Ok, to all modders: Console, controllers and games. Recently a California student was arrested for modifying and profiting from Xbox360 consoles. Unfortunately for him, he's facing possibly 10 years in jail for it, if found guilty.

I know alot of you guys are out there modifying your consoles or the consoles of your friends, and seemingly there should be no problem in doing such. Sorry to say that there are some laws that govern the tampering with of copyrighted materials.

I know what you're going to say, "What are you talking about? I'm just flashing my drive so I can backup my games that I already own, legitimately paid for. What's the big deal?" Apparently Microsoft found a big deal and is offering it to you; banned from Xbox Live, fines and possible jail time. Do you accept?

You see folks, it is a serious crime to tamper with the console for the sole purpose of generating profit. Downloading and burning games? C'mon people, since when has THAT been legal?

Well 27 year old Matthew Lloyd Crippen learned the hard way that you can't do that, that you shouldn't do that. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)arrested Crippen and charged him with two indictments for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for selling and profiting off of modded systems.

So now everyone is asking themselves, "...am I breaking the law here?" The answer may surprise you, may even confuse you more and to some the answer is just mere words.

Crippen faces a maximum of 5 years for each charge. His business scheme: $30 per job. ICE confiscated at least a dozen modified consoles. Reason being, he was fully aware that his modifications would allow for play of pirated games on such consoles, and he made money selling those consoles. Big no-no.

So what rights do you have when you make the choice to modify your console?

Big burning question. Many who mod feel as though: I payed for it, I can do whatever I choose with my console. Yes and No. While technically the only thing you can do to your console without infringing on any copyright issues is modifying the outer casing. Legally you are not able to do any other modifications to said systems. With that being said, you say now..."...says who? You're wrong Mr. IGMAG" For those who feel I am wrong, that's totally your prerogative, I show you an excerpt from an interview with Jennifer Granick, the Civil Liberties Director of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. She says:

"With hardware, you can do pretty much anything you want with it. There are very few rules that apply. You buy it, you own, you can take it apart, and that's perfectly fine," she explained. "The problem is that no one simply modifies the hardware. It becomes complicated with modern hardware because it's combined with firmware, the embedded software."

The infamous DMCA states that you can't circumvent any software protection to get at the copyrighted work it protects. If you're using a software exploit or installing a mod chip, you're disabling that protection to allow yourself to run homebrew code, and you're running afoul of the DMCA. "Thou shall not circumvent," Granick said, counting the two ways to break the law. "And thou shall not provide tools to others."

The intent is meaningless. Even if you simply want to modify an Xbox to use as a media center, you're breaking the law, since you've given the system the ability to run unsigned code.

 So, what does this mean? Am I at risk of prosecution? You could be. If it were that you just modified a console, it's more than likely a Civil matter and punishments can be little to none. However, if you purposely, knowingly and willfully modified a console to play pirated games and to make a profit off of it, you could face Criminal charges.

If you are going to mod your own system, basically keep it to your self. Even publicizing the tools to do the job can grant you unwanted attention. Granick also stated:

"It's very, very unlikely that any of these companies are going to bring civil suits against individual people who modded their own consoles. Economically, it's not worth it, the statutory damages for that sort of violation would be between $200 and $2,500, making legal action uneconomical. If you're not willfully and purposefully circumventing the protections for profit, your infraction is civil, not criminal."

"It's unfortunate that taking this hardware that you own and creating something like a media center, which is a non infringing activity, has this legal shadow over it."

Ars Technica spoke with Entertainment Software Association for their views on the issue. They responded:

 "The technological measures that video game companies use to control or manage access to their works and to prevent unauthorized copying are essential to ensuring the viability of a vibrant video game marketplace," Ken Doroshow, ESA General Counsel & Senior Vice President, told Ars. "These technological measures protect the intellectual property rights on which video game companies depend to create and publish new games."

Spokesperson for Ars stated:

"The problem is the broad nature of the DMCA makes any hack or exploit effectively illegal, even if it increases the features of the hardware without leading to piracy, or gives you the ability to do things that would normally be covered under fair use. That PSP you've cracked to play emulated NES games puts you on the wrong side of the law, no matter how unlikely the negative consequences may be."

So you see, as simple as this may seem, modifying your console for your own personal use may not be such a bad thing, but once you delve into the exchanging of funds, it becomes more problematic than a FinalFantasy game. I know people are still going to do it, this is just fair warning, you could get into some serious trouble here.

You can read the full story here at Arstechnica.