Banned Xbox Live Users Class Action Investigation

The ironic sting to this whole fiasco is that Microsoft (If they wanted to turn this madness around) could sue each and every 'modified' box owner/backup user. (Yep, not gonna happen I know, but its the irony in it)

 

Well, at least every iXtreme user. XeLL users are in the clear, but every single iXtreme user in the US (I would guess Europe as well, but I'm not as well versed in Euro copyright law) is guilty of piracy/copyright infringement as well as very likely in violation of the DMCA.

This is true, even if the system NEVER saw a single copied disc in its drive.

Why? I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader for now, but the answer is pretty clearly stated within the same copyright code that all the piracy sites love to misquote from in an attempt to justify their existence.

That's what makes all the claims of "I modded my system, but I'm not a PIRATE!" so amusing, because it is simply not true. And no, Microsoft isn't likely to attempt to sue every modded system owner. It's not worth the time/effort. But it's obvious that the legal firm posting about this matter has -zero- technical experience with the system and how the iXtreme mod functions.

-hl718

 

I lean on the side of Banning a user only if he has a pirated game on his system, not for just modding in general. Not sure what hl718 is talking about but barring that, if you can legally mod your console but don't actually play any illegal games or cheat online, I don't see what business it is of Microsoft's as to what you do with your own console. Kinda like Ford forcibly taking back a car because you added non-standard parts to it.

 

Er no, Microsoft aren't forcibly coming around peoples homes and taking the Xbox. Be more like Ford refusing to service your car or allow you to join the Ford owners club, as they could argue the added parts could make your car dangerous...

 

Here's a hint. Drive firmware is still software and still subject to copyright.

Yes, you own the hardware and are free to modify it to your liking, but the software that runs the hardware is still protected.

iXtreme is what the copyright code would consider an unlicensed derivative work. By downloading iXtreme, you're committing copyright infringement same as if you download a copied game. Just because it's a small, specialized program doesn't mean it's not a program.

Full firmware replacements, such as XeLL don't run into this as they are created from scratch. You own the hardware. The people who wrote XeLL are distributing it for free and giving you permission to use it. Of course, XeLL can't run retail games or connect to XBL so most folks ignore it.

Realistically, chances of getting sued because you have iXtreme flashed to your box are slim to none. But, if Microsoft ever did want to counter sue someone here all it would need to do it point to the banned box itself. It wouldn't even need to look to the games to show copyright infringement if it didn't want to.

-hl718