Oh no double ban -_-.

There's nothing wrong in "snitching" as an act as long as the illegal action was done intentionally, and the snitcher will gain respect as long as his/her intentions were good. If not then he/her would just be another tattle tale.

The modder know he's doing something illegal and he should be prepared for the consequences. "Boo hoo I was snitched doing something illegal and I was fined $800,000, now my life is ruined" and may I ask whose fault is that?

The ESA has a webpage to report websites the host pirated software.  You might try emailing them.

 

madkiller said: McStormy1 said: madkiller said: McStormy1 said: Hahaha, this thread is rediculous. I have been browsing these forums for a while now but this OP required my registration to reply to. First off, you don't seem to have any grasp regarding the laws surrounding the issues. Even IF you did try to report this to authorities (if you do, please videotape it and upload it to youtube for the satisfaction of millions) lawyers, police and FBI would laugh at you deliriously before kicking your ass out of the office. To put it as simply as possible; 1. Modding a system is not illegal. 2. Offering knowledge that is publicly available over the internet is not illegal. 3. Offering links to free software provided it is not hosted by you is not illegal. Everything stated within the advertisement was obviously worded by someone who understands the legal loopholes of the matter. If you were truly so concerned about the issue then why aren't you crusading against the millions of emulation sites that offer tens to hundreds of thousands of downloads a month?? In fact, speaking of which, why are these websites not yet shutdown to begin with?? They have been around for years and attract millions of visitors, surely authorities and publishers would have taken notice by now? The reason is (aside from foreign hosting in countries with lenient copyright laws) is that there are numerous legal loopholes these individuals or businesses can exploit that effectively provides them with a license to pirate. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the legal matters surrounding the issues before you get laughed at by authorities. Second, I do not believe that anyone deserves to have tens of millions or even more dollars in wealth regardless of what they have accomplished. As long as there are billions starving, no company CEO deserves a wealth that is effectively unlimited for generations to come. Nor do I believe that video game publishers (or the ENTERTAINMENT industry as a whole -ones providing shallow entertainment to relatively wealthy westerners) would be the first to deserve the aquisition of such immense wealth, in a time when famous humanitarians, influential speakers and revolutiuonary thinkers are paid penny's for their major contributions to society. Actually, I never even posted what exactly the advertisement said so you cannot even begin to interpret it. Secondly, bypassing copy protection on hardware is illegal. I guess you are the one that doesn't know the laws very well. Also, the guy specificly states in the advertisement that he can mod the console to play downloaded "burned" games.   It is LEGAL to provide people with an os platform to play illegal copies of copyright material as long as that is not the exclusive/explicit function of the mod. As long as he doesn't provide illegal software out of the box, which I gather he doesn't he can claim to have offered the mod as a means to play homebrew and expand the media functionality of the system through open source modification -both legal activities. Regardless of the fact that the platform -may- be (mis)used for illegal purposes, if the explicit functionality is not advertised as being illegal in nature, then despite illegal misuse by users the responsibility no longer resides on the provider but rather the user who exploited the modifcation for purposes not explicitly advertised. PSP modders have been using this excuse for years now and none of them have been charged thus far due to lack of criminal activity on their part. They're providing you with an "empty gun", if you're the one who loads it and ends up pulling the trigger, the legal consequences are not on them. The guy explicitly states that the purpose of his mod is to play Xbox 360 games that are downloaded from the internet and burned onto DvDs. This is highly illegal no matter how you try to interpret it.

Unless he claims said games are homebrew 360 games.

 

Depends! As a inhabitant of Germany I can tell you that police informers in the former Eastern Germany had a very very bad reputation.
Its different in countries were most laws make sense as in our western democratic countries but even here most of us would be in jail if we would be prosecuted for every illegal act we have done. (Mostly for speeding, littering, taxes ... ) I don't know about you but I would rather live in a world where I do not have to fear that my neighbor rats on me because I have parked my car in a wrong zone.

Normally the police has all legal power and people who are harmed by others can bring complaints to the police. Its of course ok to protect other people by calling the police but if you do not protect yourself or anyone you know personal IMO it changes from good to petty.

I fail to see why this thread has gone on so long.

