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[Reaper527]

well, the softmod is going to load an illegal bios in somewhere around 90% of cases. to the best of my knowledge, the softmod (as well as any tsop flash or modchip) is perfectly legal if you use a linux only bios (such as cromwell), and it is definately illegal (just like any modchip or tsop flash) if you use an xecuter bios, an evox bios, any other bios that can do something useful (because the bios is made with copyrighted code)

[cmiz]

what about nkpatcher? although it messes around with something that is copyrighted....i don't think it actually contains any copyrighted material. i dunno though, i'm not much of a legal expert

[SSJ4Gohan]

I am sure it was written with the M$ XDK making it illegal.

[blah101]

ya it is most defintley 100% illegal to softmod your xbox with any other bios besides MS or Cromwell.. durka durka buddy.. think about it.

[cmiz]

well yes....in the EULA it says that you can't modify it thus making any sort of softmodding at all illegal.....but being illegal and violating copyright laws are 2 different things. if you use XDK is it illegal? yes because XDK is stolen property....but if you write your own program using it, is it a copyright violation? i dunno but i would agree that yes, it is overall illegal. did you mean illegal or a copyright violation danzig?

edit: as an afterthought...was nkpatcher built with XDK? just curious

[krayzie]

while nkpatcher or the hacked fonts are no illegal codes themselves they are illegal to use them. Everything that is used to circumvent copyprotection is illegal. The only legal softmodding is using the linux mechfonts that will ONLY run linux.

[blah101]

QUOTE(krayzie @ Jan 12 2005, 06:40 AM)

while nkpatcher or the hacked fonts are no illegal codes themselves they are illegal to use them. Everything that is used to circumvent copyprotection is illegal. The only legal softmodding is using the linux mechfonts that will ONLY run linux.

[cmiz]

well...nkpatcher isn't a particularly intricate program so i don't really know if it required xdk, and i'd listen to krayzie because he knows his stuff....but i'm curious to know about the building of nkpatcher too, xdk or no? and i'm pretty sure that the fonts weren't xdk seeing as they're fonts as opposed to applications...but i'd be interested in learning about those too.

[dudeman456]

This was discuss in the past, one thing no Company(Defense Excluded) can tell you that you can not modify your property. If have a dream that inspires me with a way to create a softmod from scrath(No MS code), it is perfectly legal for anyone that owns their xbox to use it. When you start doing something that is not supported by MS, they have the right to not support you(technically,ect), if you decide to make copies of game with your new setup you just broke the law.

[cmiz]

that last statement is perfectly true....if you don't live in the US. getting into a debate about laws isn't really going to work in a forum that touches so many different countries because each one obviously has a slightly different set of laws.

if you ARE from the US, then you apperantly haven't heard of the digital millenium copyright act (a VERY questionable law which actually violates several existing laws...but hey, that's what happens when big corporations can buy votes in the government). since modding your xbox would allow you to use illegally copied games, it is illegal to mod it, even if you had no intention of using illegally copied games. also the "illegally copied games" part doesn't even matter because technically, under the dmca, you can't copy your games even if you own them. so anything that would allow you to play backup games is illegal. welcome to america, land of the....expensive? haha

edit: don't take that as me being against modding (i think that you should be allowed to)....i'm just stating the facts

[Angerwound]

NKPatcher as well as the fonts are written completely independant of the xdk. They are coded in ASM and the sources are provided with each release. None of rmenhal's code was taken from anything copyrwritten by MS.

[krayzie]

see also this topic

[cmiz]

i kinda assumed that all along but didn't have the facts to back it up...thanks for the enlightening info a/w and krayzie

[dudeman456]

Actully I'm from the U.S., as you can notice from the location stated(from the side profile), (no rudeness intended, ofcourse)as for the DMCA, by not letting me softmod my Xbox, MS would violating the DMCA, the 'Fair Use' concession.

Which is why when Xbox moding was advocated on U.S. Television for the Purpose Of Proctecting Xbox Software From The Possible Damage Optain From Kids. The (Yours/My) Xbox ends its DMCA participation when the DVD-Rom fails. The DMCA definition of the Xbox does not apply to a box that does not perform Xbox actions.

[cmiz]

really? that's very interesting!

i always thought it was a before: doesn't allow illegally copied games  
after: allows illegally copied games
therefore: illegal
i didn't know that my xbox wasn't really an xbox as far as they were concerned...

you seem to know what you're talking about...and so i'm going to hassle you for more info....i thought that the dmca was actually in violation of the fair use laws because it said that if something was encrypted, breaking that encryption (even if it was for a backup of something you owned) was illegal. i thought that was the basis for the whole dvd-jon guy thing. am i completely wrong on that?