Trouble for modded xboxs?

[NeoNight]

RUMOR #3: Microsoft is quietly scanning the hard drives of Xbox Live users to see if they have been modded.

Source: The well-written, skeptical, and sometimes wholly creative Spong.

The official story: "One of the ways Microsoft protects its intellectual property, in this case Xbox, is through the use of innovative technical solutions. We believe technology, in addition to education and awareness can be effective in protecting publishers' rights while maintaining a rich product experience for customers--by ensuring the use of genuine hardware and software."--official Microsoft spokesperson.

What we heard: When we started to hear the far-fetched but fairly numerous reports that Xbox Live users' hard drives were being remotely scanned by M'soft to see whether they were factory issue or illegally modified, we became curious, and just a little paranoid.

Bogus or not bogus?: After additional reads of the Microsoft statement, especially the lead, which began, "As you know, intellectual property is very important to Microsoft," we knew: Not bogus.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I don't understand why this would matter anyways. People who don't mod their xbox don't have anything even remotely worth hiding, whereas somebody who mods their xbox should understand that they are altering a trusted device that microsoft otherwise has complete control of, so naturally that should be expected.

 

[NeoNight]

yeah but can you honestly say you would expect to scan your hard drive. Then again You would have to be dumb enough to try to play online with your modded xbox in order for them to scan it.

 

[zAlbee]

yes, and this is old news

 

[Trotterwatch]

Yeah but if you don't play by their rules (ie not chipping the X-Box) then IMO they don't have to play by yours scan ahoy.

 

[sheik124]

this is *ANCIENT* news, i have modded a couple of xboxes, just flip the Off switch on your modchip (if it doesn't have one, the modchip was not worth buying IMHO) and they will never know, and if they do catch you, you can get a new EEPROM for your xbox in ways i should not and cannot disclose here, if you want to know more on how the Xbox protection shit works check out xbox-scene.com, very helpful people down there

 

[Tagrineth]

Um... hi guys, use your heads for a moment here.

This scanning has nothing to do with mod chips themselves, it's more for the people who replace the HD's with larger ones and run downloaded games direct off the HD's, or who run Linux on them. Even if you turn the chip off, that'll still be blatantly visible.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I just simply don't play on xbox live myself.

 

[Doomulation]

This is so typical m$.
I'd say that any scanning of sort is concidered to be looting through a person's private things. Although, m$ CAN force the users to agree to a contract (or disclaimer) if they wish to use xbox live.

They just don't know when to quit.
But I guess it's for the best, huh?

 

[Tagrineth]

This is so typical m$.
I'd say that any scanning of sort is concidered to be looting through a person's private things. Although, m$ CAN force the users to agree to a contract (or disclaimer) if they wish to use xbox live.

They just don't know when to quit.
But I guess it's for the best, huh?

Well, if you think about it and/or use your head for a moment again, what private things are you supposed to be storing on the Xbox's hard drive? :flowers:

 

[AlphaWolf]

Keep in mind that the xbox scene is lazy, and there is no legal dev kit for the xbox, so something like XBMP among many other homebrewn apps are illegal to have as well.

 

[Trotterwatch]

This is so typical m$.
I'd say that any scanning of sort is concidered to be looting through a person's private things.

And they could say that by running the games off the HD (illegally) you are stealing from them. So it's spying vs stealing You (as in the users who are using it illegally) have no right at all to take the moral highground IMO.

I would wager the level of spying is > how big is HD... and that really is nothing to complain about.

 

[DuDe]

This is so typical m$.

 

[aprentice]

Well, thats what people get for supporting the xbox, I hope they learned their lesson, say no to xbuick

 

[pj64er]

The question is yet again, why use Xbox Live anyway?

 

[Tagrineth]

And they could say that by running the games off the HD (illegally) you are stealing from them. So it's spying vs stealing You (as in the users who are using it illegally) have no right at all to take the moral highground IMO.

I would wager the level of spying is > how big is HD... and that really is nothing to complain about.

No, it goes even farther - the only thing you can willingly put on the hard drive, without modification, is music. And who fuckin' cares if MS can see what music you listen to? Anyway, anyone who keeps their XB factory issue has nothing to worry about, as nothing sensitive could be on the hard drive... really, the only people with anything to worry about would be the people doing illegal things.

 

[vampireuk]

Bastard thats my thing!!

 

[AlphaWolf]

xbox is a good console, far better than the rest IMO, and I use it all the time...just I don't use it for what MS intended it for

 

[Doomulation]

Well, if you think about it and/or use your head for a moment again, what private things are you supposed to be storing on the Xbox's hard drive? :flowers:

Nothing really, but again...concider laws that required a shop to promptly tell the shopper that they're using tv surveillance.
Scanning through one's things is just stupid, however they put it. It isn't illegal, nor do I think it is a bad idea, but still...
This is all I have to it.

 

[NeoNight]

Um... hi guys, use your heads for a moment here.

This scanning has nothing to do with mod chips themselves, it's more for the people who replace the HD's with larger ones and run downloaded games direct off the HD's, or who run Linux on them. Even if you turn the chip off, that'll still be blatantly visible.

exactly, the fact that they can detect modchips may be old news but they never scanned your hard drive before (if not your whole system), IF am not mistaken.

Sony has never spied on us so far! and to top it all off they don't charge us for playing most online ps2 games!