Man convicted for chipping Xbox
 

Man convicted for chipping Xbox


A 22-year-old man has become the first person in the UK to be convicted for modifying a video games console.
The Cambridge graduate was sentenced at Caerphilly Magistrates' Court to 140 hours of community service.
The Xbox was fitted with a 200GB hard drive packed with games


full story here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4650225.stm

"The man was sentenced to 140 hours community service and ordered to pay £750 in costs. The court also seized his equipment - three PCs, two printers, three Xbox consoles and 38 hard drives. "

and theeen they follow up with this ridiculous paragraph.

("It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in chipping consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt with accordingly," said Mr Rawlinson, deputy director general of Elspa.)

is it just me or does this seem idiotic to anyone else..
The guy barely got a slap on the hand if that. Any idiot profiting from the sale of that much pirated crap deserves a little jail time.. Hell at least a year.
For christ's sake he could pay that fine with the money he got from selling 2 of the boxes for which he was selling at £380 a shot. The only thing he suffered was the money he lost on the seized equipment!
Does anyone else think this guy would've gone down a lot harder in the USA?

I posted the exact same thing in another forum. This guy got off with a 14 year olds punishment. I mean, community service? What a joke.

yeah it is kind of silly. They come down so hard on modchips alone yet this guy is selling, installing the chip as well as 80 pirated games. I bet Charlie_PS2 feels raped.

Maybe this guy has some "close friends", if you know what I mean.

Guys like these are the reason chipping gets a bad rep... There are a lot of users out there that chip, uses legal backups or use it to run homebrew games/apps/linux and then comes this jerk. Wtf are you thinking if you chip, switch hdd (so far it is good I say) and then fills it with 80 games (thats where its gotten baaaad)?

Well....If you think about it....Come on....Jail Time???? People get caught with more DRUGS than you could fit in an xbox and they get off with suspended sentences, Com. Serv., and even first offense programs!!!! A guy in our area just got caught with drugs and a gun and he got off witht 250 com serv. and it was apparrently his 2nd offense????? I agree that he was an idiot for selling the boxs with games....I love the ebay boxes out there........UPGRADED XBOX FOR SALE.....50 games....Great Deal......haha.....I take piece of mind that my real copies are in my closet and my backups are all over my kids room....What's that.....a scratch...No problem......

Eric.. While you have a point.. The fact that the legal system is horrible doesn't really change the fact that the punishment should've been harsher.. Sure murderers only get probation but they SHOULD get at least life.. 2 Wrongs don't make a right is the closest I can get to rebutting that view point.

[QUOTE=Neipas02][B] Any idiot profiting from the sale of that much pirated crap deserves a little jail time.. Hell at least a year.QUOTE]

I agree but this is not what he got arrested for. He got arrested for chipping an XBOX or more specifically from the article, "Under that directive, it is illegal to circumvent copy protection systems."

The selling of the stuff is just what got him caught.

[QUOTE=tonydead]Obviously that's correct, but then again I never said that's "WHAT HE GOT ARRESTED FOR".. I said that's why he "DESERVES A LITTLE JAIL TIME".

It was more of a personal view point.. And now that you touched on it.. I would've rather sent a man to prison for getting rich off of stolen goods than have sent a simple ordinary Joe installing a chip for what it was intended for... Backing up his expensive ass software to protect his investment.

Yeah, he got busted for the wrong offence. In my eyes if you purchase a console you should be able to do with it what you want to. Be it installing a chip or getting mad and busting it into a million pieces :D .

Well said Warlock, and that is my point.

I think most everyone that visits these forums, any of them to do with DVD technology, agrees similarily with that viewpoint. Yet everyone wanted this guy to be punished and serve time......but for what?

He was busted for installing a chip and copying games, not selling them. The laws, this particular one at least, isn't worded they way we woul like them.

I can guarantee you he'd rather do time in jail than 140hrs community service which can only be done at a rate of 4 hours per week so will be hanging over him for 8 months.

A 2 week sentence with parole & tagging would have seen him released by the w/end!

I seriously doubt that.. I could do community service standing on my head even if it took forever to complete.. Rather that then getting a new boyfriend/cellmate I didn't want to begin with.

Uk jails are soft as shiite, most peeps have a better life inside than out!