ISOnews owner jailed

[Spac3d]

I don't see the difference between a mod chip and a cable descrambler. They are very similar products IMO.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: GermyBoy
No matter how many of you "law-abiding" citizens there are out there, the DMCA is wrong, and although is law, should be stopped. HOWEVER, writing to our local congressmen will not do anything when you have corporations like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo lining the pockets of politicians to pass more laws like this.

Modchips and the selling of those should be legal. It is the USING them that should be illegal, and only for illegal purposes.

Suppose I sell a gun to people, which is not illegal. USING them is not illegal if you shoot "game" or at a range. Shooting PEOPLE and "not game" animals is illegal, and can get you jail time.

Same goes with alcohol. I sell it to someone. They USE it. They run someone over with a car. Now my selling is illegal, and I can get sued, but not before. The law is such crap.

The difference is that the chip is intended to be used illegally. There is no other use.

If someone came to you and said that they wanted a gun to kill someone and you sold them the gun they used then you would be as guilty as them.

In terms of the alcohol, if you sold someone alcohol who was already intoxicated and they indicated that were going to drive (or you suspected it) then you could also be found guilty.

Did you even read the above posts? You can play import games with a mod chip. It is not always used illegally.

 

[gwlam12]

Originally posted by: deftron
That's way too harsh..

Even Anandtech allows the sell of modchips in the For Sale/Trade forums..



By the way, funny quote from the article:

"and a $28,500 fine - that's £18,355 in real money."

LOL.. "real" money

i read in an older article that he knew that he was selling the chips for illegal intentions

 

[darkeneddays]

From what I understand it wasn't the actual modchips that got him in trouble. Supposedly,there was a copyrighted BIOS with the chips that made it illegal. There are tons of modchip places on the web that have been around for years and have never had any legal issues.
This is what I gathered from another forum right after ISOnews got nailed.

I also heard you can still buy these chips online,however,they come with no BIOS.But can be DLed from various places...

 

[LongCoolMother]

law in this country (and nearly all others) are full of BS, deal with it. i definately think the sentence was too harsh, but.... what can we do.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Damn, this pisses me off soooo freaking bad. Once we buy something, it's OURS!!! The company no longer has control over it, so let us MODIFY it any way we want.

Can you imagine how many Honda Civics would be impounded if this rule were to extend to cars too

I know, I need to let my senators know, and all that jazz. I need to start getting in touch with groups/organizations regarding the crappiness of the DMCA.




KeyserSoze

 

[Soybomb]

The DMCA is such a load of crap. It sickens me to see such a "purchased" law causing tax dollars to be spent on incarcerating this guy. The item he was selling should be perfectly legal.

 

[rival]

if he didnt wanna goto jail, he shouldnt have broken the law

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: nater
well at least he was arrested for selling modchips and not for his site itself.

what? selling mod chips are illegal now? then how r the other sites getting away w/it?

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: zippy
Why is his arrest acceptable but people that sell descramblers can't be touched?
Both are being used to circumvent copyrights/steal services but in both cases the actual product does not allow for that - only the person actually performing the act constitutes circumventing copyrights/stealing. I realize I'm being idealistic here, but isn't that the case with descramblers? Why doesn't it correlate to mod chips?

who says descramblers arent illegal in the US?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: KeyserSoze
Damn, this pisses me off soooo freaking bad. Once we buy something, it's OURS!!! The company no longer has control over it, so let us MODIFY it any way we want.

Can you imagine how many Honda Civics would be impounded if this rule were to extend to cars too

I know, I need to let my senators know, and all that jazz. I need to start getting in touch with groups/organizations regarding the crappiness of the DMCA.

KeyserSoze

It goes beyond that, if you put a spoiler on "your" car, you have to go and get and pay again for a new Car, License and Tag is what the equivalent of all this DRM stuff is. It's not "your" car, it is always the property of the manufacturer under manufacturer control and kick backs to the Government to allow you to drive it at all.

Very good discussions going in here everyone. Some are starting to see the light as the light of freedom fades because it has been bought out by Corporate greed.

