TechTV Xbox Modding Rescheduled

[Bond]

Here's the article. (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,24330,3420925,00.html) Read at your own risk I suppose, I think what they are doing is illegal. Probably why the event was rescheduled. It seems to be rather controversial, I know Microsoft is fairly unhappy about it.

Any thoughts?

[Jonbo298]

This is gonna be good. I wish I could see them do it step by step. I've never seen video of a fully modded XBox running say Linux (which has been done :p) or modding it enough to have a keyboard/mouse and have an actual functioning PC. But keep bringing the links as soon as they post more news on their progress. I want to see.

[gekko]

It's not illegal to mod the Xbox, or tell anyone how to. You bought it, you can do what you want with it.

Pirating software is illegal, but having the ability to isn't. You can import, run your own software, use it for parts, it's your choice.

Microsoft may tell you its illegal. Mod chip companies can get sued because mod chips promote the use of pirated software, similar how Napster isn't illegal, but it promotes illegal activity. Microsoft would likely say modding it's illegal, just how most companies will tell you that making backups of your software is illegal. But according to US law, you have every right to backup your software, music, movies, etc. But of course, distributing it is illegal.

[Bond]

Originally posted by gekko
It's not illegal to mod the Xbox, or tell anyone how to. You bought it, you can do what you want with it.

Pirating software is illegal, but having the ability to isn't. You can import, run your own software, use it for parts, it's your choice.

Microsoft may tell you its illegal. Mod chip companies can get sued because mod chips promote the use of pirated software, similar how Napster isn't illegal, but it promotes illegal activity. Microsoft would likely say modding it's illegal, just how most companies will tell you that making backups of your software is illegal. But according to US law, you have every right to backup your software, music, movies, etc. But of course, distributing it is illegal.
Some guy said this at the TeamXbox forums:

Because the only way to get the Xbox to boot is to use a cracked existing BIOS - which is illegal, because it's property of Microsoft and you can't distribute it. Also, it opens the doors to playing pirated games - which is undoubtedly illegal.

I suppose he is basically saying what you are saying, but you didn't bring up the 'cracked existing BIOS.' Want to clear that up? :D

Sorry, I'm not up to date on my (il)legal activity.

[bobcat]

Microsoft stuffed up big time. but it's their first time in the console industry, I'm sure they'll learn from their mistakes for next time. Not to put every conceivable thing (especially when it's Pc Architecture) into a console without rethinking it's anti piracy policies.

I know for a fact that people are replacing their HDD's with 120GB ones and copying games. The funny thing is the HDD isn't locked to that particular Xbox, but the CD ROM Drive is. So you can't change the CD ROM drive, but you can easily change the HDD. I don't understand this.

And I've also seen how it can be connected to a Pc through crossover cable. You can FTP games to a pc and burn to DVD even. It's pretty bad. Coz the Xbox has an ethernet card, it has TCP/Ip. So you can imagine what can be done.

People in my street are getting it done (as my friend knows how to mod them). And it's huge all ova the net, bigger than you might think.

The main reason why I wanted it done is for importing, but I think if you mod your Xbox, you may get problems with Xbox Live :unsure:

[gekko]

Originally posted by Bond
Some guy said this at the TeamXbox forums:

I suppose he is basically saying what you are saying, but you didn't bring up the 'cracked existing BIOS.' Want to clear that up? :D

Sorry, I'm not up to date on my (il)legal activity.

Basically, why they say it is illegal is because they took the code from the Microsoft BIOS and altered it for their use. The problem is that they took copyrighted material, altered it, and then sold it. Big no-no. If you wrote the BIOS from scratch, such as some of the Linux versions, they are legal. But most mod-chips take the Xbox version (leaked by some developer), and then alter it, and distribute it.

Now if you make your own BIOS, you can install it. And if you somehow got ahold of the BIOS and altered it, you could install that as well. Distributing it is illegal, since it's not your source code, and Microsoft didn't give you permission to distribute it. That's why a lot of the time when you buy mod-chips, you have to flash the BIOS yourself. It's like selling you a machine gun, it's not illegal until you put it together.

Now where everything gets complicated is whether or not the BIOS is considered a copyrighted piece of software, and whether or not possession of it is illegal. Also whether it is legal to distribute a cracked BIOS for non-profit, or if it's illegal to distribute at all.

You have every right to crack, or reproduce any software you own. If you create an idential version of Windows only stable, it's legal. If Russia gives you a top-secret computer and you want to crack the encryption, you can. Distributing stuff is where it gets confusing, and its even worse when it comes down to whether you have the right to own it or not. You need to find out whether the BIOS is considered software, and then whether or not it is legal for you to own an altered version of software you already own. That is something you need a lawyer for, because there is no clear cut law on the matter.

But in the end, Microsoft does not lose any money by you owning a cracked BIOS. And since they are not losing money by you having it, they sure as hell won't be spending money to make you get rid of it.