17 years to life? ACME Owner on the show

[agn]

A maximum of 17 years is on the table for Jason Jones from ACME in LA. It looks like they really want to send a message. Homeland Security is involved. He will be live in the Arena lounge with us on Friday to talk about it and take your calls.

Should be a good show. If you can't be there live, you can leave your question on the toll free voice mail line 866-880-0156, or post it here and we'll ask.

[Blackwolf]

My big question is why they thought it was such a good idea to preload the modded hard drives with pirated games. That's what did them in IMHO, not the modification of the console itself. I figured it'd be common sense that, if they were to go down that road, to install the hardware and free/legit software (EvoX, etc) only and let the customer go rent games and put them on the drives themselves...

[Jimador]

Yeah definitely should have been left up to the customer to add pirated games if they saw fit. However, I doubt he will get 17 years. Sounds like a lot of posturing by the government and why is homeland involved?

[Arandar]

Yeah definitely should have been left up to the customer to add pirated games if they saw fit. However, I doubt he will get 17 years. Sounds like a lot of posturing by the government and why is homeland involved?

Because they need a job.

[Jimador]

Oh yeah...have to come up with something to justify your existence. Thanks for the clarification.

[schmizz]

I just think it's B.S. that homeland security is involved in this. Very scary that our country is headed in this direction

www.infowars.com

[Flavius]

I've never hesitated to calls them like I sees them and there's no sense in changing that now...

What an incredibly ridiculous, callous, ignorant, etc...move on Jones' (and his company) part?!

Courts (both here and abroad) have been reluctant to find modification of products consumers have purchased and properly own constitutes a violation of the law. However, as to those charges stemming from DMCA violations...packing the upgraded hard-drives full of copyright-protected material and selling them for profit?

He may very well be the lamb led to the slaughter in the fight againt piracy, and I'm not so certain that I have a problem with that. Far be it from me to defend the scene, but there's always been an understanding amongst members of that community that the...how shall we say..."liberties" taken in the "distribution" of these materials was done for the sake of two things:

1. sharing
2. showing off (as in m@d l33t skillz, yo!)

Taking the works of developers, publishers & the industry...and taking the "work" of members of the scene...in order to make a buck isn't going to win him any friends on either front, I would suspect. Suffice to say, he's made his bed...nighty-night.

[Burr]

Taking the works of developers, publishers & the industry...and taking the "work" of members of the scene...in order to make a buck isn't going to win him any friends on either front, I would suspect. Suffice to say, he's made his bed...nighty-night.

Exactly. There is such a thing as honor among thieves, and he cared as much about that as the copyright law, so now he got what he deserved.

[agn]

I can't believe they put 75 games on that thing. Just crazy.

[Flavius]

Took a look at the indictment...


On or about November 4, 2005, during that meeting
at ACME Game Store, defendant BRYANT accepted from the Undercover
DHS Agents a down payment of $200 and provided the Undercover DHS
Agents with a receipt indicating that payment was for “Xbox
repair.”


On or about November 4, 2005, during that meeting
at ACME Game Store, defendant JONES explained to Undercover DHS
Agents how to record games onto the modified Xbox console and
told the Undercover DHS Agents, “Once you get a mod, come see me,
get something new and I’ll put it on for you. I can keep my
games; you keep your stuff, everyone’s happy. Give me $40 and
I’ll give you six to eight games; it’s cheaper than renting.”

On or about November 4, 2005, during that meeting
at ACME Game Store, defendant JONES explained to the Undercover
DHS Agents that, once modified, the Xbox game console could not
be used on the Internet because the modification would be
detected by Microsoft and told the Undercover DHS Agents, “You
got to remember, this is highly illegal.”

On or about November 9, 2005, during that meeting
at ACME Game Store, defendant JONES provided to the Undercover
DHS Agents the Xbox game console that had been modified by ACME
with a mod chip and hard drive, and had been loaded with
unauthorized copies of copyrighted video games including: “True
Crime: Streets of L.A.,” Copyright Reg. No. TX-5-894-602;
“Burnout 3: Takedown,” Copyright Reg. No. PA 1-241-870; “Madden:
NFL 06,” Copyright Reg. No. PA 1-293-097; “NBA Street V3,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA 1-247-298; “NCAA Football 06,” Copyright
Reg. No. PA 1-293-683; “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA 1-131-073; “Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 05,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA 1-245-925; “Forza Motorsport,” Copyright
Reg. No. TX-6-125-547; “Halo,” Copyright Reg. No. TX-5-593-817;
“Halo 2,” Copyright Reg. No. TXu-1-193-313; “Rallisport
Challenge,” Copyright Reg. No. PA-1-205-929; “Soul Calibur II,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA-1-156-802; “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA-1-262-869; “Full Spectrum Warrior,”
Copyright Reg. No. PAu-2-804-010; “Prince of Persia: The Sands of
Time,” Copyright Reg. No. TX-5-945-092; “Topspin,” Copyright Reg.
No. PA-1-247-529; “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher
Bay,” Copyright Reg. No. PA-1-232-220; “Dead or Alive Ultimate,”
Copyright Reg. No. PA-1-266-904; and “Ninja Gaiden,” Copyright
Reg. No. PA-1-232-223.


He won't receive 17 years...hell, odds are very good that he'll never set foot in a cell. But he'd best warm up the check-writing hand and put on sensible shoes...because my fortune-telling skills are telling me that there are hefty fines and a substantial amount of community service hours in his future.