Ogden Computers - Tulsa Computer Repair and Maintenance

Do you really own what you buy?

It seems that the technology vendors still continue to own the products that you spend hundreds of dollars to purchase.

A Cal-State student was arrested earlier this week for “modding” video game consoles to play unlicensed games. For those of you who may not know what “modding” is, it consists of adding software or hardware to video game consoles such as the X-Box, Nintendo Wii, and the Play Station 2/3 to allow it to do things it originally wasn’t intended for.

Now, I’m not 100% sure of what Matthew Lloyd Crippen was charged with, but if it anything like what this article says, then this is highly unjust. According to this article, Matthew Lloyd Crippen just “modded” console systems, and when he was arrested, he had many “modded” systems on site. Legally, there shouldn’t be any problems with this, since, traditionally speaking, you own a console once you purchase it, and you make no agreements upon purchase to refrain from modifying said console. In our world, you do with it what you please.

The twist comes in with what “modding” a console allows you to do. A “modded” system allows you to play counterfeited games. This is why they are saying that “modding” the system is illegal. The funny thing is, that it also allows you to play free games that may not have made it into the console manufacturer’s app store. For instance, there are many small software development shops all across the US, and the world. There are even more independent programmers who do little games for fun. If they decide that they want to program a game for a child’s birthday, but don’t necessarily want to push it through all the red tape associated with the app store until it has been tried and tested, then they have to have a “modded” system to play it. If they don’t have a system that can play unlicensed material, then it cannot be played, and it was programmed for nothing.

Now, having said all that, the media has a way of spinning stories to make the big companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo sound like the devil incarnate. I bet the boy is actually getting charged with the distribution of copyrighted material. Many times, when a person “mods” a unit, they will also give, for no extra charge, a bundle of software that includes many licensed copyrighted titles.

IF, and only if, the boy was only “modding” the systems to play unlicensed material, then this is tragically unjust, as modifying your own property is not illegal. If he is, in fact, distributing copyrighted material, then he is doing something very illegal, in which our government is spending billions of dollars every year to crack down on.

You decide for yourself.

Read more here:
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/tech/Cal-State-Student-Faces-10-Year-Prison-Term-for-Playing-with-Video-Games-52386872.html
http://www.fox8.com/business/sns-ap-us-socal-video-game-arrest,0,6682770.story