It is not illegal to modify consoles. (at least, last time I checked...)

It is illegal to download and distribute software without paying for it. Unless this guy is doing this (showing people HOW to do it does not count) there's really nothing much the law can do to him.

...end of story...

Kyros said: There's nothing wrong in "snitching" as an act as long as the illegal action was done intentionally Depends! As a inhabitant of Germany I can tell you that police informers in the former Eastern Germany had a very very bad reputation. Its different in countries were most laws make sense as in our western democratic countries but even here most of us would be in jail if we would be prosecuted for every illegal act we have done. (Mostly for speeding, littering, taxes ... ) I don't know about you but I would rather live in a world where I do not have to fear that my neighbor rats on me because I have parked my car in a wrong zone. Normally the police has all legal power and people who are harmed by others can bring complaints to the police. Its of course ok to protect other people by calling the police but if you do not protect yourself or anyone you know personal IMO it changes from good to petty.

I oddly agree with that.

Well with the obvious exception of someone you don't know getting the crap kicked out of them or something.

Eh then again if it was a big enough piracy ring... who knows.

Right now though this ranks slightly above "report the guy who eats a couple grapes out of his bag before paying for them."

Great job vagabond, you pointed out the flaws in his logic very well and when he was brought to that reality he just ignored what you had to say and attacked you. Two thumbs up!!

jedson328 said: bbsin said: I'm tired of this crap. I dislike idea of bootlegging as much as anyone but you don't have to snitch the guy out. Everyone has pirated one thing or another in their lives. If there's one thing I dislike more than bootleggers, it gotta be rats that would go to extremes to snitch someone out. Piracy is piracy, everyone that has a computer does it. You're essentially screwing one guy over to protect a major corporation. Unless you are actually invested or work for the company, I'd say just leave it alone. It's just my opinion, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to be reported for all the stuff I've downloaded "illegally" on my PC throughout my life. As far as this guy is concered, someone will eventually catch him if he continues to advertise anything "modding lessons" or illegal distribution. I have a bit of a problem with the bolded statements.  I see this on a fairly regular basis among people who pirate games, software, movies, etc.  Pirating is stealing, whether you like to think so or not.  In order to make this type of behavior okay, people who steal rationalize their actions with the "everyone else is doing it, why shouldnt I"  mindset.  The fact is ... there are are a lot of people out there that live honest lives.  Not everyone steals, so quit blaming others for the decisions you have made.

 

I have to agree with jedson, I have never pirated music, games, or movies, and i find it offensive that people assume we all do. I have been robbed twice, at gun point, and i bought my products back when the took all of my music and movies, and it was not covered by renters because i was moving them from my car to my apartment. I could have stolen the content it would have been cheaper, but then i would have been ripping off the people whose content i enjoy. and thats not right either, honestly i consider people who steal like that to be no better then the men who robbed me at gun point.

 

on game stop, they may hurt the industry more, but what they do is legal, and is done in the music industry and movie industry. reselling of products is perfectly legal and until that changes, there is no comparison.

 

side note the banning of the OP poster was uncalled for, and devalues the site, this is the first time ive been ashamed to be a VGchartz member since joining after seeing the comment he was banned for. He came here with an ethical delima, and you paint him as the villain, that is bullshit

Kyros said: There's nothing wrong in "snitching" as an act as long as the illegal action was done intentionally Depends! As a inhabitant of Germany I can tell you that police informers in the former Eastern Germany had a very very bad reputation. Its different in countries were most laws make sense as in our western democratic countries but even here most of us would be in jail if we would be prosecuted for every illegal act we have done. (Mostly for speeding, littering, taxes ... ) I don't know about you but I would rather live in a world where I do not have to fear that my neighbor rats on me because I have parked my car in a wrong zone. Normally the police has all legal power and people who are harmed by others can bring complaints to the police. Its of course ok to protect other people by calling the police but if you do not protect yourself or anyone you know personal IMO it changes from good to petty.

I admit there are exceptions to the rule.
Parking example, if you're not allowed to park in that spot, why would you?
Do you want healthy people here repeatedly parking in handicapped parking spaces and not expect consequences? 

@bolded
Just because someone snitches doesn't mean that that's all he/she does exclusively.