 

[UncleWai]

Will the arab people returns us a favor, Operation American Freedom?

Back to topic, darkeneddays is right, the modchip has the copyrighted bios inside which gives enough leverage to bust him. Also the fact that he is the owner of isonews didn't do him any good.

 

[manuelku]

real money? does court take Paypal?

 

[MedicBob]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Umm, he broke the law and got busted. Nothing "messed up" about that.

I agree. If you are breaking the law and know it, suffer the penalties.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: MedicBob

Originally posted by: NFS4
Umm, he broke the law and got busted. Nothing "messed up" about that.

I agree. If you are breaking the law and know it, suffer the penalties.

I think everyone agrees he broke the law as it(the DMCA) currently stands. The issue is that mod-chips don't nessisarily need to be illegal, hence the fine + jail is a travesty.

 

[calpha]

I think the bigger BS factor is that the UCMJ confiscated his dns entry/domain name. You can still find the IsoNews website by IP however.

And the fact that people go to jail for selling mod chips is complete BS. I've got no problem with a hefty fine. But c'mon. Jail time?
What next? They going to subpoena his records and send inspectors to all who have bought a mod chip?

 

[dabuddha]

i hope the same people who feel he should be in jail also feel that all druggies (dealers and users) should be in jail as well. Sadly I've seen some of the same posters claim that going to jail for drugs is wrong. The hypocrisy is appalling at best.

 

[bsobel]

And the fact that people go to jail for selling mod chips is complete BS. I've got no problem with a hefty fine. But c'mon. Jail time?
What next? They going to subpoena his records and send inspectors to all who have bought a mod chip?

Any why not, thats exactly what DirectTV is doing to those that bought stuff to modify sat receivers. And they are going after those users in civil court (apparently the average settelment is about $4k).

Bill

 

[wQuay]

It?s the penalty itself that im shocked about. Especially considering how lenient we are towards other types of criminals in our judicial system.

Such as, say, child molesters?

 

[KillerKing]

That is a huge fine though.... plus five years of income loss....
wonder how he's going to pay?

 

[Dood]

Originally posted by: bsobel

And the fact that people go to jail for selling mod chips is complete BS. I've got no problem with a hefty fine. But c'mon. Jail time?
What next? They going to subpoena his records and send inspectors to all who have bought a mod chip?

Any why not, thats exactly what DirectTV is doing to those that bought stuff to modify sat receivers. And they are going after those users in civil court (apparently the average settelment is about $4k).

Bill

Yes, I was going to mention this. DirecTV seized records of online sellers of card programmers and is threatening to sue the end users for piracy based on the purchase of the "illegal" device. Even if you never used the card programmer to do anything illegal, it will cost you $4k to settle out of court or $10-$15k to prove your innocence in federal civil court.

Dozens of cases are pending around the US. It is estimated that several thousands have settled out of court for $4k.

All of this action is under the DMCA. I fully expect t see similar end user actions like this related to modchips, Kazaa, etc.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
It?s the penalty itself that im shocked about. Especially considering how lenient we are towards other types of criminals in our judicial system.

You find 5 months in prison and 28k fine 'shocking'?

 

[CTho9305]

The chip had copyrighted code on it. He was committing a blatant copyright violation.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: dabuddha
It?s the penalty itself that im shocked about. Especially considering how lenient we are towards other types of criminals in our judicial system.

You find 5 months in prison and 28k fine 'shocking'?

Considering the "crime", yes.

 

[necro702]

i just read about a local incident.

This guy stole a blank check from this business and made it out to himself for $11,000. He never worked for the business and cashed the check. The guy had a prior record for SERIOUS crimes such as armed robbery!

Well he was charged with Forgery ( a class 3 felony punishable by 2-5 yrs in prison in illinois). Well since he had prior felonies greater than class 3 he was eligible for 2-10yrs in prison.

The guy is affiliated with gangs and what not. They have him 30 months. On 30 months he will only have to do 9 months! 30/2 = 15 - 6 months additional good time. So 9 months for $11K and he had a prior record with very serious offenses.

FAIR?

HELL NO. Why did he get a break?