mooney]

to bad you won't be able to buy em anymore eh mooney?

Hopefully some online shops will still have them...

[Wizard]

to bad you won't be able to buy em anymore eh mooney?

Hopefully some online shops will still have them...

Order from Canada :V

[olaf]

Yeah, these aren't the mod-chips of the old days... they come with flashy instructions and boast being really easy to install even for morons. Some don't even require soldering, etc. etc. -- so yeah, that's going to be a problem because more people can pirate games easier and that's going to set off f*ckloads of alarms... and it has.

[Ahmad89]

Well this is one way microsoft and sony can make up thier losses from their faulty systems, sue the modders!!

[LoRd_SnOw]

I find this to be rediculous and unfair. As mooney mentioned we should have the right to do whatever we want to our own consoles. I find it to be more unfair that people who buy modchips within the US have something to worry about now and that would be getting raid...

Edited August 3, 2007 by Gabriel

[Robert]

With Sony shutting down all the downgraders, and now m$ attacking modders, it seems there is a concerted campaign going on.

 

At least here in Australia, it is legal to mod your console to get around region restrictions. If it happens to do other things as well...

[Mooney]

With Sony shutting down all the downgraders, and now m$ attacking modders, it seems there is a concerted campaign going on.

 

At least here in Australia, it is legal to mod your console to get around region restrictions. If it happens to do other things as well...

God damn, I'm moving to Australia. Yes, Australia. Screw Canada. Yes. Screw it.

[Robert]

Source

Raid casualty comes forward to tell his story

>> HSD - Hours before the raids were news and broadcast across the net and the mass media, an XS member (FallsInc) tried to warn those of us in the inner circle that the noose was about to tighten around US Modchip shops. In all honesty many amongst us didn't give too much credence to the tip. Those of us running this site aren't running Modchip shops. To our Utter shock and dismay, hours later we watched as one shop after another in the US market either went down, stopped answering the phones and stopped taking orders. Shops, big and small across 16 states were raided, and had modding, piracy, and alot of unrelated goods and materials confiscated under the wide brush strokes of the DCMA.

 

The following is a firsthand account, written in his own words of the last 24 or so hours in the life of FallInc.

 

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.

 

HSD - Xbox-Scene and it's affiliate sites do not condone or endorse piracy, however we do strive to discuss, educate, and explore methods of modifying and operating game consoles in ways not originally intended or envisioned by the manufacturers. We whole heartedly believe in the right to backup your investment. This act in and of itself isn't legal in many jurisdictions. Running a "modchip" store, site or service in many jurisdictions isn't legal. XS advises that anyone, regardless of country you are in take the time to educate yourselves on what is legal, and not legal in your jurisdiction. FallsInc wasn't some large modchip site or service. He was an individual making a few coins on the side. While his story won't be the last we'll hear about the raids, we do encourage everyone reading, especially those in the US to take the time and the measures necessary to ensure that you won't be in the next batch of raids.

 

This isn't JUST a problem for the United States. Europe isn't exempt from the broad strokes of the bloated DCMA legislation. Europe in 2001 passed the EU copyright Directive which has many similarities to the DCMA. There are many good resources on the net about the DCMA and the EUCD. Wikipedia is a good start Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

 

I'd like to thank FallsInc for coming forward and sharing his story with us.

 

It demonstrates once again, the obvious, that the entire purpose of the U.S. govt is to make the rich richer, and take away any remaining rights of the rest of you.

 

Next thing, it will become illegal to have your car modified. It's entirely outrageous that you cannot have your own possesions altered if you so desired.

 

It's about time some country had the guts to defy the US, and become a haven for those who wish to be able to do whatever harmless activity they want.

 

And it's because of the so-called threat of "terrorism", most likely a U.S. plot, to give the govt an excuse to do all these criminal acts.

[Ahmad89]

Whats funny about this is ALL they sell in Palestine is modded systems and burned games. Thier is probably not even one system that is not modded or one original game (other than those owned by the shop of course).

 

I can see why they are cracking down on those people. The gaming industry does loose money no matter how you look at it (except if you choose to look with one eye). However like what someone said on this site some time ago, If I choose to turn my toaster into a radio i should be able to. It went something like that. Money is Money, Yours isnt yours, deal with it in the US and the countries soon to come. Their is no way to stop them.