Trading Standards and ELSPA bust UK game pirate

A joint raid carried out by Trading Standards and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has led to the apprehension of a man accused of video game piracy offenses. A sting operation had been carried out, in which participants visited the unnamed Staffordshire man to have an Xbox console chipped, and to purchase several illegally copied games.

After the games were taken for examination, there was enough evidence to get a search warrant. The raid turned up over 1,000 pirated video games, including over 700 Xbox 360 games and 300 Wii games. Around 100 PlayStation 2 games were also found. Three Xbox 360 consoles and two Nintendo Wii consoles were seized.

The man admitted to running his operation through Gumtree.com for the past two years. "Our team in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) will step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009. Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK," said Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA.

An investigation under the Proceeds Of Crime Act has begun to determine the criminal gain from the illegal activity.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 Jan 2009 0:31

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15 comments

engage16

How the hell does modchipping an xbox and copying a few games do this?

Quote:Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the publicHealth problems??? WTF!!!???

11.1.2009 02:00 #1

Xch4ng3

Originally posted by engage16: How the hell does modchipping an xbox and copying a few games do this?

Quote:Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the publicHealth problems??? WTF!!!???I actually Lol'd at that. What I found even more funny was this:

Quote:certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality controlUmmm, How?!

PC:

AMD Athalon 64 x2 4000+ Dual Core 2.1Ghz
1GB RAM
160GB Hard Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit.

Games:

PSP: 3.90M33-2
Xbox360: Xeno Top Gear (Not Flashed)
NDS: R4

11.1.2009 03:50 #2

tin23uk

heres my theory om the ill health affects caused by game pirates.

the game pirate sells the games cheaper meaning i can by more. then sit in front of my tv playing these games for an obsurd ammount of time, i then forget to eat or drink for the next few weeks as i am having so much fun with all my new games and i die from dehydration.

damn those game pirates and their cheap but addictive copies.

11.1.2009 09:53 #3

mostopher

Quote:Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public�Qu�?

11.1.2009 09:57 #4

ammad123

Quote:Quote:Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public�Qu�?I think what they're trying to say is that by illegally modding such a console as for example an xbox 360 , The product may react in a harmful way. Such as that it may explode or whatever !!! Because there is "untested" hardware being inserted into the device.

Dunno that's what i think anyway...

11.1.2009 10:36 #5

varnull

Under UK electrical goods laws.. any device which has been opened and modified/repaired MUST be tested for electrical safety by a qualified technician.. and a label attached to that effect .. before it can be sold or used by anybody but the person carrying out the repair or modification.
Of course most of us totally ignore these regulations.. but in dong so we are actually breaking the law.

Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.
I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for what I am not.
Welcome to the other side of the looking glass Alice

11.1.2009 10:48 #6

engage16

so get your technician's license and verify your own modding... then your all set... correct?

Custom built AMD XP 2200+, 80gb HDD, 200gb HDD, 764mb RAM, SONY CD-RW 52x CRX230E, SONY DVD-RW 16x DL DRU-800A, ATI Raedon 9600 128mb
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30gb Black Video iPod

11.1.2009 12:52 #7

varnull

That's about the strength of it
They aren't easy to get.. a year or so at college.. IEEC 17 I think it's at now.. I haven't done my update yet, so I'm not allowed to do them.

11.1.2009 13:19 #8

domie

As far as I know it's still illegal to mod a games console in the anally retentive UK , even if it is carried out by a professional electrician and fully certified as being safe. The actual chipping itself is illegal under our anal laws.

I think what they mean by being a danger to health is that all the council house trash on the local Karen Matthew's Estate and chav scum that have x-boxes will now have more disposable income as they don't have to spend their drug trafficking money / government handouts / housing benefits /stolen money on x-box games as they can download them - therefore they will use that income to visit MacDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, The Pub and Fentucky Cried Kicken even more often than usual thus leading in an alarming increase in their cholestrol levels and Lonsdale track suit sizes.

11.1.2009 14:57 #9

snowlock

it's probably illegal here in the states as well.

didn't stop a local shop from doing mods years back,
probably to drum up business for their import sales.

they did well for a while; expanded to 3 locations.
mysteriously closed down and disappeared,
probably due to such illegal practices as this and renting dvd-r copies.

edit: wasn't there some sort of official "modchip" expansion slot in the original xbox?

11.1.2009 17:42 #10

Hopium

the moral of the story is to support piracy not profit from it. he made money he got busted.

12.1.2009 04:36 #11

domie

Originally posted by Hopium: the moral of the story is to support piracy not profit from it.tell that to The Pirate Bay, their accountants, bank managers and their Swiss advertising agency executives :)

12.1.2009 05:35 #12

varnull

Originally posted by domie: Originally posted by Hopium: the moral of the story is to support piracy not profit from it.tell that to The Pirate Bay, their accountants, bank managers and their Swiss advertising agency executives :)Heard of the DMCA? .. By the same token you can say the same for afterdawn.. All those guides on how to rip protected and break the encryption on dvd's... also illegal. Probably more so than what the bay do, because they are not responsible for the content provided by users as they don't actually host any of the files or information.

FYI.. It isn't illegal in the UK to modify a console, it only becomes illegal to do so when the only purpose of that modification is to circumvent copy protection. A chip or softmod which adds functionality.. say by allowing a user to run linux or play disks from another system, or play music cd's or films from disks without perhaps using an expensive add-on is in no way against the law.

12.1.2009 05:49 #13

vurbal

Quote:Heard of the DMCA? .. By the same token you can say the same for afterdawn.. All those guides on how to rip protected and break the encryption on dvd's... also illegal. Probably more so than what the bay do, because they are not responsible for the content provided by users as they don't actually host any of the files or information.
Actually there shouldn't be any guides or tools on Afterdawn for bypassing copy protection. They were removed 2 years ago due to changes in Finnish copyright law designed to bring them into compliance with the EUCD.

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/...pyright_law.cfm

13.1.2009 02:24 #14

DXR88

If i choose to mod my xbox360 thats my choice, for whatever reason. chipping services should not be outlawed like they are.

there deemed illegal for the mere fact that in order to install Linux on an xbox u must first break the internal copyright mechanism of the xbox itself there for chipping services break the law.

its both stupid and ridicules, that billions of dollars are wasted on such bullcrap.

if your going to mod something DIY and learn to use a soldering iron.

14.1.2009 14:30 #15

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