Game Console hacker arrested, faces up to ten years in jail

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Game Console hacker arrested, faces up to ten years in jail
by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Aug 4th 2009 at 8:32PM

" Just when you thought it was safe to get out your soldering irons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants you to know that its agents are still out there, on the lookout for for even more mod chip-wielding nogoodniks and their non-DMCA compliant consoles. According to the AP, a 27-year-old CSU student named Matthew Crippen was recently arrested for "modifying Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act" and released Monday on $5,000 bond. The dime was dropped on this perp by the Entertainment Software Association, and the raid conducted by Customs agents sometime in May. He will be arraigned on August 10th, and if convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Let this be a lesson to you: while the ICE may have its hands full with human slavery, drug trafficking, transnational gangs, and stolen artifacts, there is always time to make an example out of a man that knows his way around the inside of a PS3. "

:source: Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/04/c...years-in-jail/

Can you really get in trouble for doing stuff to your own console? You bought it with your own money, shouldn't you be able to do anything you want with it? Unless he actually found some way of distributing or releasing what he did...

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Originally Posted by Rart

Can you really get in trouble for doing stuff to your own console? You bought it with your own money, shouldn't you be able to do anything you want with it? Unless he actually found some way of distributing or releasing what he did...

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He was making a business out of modding other people's consoles.

Up to 10 years is harsh. Even if it's for modding consoles.

Let us/me know how his hearing goes if possible OP!

yeah i just heard about this. he was also advertising his services all over

Only in America.

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there is always time to make an example out of a man that knows his way around the inside of a PS3

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he must have been bloody good, as no one else knows how to mod a ps3 yet.

yes, i know its just a little thing, but at least get their facts right ffs.

If he modify it and keep a low profile, he won't in trouble now.

Unlucky for him,
Alot of people have hacked/downgraded there consoles.

Even if he did modify others consoles , 10 years is too harsh

It's illegal to mod your console, if a "agent" came in your house, or told someone yes, it's illegal by law to modify the console in anyway.

And as the PS3, it said "knows" his way around it, doesn't mean he hacked it.

He is going to prison coz he was making money out of it gitit!

If he was selling them, then I can see why he could be arrested. If he was just modding for his own uses, I don't see any reason for him to actually be arrested :|

He was modding for money, people would send them to him, he would mod and send back, and was advertising I guess pretty heavily on the i-net.