Modify a Console? 10 Years in Prison! (in Canada)

[bassmasta]

Even adding larger hard drives!
http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blog ... -jail.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[budnespid]

Canadians better be careful

[jdmlight]

That's pretty silly. It's like content providers banning torrent applications because they *could* be used for illegal purposes, neglecting the fact that there are many legit uses (I helped seed Possumus Woman, if you want a relevant and legal example ).

Also, this made me think of Mr. Mackey on South Park: "Modding is bad, mkay?"

[lifeisbetterwithketchup]

To keep the analogies flowing, it'd be like banning Bic pens because you could stab someone in the eye with it. Sure, there should be consequences for stabbing someone in the eye, but merely owning a Bic pen is perfectly legal.

[budnespid]

pointless I say. it's theirs what does it matter?

[Aguiluz]

The RCMP takes action and investigates this type of crime if there are grounds to believe that material has been copied for the purpose of commercial distribution, or to such an extent as to be prejudicial to the copyright holder.

Hm, adding larger hard drives isnt copying material. The National Post is rather outdated and stupid in my opinion.

[Steamdnt]

This isn't news, This is just updated, There WAS always a Fine and 5 years in prison for modding consoles for profit, But they can't arrest for that, Mod chips are legal even if they enable backups. Selling copies is the problem they are dealing with.
Also, We will just apologize to the prisoners later, maybe give a couple sex offenders a pardon, not like anyone will notice if he rapes a couple kids over 300 times.
We are so stupid at the moment. The liberals are stopping crap from passing, in a retarded attempt to call another election, the PC can't get anything through, and the NDP are busy hugging trees.

[Black Six]

"Modifying a console and computer is considered an illegal act under section 342.1 of the Criminal Code and is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years," the RCMP said in the statement.

So I can't add more RAM or a bigger hard drive to my computer in Canada? I think they're talking about two different things here.

I can understand if he was selling pirated copies of games or modified consoles, but if he just modified his own console I'm not sure now that can be illegal. It's like saying I can't buy a car and put a turbo or new exhaust system on it. Sure, street racing is illegal, but modifying my car isn't.

[froggyman]

To keep the analogies flowing, it'd be like banning Bic pens because you could stab someone in the eye with it. Sure, there should be consequences for stabbing someone in the eye, but merely owning a Bic pen is perfectly legal.

Yeah, having a torrent application on your computer is legal and all.... but it is more commonly used for illegal downloads than legal ones... whereas with Bic pens, most people use them to write in comparison to killing people.

I still thinks its wrong to make it illegal to install a bit torrent program on your computer, as there is nothing illegal about the actual software, its how you use it. Sure most hand guns are legal but they are quite commonly used for killing people, but yet hand guns aren't illegal.


*active member on semi-private tracker, Demonoid

[limpport]

I'm sorry, but they just spouted out a crap that makes them sound stupid. They mixed in perfectly legal things into things that were illegal to make them seem illegal without actually saying it.

The modification of game consoles and illegal production and sale of counterfeit video games account for losses of several million dollars annually."

"The modification of game consoles" is perfectly legal, but selling counterfeit games is not.

[Steamdnt]

They have no idea what they are talking about
This is a perfect example

In the case of Sony's PlayStation3, some mod chips allow gamers to play PlayStation 2 games on the system.

[timmeh87]

This is a crappy article that dosen't mean anything. No laws were changed.

Im pretty sure they mean "modchips" when they say modification. theres nothing in the article saying that adding a bigger hard drive is illegal. Smoking pot is illegal but a lot of people around here do that every day anyways. no one gets caught because the police aren't allowed inside your house.

not worried.

[cennar]

I could care less, this is about mass pirating. if they can find a guy who spends all day opening up and modding wiis (I know of a few as a matter of fact.) well then good... what ever. these guys buy all the parts legitamatly and assembaly line the hell out of every thing. well what that does is bump up the cost of making a modded system for some one. then the guys doing it and arn't getting cought (there are a ton of them by the way) will simply just raise the price of there work.

besides those are Quebec cops. like vancouver or toronto cops. they suck at live. they gave up on living and need to feel big. Mod a console play games for free, advertise you'll modify like 80-300 consoles and of course get a charge or two for pirating and taking work away from Microsoft assembly line workers. (Actual robots, mechanical or other wise repetitive workers)

[cennar]

I still thinks its wrong to make it illegal to install a bit torrent program on your computer, as there is nothing illegal about the actual software, its how you use it. Sure most hand guns are legal but they are quite commonly used for killing people, but yet hand guns aren't illegal.


*active member on semi-private tracker, Demonoid

Almost missed you... Hand guns. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? not even a close comparison. information, art should be free. GUNS?! honestly my mother is a government arms dealer (seriously) she works in one of the least employable areas in the country (St Tomas ontario) and she makes a killing selling guns to yanks. I like that she enjoys her work, it's a bit of a sick joke to her but what ever, I'm proud. You should just think about how much a license for adobe costs. more than my car, acutaly if I could afford it, I would still pirate the freaking thing to save money and build a ton of difrent things.

Also DONT BE AFRIAD!! who goes into your home and checks to see if you have all your orignal disks and license agreements? who? oh some places (in america) they mantain that masturbation and anal sex is illegal... how do they EVER controll that?

Fear is LAME!! ba ha ha!