Rip
10-10-2006, 12:10 PM
The concept of piracy has long created an issue inherently emotionally charged and always problematic. On one end of the argument are content creators, who design the work, music, and art we enjoy. On the other are the consumers who ‘consume’, and appreciate the work done. Somewhere in the middle we have large organizations like the RIAA and MPAA ready to take advantage of the legal possibilities represented by this confrontation. On the interactive entertainment side, recently a French company is facing a $9 Million lawsuit for selling mod chips for a variety of game consoles. Mod chips are designed to circumvent security protection on the game device and allow for a variety of things, most notably copying games onto one’s hard drive so the discs don’t need to be physically put into the computer. In addition one can put on homebrew applications (programs that are not developed or sanctioned by the console manufacturer) onto the system for advanced functionality. While many people use mod chips in order to utilize these benefits, there are also downsides to the situation. First off, making modifications to the hardware of the system will instantly void any warranty, and for people who don’t understand the specifics of what they are doing, any console manufacturer isn’t happy to hear calls about consoles breaking after they’ve been modified. Secondly its an open door for piracy, when you can save your libraries of titles onto a hard drive and play them, it becomes easy to acquire your friend’s library as well. The real question lies within whether console manufacturers should be able to take legal action against the companies making or selling mod chips, as well as whether because there are the positive uses they can consider them illegal. One doesn’t sign a contract when purchasing a console, so they theoretically can make any modifications they want, however they are at their own risk, if they screw them up they can’t expect it to be fixed. But the piracy issue, there is the real question. Should mod chips be illegal to sell because of the pirating potential, do companies have the right to deny people from buying mod chips, or modded consoles? Thoughts?