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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:31
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I've never heard of or seen what he's talking about, but it's certainly possible.
It's certainly not the case that I was lying, so **** yourself.
This is how it worked as far as I knew: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28180.html
quote:
Microsoft's campaign against Xbox mod chips has ratcheted up a notch with the launch of the Xbox Live online gaming service. According to a posting at Got Mod?, (there's a site that's going to be pretty concerned about the issue) the company is attempting to detect mod chips when users connect, then placing them on a banned list - forever.
If this really is the case then it means we're already seeing how unique hardware IDs could be used in anger by certain companies. Because it's the unique ID of the Xbox that's claimed to go onto the banned list.
The Got Mod? poster says that after persistent connectivity problems (which we hear exist for people who don't have mod chips fitted too) he called up the support line and confessed to a rep that he'd modded his Xbox. The rep seems to have been equally upfront; he said he'd been issued with an 'idiot sheet' (these exist in practically all front line support callcentres) intended to deal with questions in this area.
He explained that the mod chip is detected when you connect to Xbox Live, and that your machine's ID is then read, and added to a banned list. Even if you remove the mod chip, he said, your machine cannot be unbanned, as it's Microsoft's belief that it can never be seen as trustworthy again.
Which is actually reasonable, if you were to start from Microsoft's premise that banning mod chips is reasonable. An earlier posting at Got Mod? suggests that it's possible to run a mod chip provided it's one that can be switched off, and provided of course that you remember to switch it off before you connect. So if you're the sort of person who mods, then no doubt you'd be the sort of person who'd move to modding with a switch, if you heard that worked.
This posting also includes information that can be viewed as a cautionary tale about the evils of automatic online updates. On initial connect to Xbox Live an update is downloaded, and this includes the software that detects the mod chip. Note also that the posting claims frequent connect failures for machines that haven't been chipped as well.
It's not at this point clear whether these failures are in any way collateral damage of an anti mod chip campaign. The Microsoft rep, however, said that the company's actions weren't being taken because of piracy; the primary concern is to "sell a 'fair' service to normal people." If people use mod chips to cheat, then ordinary people will be less likely to sign up. |
and http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/se...20270193,00.htm
and http://www.infosatellite.com/news/2...02xboxlive.html
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optimus2861
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Halifax, NS
Nov 2000
time: 01:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Asher
Read the license -- it's not your property, and it certainly is illegal as it breaks the terms of use that you agreed to when you opened the box. |
Bullshit, Asher. Complete, utter, FUD-induced MS bullshit, that has no backing in any property or commercial law.
First of all, your use of the word "illegal" is completely wrong; it implies "criminal". The EULA is a contract, not a law, and there's nothing illegal or criminal about breaking a contract.
Second, what property and/or commercial law states that the moment I pay for a piece of hardware from the retailer, the previous owner of the hardware, who previously had bought & paid for that hardware from the wholesaler, that I do not become the sole owner of that hardware, assuming all the risk of loss of that hardware?
A commercial transaction that involves a one-time payment and a perpetual transfer of risk of loss of property is for all legal intents and purposes, a sale. Microsoft has no standing to redefine commercial transactions that they don't even partake in as something other than a sale of property. Even if they attempted to enforce the "no reverse engineering" provision of the license against someone hacking the box in the privacy of their own home, there's absolutely no basis to award damages on. My hacking of an XBox (I don't even own one, let's get that out of the way) does not in any way harm Microsoft's ability to sell the XBox. Hence no damages, hence no case.
Now distribution of any hacks I make, or even the means of how to hack, if it can be demonstrated that they'd harm MS's potential market, can be something to award damages on. If it's a more serious infringement of copyrighted MS material (i.e. distributing the contents of XBox's BIOS/ROM/whatever the hell it runs on), it may even be illegal and open the door to criminal proceedings if the authorities are so inclined (if there is no "fair use" defense of the copyright infringement). But there's no precedent whatsoever, no law whatsoever, that allows a corporation to dictate to consumers what they're allowed and not allowed to do with their private property. (Except maybe provisions in that damn DMCA. Thank goodness it don't apply in Canada  ) Corporations can certainly waive liability if certain things are done to their products (i.e. refuse to fix your TV if you throw a hammer through it  ), but that's a separate issue.
Hypothetical counter-example to prove this point: if a pair of jeans were to come with a "license" that says you haven't purchased those jeans, only a "license to wear" and you can't cut them into shorts after you buy them, would that be enforceable? Exact same principle -- vendor attempting to set limits on what you can & can't do with your property after you've purchased it.
This "you only buy a license" fallacy is bad enough for software sales; but it's even more lunatic when applied to hardware. IANAL, but it's pretty easy to see through FUD-BS when you have even a basic grasp of the applicable laws (and you're not an MS zealot  ).
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15-10-2003 04:19
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