From College to Prison: The Dangers of Modding Your Game System
June 17, 2010 | Nathaniel
We’ve all heard people talk about how dangerous playing video games can be. But this is not going to be your layman’s article claiming video games can cause violence or create addictions. These issues may be real, but we are here to talk about something else. We shall study the dangerous effects of modifying your game system, which enables players to burn games off the internet and play them to their heart’s content. Free of charge. I know. Great, right? WRONG! For the gaming companies, who toil for hours on end creating adventures for you to enjoy and puzzles for you to solve, this is far from happiness for their hearts.
And to the American justice system, it’s illegal. So much so that someone could get a decade in prison as punishment for such a heinous deplorable crime against humanity. 27-year-old Matthew Crippen (a student of the California State University school system) was accused of modding game systems like the X-Box 360, Wii and Playstation 3. All he wanted was beer money. Well, maybe.
Of course we’re all aware of other cases involving pirating different media. Has anyone really forgotten Napster? DVD’s and music pirating is widespread practice. Dangerous and illegal, the business persists, from the suburbs to college campuses. The MPAA and music industry have done their best to crackdown on these “criminals” through commercials and other visual media that warn potential pirates and prosecutions.
Crippen was charged with two counts of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and could face up to 10 years in prison. Prison! Holy smokes. He was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who raided his home and seized the offending systems. Now I know lots of you college kids out there might do this, but there are some serious consequences. Is it worth the risk? Just to have the chance to play some games without paying for them?
Some people wonder if this needs to be enforced by the government at all or if it should be the responsibility of the manufacturer to pursue these sorts of cases. In other words, is it okay that your taxes are going to pay people to raid homes to capture someone who is modifying a game system that is, after all, his or her private property? In Crippen’s case, it doesn’t appear that he was creating or selling pirated games. Is the problem that he was allegedly making a profit from selling the modded systems? Ah, the loopholes of the American justice system. What if he gave them away for free? Aw, man. We’d be best friends. And is what a person does with the modified system their own responsibility? Does the actual modding of the system really prove a crime here? Is copyright getting out of control? Or is this a necessary action by the U.S. Immigration and Custom’s service?
Hope something is set in stone here by the courts. For me? I’m saving up my quarters for my next trip to the arcade.
STUDY HARD!
