Cambridge Grad Busted for Xbox Modding
And you thought there was no harm in pre-loading dozens of games onto an illegally modified machine.
Proving the adage that crime doesn't pay, a young man from Cambridge finds himself in a heap of trouble after being convicted for selling modified Xboxes via his Web site.
The 22-year-old Cambridge graduate had developed a new way of chipping Xboxes and was selling them with 200 GB hard drives preloaded with up to 80 games. He was caught by an investigator working for the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.
The man was convicted at Caerphilly Magistrates Court for violating the Copyright Directive, which makes it illegal to bypass copyright protection mechanisms. He was sentenced to 140 hours of community service, fines of £750 and was told to hand over his equipment.
ELSPA has been pushing for tougher action against those who pirate games. Earlier this month, the group busted a woman who had been selling counterfeit Game Boy Advance games via online auction site eBay.
But a recent study commissioned by ELSPA suggests that people are not concerned about the issue of piracy. The study also found that people did not think of downloading games illegally as something on par with stealing the game from a shop.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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