UK bans PlayStation 'chipping'

I think it was legal to do it to your playstation (and probably still is, I mean you bought it and surely you can do what you want with it) But actually selling the chips was a grey area which has now been shown as illegal.
 
UK can't control their borders or smuggling let alone stop hooky chips coming in to chip boards.

Chipping is not allowed, like has that stopped anyone? NO!

Stories like that waste man hours and bandwidth, the BBC are full of endless bull**** anyway, so hence, duh@them.
 
Oh no.. something is illegal.. Like that will stop it from happening. Eejits. :D
 
Shaddap!.. Just because the Aussie courts have more sense than ours :p :D
 
In the High Court, Mr Justice Laddie ruled that Mr Ball was acting illegally in selling the chips which get around the built-in copy protection system on Sony's console...However, in Italy a judge threw out Sony's case saying it was up to owners of a console what they did with it.

Similarly in Spain, mod chips are seen as legal despite the EU copyright legislation.

So, if the companies decide to setup shop in Italy and Spain, they can sell the stuff over the web, and peeps can just have it shipped to them. There isn't much a law like this could do, if it only applies to sellers within a given jurisdictional boundary...
 
i got chip in canada for my xbox. yup good ol' canada :)
 
Modding your hardware shouldn't be illegal. In fact, I would argue that the prevalent attitude against the practice runs smack against previous antitrust precedent. When AT&T had a monopoly on telephone service in the U.S., they controlled everything, much in the same way that console creators do now. When a company named "Hush-a-Phone" created an unauthorized product that could be purchased and placed at the end of the receiver to help the quality, AT&T complained and lost. It is because of that decision, in part, that people could buy telephones not made or authorized by AT&T.

But look at what we have learned since? Nothing. What the console creators are doing is little more than monopolistic behavior. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, people aren't even allowed to create games for these systems, without the permission (and probably "payment") to the system inventors. I dunno...I see something seriously wrong with this, or was all this talk about "competition" and "free trade" nothing more than hot air blowing out their asses?

But whatever...I'm nothing more than a cynic these days. I certainly don't expect the pols to listen to me anymore.

Melon
 
Nope your absolutly right on track. If you tried to create a game for say playstation, xbox, etc. you have to pay them. You then also have to pay them a percentage of the sales on that game. (supposedly gaming systems use proprietary decoding software for the gaming system to prevent ppl from creating a game and selling it with paying their cut of sony, etc.)

Funny thing is, is that this is apparently not considered monopolistic yet microsoft who simply offers every advantage to use their OS to their customers is considered acting as a monopoly. Funny.

melon said:
Modding your hardware shouldn't be illegal. In fact, I would argue that the prevalent attitude against the practice runs smack against previous antitrust precedent. When AT&T had a monopoly on telephone service in the U.S., they controlled everything, much in the same way that console creators do now. When a company named "Hush-a-Phone" created an unauthorized product that could be purchased and placed at the end of the receiver to help the quality, AT&T complained and lost. It is because of that decision, in part, that people could buy telephones not made or authorized by AT&T.

But look at what we have learned since? Nothing. What the console creators are doing is little more than monopolistic behavior. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, people aren't even allowed to create games for these systems, without the permission (and probably "payment") to the system inventors. I dunno...I see something seriously wrong with this, or was all this talk about "competition" and "free trade" nothing more than hot air blowing out their asses?

But whatever...I'm nothing more than a cynic these days. I certainly don't expect the pols to listen to me anymore.

Melon
 
The media companies have a lot of clout, and with individuals such as Senator Fritz Hollings and the push of the RIAA among others...fair use rights have arguably been set aside. I know this isn't directly related to the gaming console industry (though it does have it's basis in the tech industry in general); but when Hollings was holding a hearing concerning CPMA and the like, no "opponents" were invited to even speak before Congress. When Intel spoke out against some of this, Senator Hollings tore into the rep from Intel with a "you're either with us, or with the criminals. We're not here to legislate, but to give you time to create technology" for the benefit of the RIAA and other such trade associations...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/01/senator_brutalizes_intel_rep/

Entertainment industry lapdog Senator Fritz Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina) lashed out at Intel executive VP Leslie Vadasz who warned that the copy-protected PCs Hollings is obediantly promoting on behalf of his MPAA and RIAA handlers would stifle growth in the marketplace.

"We do not need to neuter the personal computer to be nothing more than a videocassette recorder," Vadasz said in testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Thursday.

An obedient Hollings tore into the witness, calling his testimony "nonsense".

"Now where do you get all this nonsense about how we're going to have irreparable damage?" Hollings demanded. "We don't want to legislate. We want to give you time to develop technology."

...The hearing was a typical Congressional dog-and-pony show designed to stroke Hollywood fat cats like Michael Eisner and Jack Valenti pursuing the Holy Grail of pay-per-use technology. No critics were invited to speak, and no harsh criticism was expected.

So when Intel's Vadasz showed the spine to blast the entertainment industry's pet scheme, he had to be beaten down, and Hollings was of course eager to please his masters.

Eisner and Valenti also testified, exhibiting their profound ignorance of technology and their sneering contempt for the rights of consumers, under Hollings' admiring gaze. Hollings, apparently, is an 'honest politician' according to Brendan Behan's formula: when he's bought, he stays bought.

This is, essentially what has been happening with fair use. Sorry for a slight diversion from the discussion of modding consoles; but to mention the context for what has happened to fair use and the like, it seems necessary to me to mention certain matters surrounding what is happening to fair use in general.
 
Well if no-one buys their products then they go bust.

Whatever happened to the words, 'the customer is always right'?
 
Wow...I really would have thought that Intel would just be a lapdog to all this insanity. I definitely have a bit more respect for them after this, but all they need to do now is ignore DRM in their hardware manufacturing like Micro$oft wants them to put it in.

And Southern Democrats? Pfft...no better than Republicans, IMO.

Melon
 
I premodded my PS2 ages ago, just to play import games, since actually buying a Japanese/American PS2 for that sole purprose was pretty expensive back then. I'm not too sure on what to think about this new issue- sure, it might restrict playing backups, but it might affect the import scene.
 
if i brought it, i can to what the hell i want to my playstation, and no court can take that away from you :)
 
Auto makers don't get to sue people for modding their cars. I don't see how the courts could possibly declare modding something you bought illegal. Well, maybe if you modded it for illegal purposes. You know, like fitting your Audi with a grenade launcher.
 

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