Australian Federal Court Overturns Legal Modchip Sales 177
An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday, the Australian Federal Court overruled the previous ruling on modchips in Australia. I am pretty sure the overruled case is the mainstay for the 'legal' use of modchips in Australia (predominantly Linux on the Xbox). Haven't seen this hit the media yet, with the exception of the Australian Financial Review referring to it in the Free Trade Agreement context. The ruling can be found here. Although not a lawyer, it appears the original judgement was made on the basis that Sony did not provide a copy protection system. Also noted is that there is limited commercial use for the mod other than circumvention. Wonder what will happen to modchips for the Xbox, given that it can be argued that running Linux could easily be seen as commercial."
Reader silne adds "According to the article in The Australian's IT section, it's not illegal to possess or use a mod chip, just illegal to sell them. Looks like another win for Sony. Hopefully the ACCC is going to appeal this one." Bigthecat supplies a link to coverage at news.com.au, as well.
ACCC might not do anything (Score:5, Insightful)
The judgement was for sony modchips.... (Score:2, Insightful)
The PS and PS/2 modchips basically allow pirated game discs to be played, without any other real use. The XBox case might be handled differently.
I have this crazy idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone tells me that this is a bizarre, extremist, stupid idea, and would never work.
Unless the tools being described are weapons designed to kill people. In that case, having a right to make, buy, and sell these things even if they're going to be used for illegal purposes seems unquestionable, and it's extremist and stupid to state otherwise.
Of course you don't have a right to bear arms in Australia, right? But still I wonder if you'd get help from gun advocacy groups in Australia and told them about the plight of modchippers, and explained to them that modchippers and gun owners have common problems. I doubt it.
Re:like it matters much (Score:5, Insightful)
Well it won't actually take much for the Australian Police to find them. Some people at a place I used to work ordered XBox mod chips from overseas, and before they were allowed to receive them through customs they had to give their name, residential address and I think drivers license number to ensure that they as recipients were properly identified.
At the time however it wasn't clear as to why this information was needed, other than the fact that they ordered mod chips of course. At the time they did this mod chips were considered legal.
I hope the ACCC in Australia does something for the Australian people, as we all know that the primary purpose of the "security" of consoles is to provide for the construction of artificial markets to decrease competition and raise prices for consumers and revenue for the companies that manufacture them.
The thing that that hacks me off, is that console makers bundle the region encoding along with their security. Region encoding has nothing to do with security and everything to do with creating false markets which is something that should not be tolerated. Its about high time that the manufactures of these devices were forced to abandon region encoding all together so that consumers have the choice of what to purchase and where. The same goes for DVDs.
I will of course freely admit that most peoples use of mod chips however is for piracy which is not an act that I condone or participate in. I would be more than happy to have a console with strong security and no region locking. Its high time that these companies realise thats whats good for consumers is good for them. Stuffing consumers around will only hurt these companies in the long run.
Rant over
Re:like it matters much (Score:3, Insightful)
Q.
FTA = Bend Over (Score:4, Insightful)
"Free Trade" - what a misnomer.
Australia already has 0-5% tariffs on nearly all imports - the real sticking points here are removing PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), removing australian TV content restrictions, full privitisation of Telstra (the now half state owned telecommunications giant), removing distilled liquor duty, relaxing food labelling laws, relaxing quarantine restrictions, and basically anything else that a major American lobby group objects to...
So basically - we have to remove all of the things that Australians believe in and have spent many decades nurturing - for a marginal at best gain...
Let us hope negotiations progress...
Btw, I'm not anti-american, I would feel the same way if any other country tried to dictate australian domestic policy.
Q.
Re:Will this ruling really matter? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I have this crazy idea (Score:4, Insightful)
> Why should we allow tools that have no possible legal use?
It's illegal to write your own software for PS2?
Argue that you can't find anybody doing it, but as they can't do it legally, is that really surprising?
Re:The judgement was for sony modchips.... (Score:2, Insightful)
However, I have two reasons why I want modchips to be legal (or at the very least region-locking of PS2's to be gone).
I currently live and work in Japan. I have been buying lots of japanese PS2 games while here. Next year I will return to Australia.
1) A lot of these games have not and never will be released in Australia, because the games market is so much smaller than in Japan. The only way around this is to own a japanese PS2. Should I be forced to buy a japanese PS2 (which, by the way, Sony Australia will refuse to service if something should break) just to play these games?
2) When I return and bring my japanese PS2 with me that I have here now, I will not be able to play australian-released games on it. Should I be forced to buy a second PS2 just so I can now play "local" games?
I know lots of people who face scenario #1. I admit scenario 2 isn't likely to apply to me as I have never been interested in a game that has been released in Australia...
Still, the customer SHOULD have the choice.
Re:FTA = Bend Over (Score:2, Insightful)
Here in America, we've got NAFTA, and it's not much better. Well, it's better than being in Iraq, but I swear, Democracy is flourishing at home, too!
I don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
But this ruling goes even further: in addition to copyright protection, the legal system is now also being burdened, at taxpayer expense, with prosecuting people who circumvent copy protection. If Microsoft or Sony can't figure out how to make their boxes unmoddable (it's not that hard technically), why should the taxpayer pick up the tab for their incompetence? And, no, it's not just Australia: of course, this nonsense is even more widespread in the US.
Re:like it matters much (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The judgement was for sony modchips.... (Score:2, Insightful)
In the USA there are many legal uses for circumvention--playing backups is one of them.
Re:The judgement was for sony modchips.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not a big fan of current modding efforts because they're negative-ruling-bait. However, I must argue with this point. Sony's release of the Linux pack for the PS2 is certainly not the end of that argument. It is limited, you cannot distribute Linux apps to other PS2 owners unless they have the $200 kit as well. Worse, you have limited access to the hardware.
What's really hurting the MOD development for the PS2 is that there really isn't a whole lot of reason to do it. Play any region DVD? Well the law's not going to side with that. Play MAME? Nope, law's not going to side with that either. Play MP3s or DivX videos? That area's a bit gray, but there's the issue of how those Mp3s or DivX vids are acquired.
I agree with your first point, but the second one is probably what earned ya the troll rating. Pity the dude with the mod point didn't just respond, its not like you were out to be a jerk. There's a difference between trolling and having an unpopular opinion.
Re:like it matters much (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course in this specific case they guy was selling copied games as well as mod chips. If he would have just sold mod chips and not sold the obviously illegal games things might have turned out different. The circumstances show his intent.
Of course with the Australian legal system he now gets to pay Sony's costs (and QCs don't come cheap). And of course then there's damages, but that comes later (and of course there's still room for appeal to the High Court - but losing there would further increase costs).
Oh well, I'll have to stick to PC games and skip on the PS2...