HSD - Hours before the raids were news and broadcast across the net and the mass media, an XS member (FallsInc) tried to warn those of us in the inner circle that the noose was about to tighten around US Modchip shops. In all honesty many amongst us didn't give too much credence to the tip. Those of us running this site aren't running Modchip shops. To our Utter shock and dismay, hours later we watched as one shop after another in the US market either went down, stopped answering the phones and stopped taking orders. Shops, big and small across 16 states were raided, and had modding, piracy, and alot of unrelated goods and materials confiscated under the wide brush strokes of the DCMA.
The following is a firsthand account, written in his own words of the last 24 or so hours in the life of FallInc.
FallsInc - When ICE hit me, they had a warrant for my grandma's house where I had all my packages sent. They had a picture of the house, and a description of it, meaning they were ready to come find me. When they were there, they didn't find much, since I hadn't had my computer and most modding stuff there for a while, but I continued to have the orders sent there for security of the packages. They went in the house and woke everyone up and watched them get dressed and started going though everything that was in my old room, and the stuff I had in the garage. They took anything that was related to gaming. They opened all the mail I had waiting for me there (which included someone's Xbox and $150 for a mod and 400gb), and took all the consoles and all console parts that I had stored there they even took my original xbox1 games, that were in retail cases. They took my 360, power brick and video cable, while its modded with xtreme 5.1b, it has never had 1 single burned game booted on it. They also felt it necessary to take all my old Xbox parts, mostly dead, my controllers for the 360 and Wii (?) and packed it in a box, and left.
They got my phone number from my grandma and they called me, but I was sleeping, just like everyone else in Ohio. They eventually figured out where I was, and came to find me at my girlfriends' house. They asked me about modding and what I did, and how I did it. They showed me the list of modchips that they collected, and asked me if I ever imported modchips from Canada. I told them I did, but I didn't know it was a Canadian site until after I made the order. They asked me how much money I made, and how many mods I've done, and how many chips I still had, and where they were and where my computers were.
I wasn't forced to turn over my stuff since they didn't have a warrant for where it all was, but they told me that if I volunteered it, it would look better when the case is reviewed. They also said that I would have a better chance of getting it back (at first, they promised that I would get it back in 10 days, but once we got to the location, that was changed to "better chance" and "looks better in the eyes of XX". I did the only thing I felt I could do, I let them take what they wanted. We went to where I had my workshop area. They took my laptop, and desktop, and the soldering iron (which was one of their main things to find for some reason). All the chips and relative parts were taken on the recommendation of the computer forensics guy who was to be doing the analysis on my things.
In their defense, the ICE people who came to my girlfriends house were nice people, and they tried to help me make the right decision. I knew they were just doing their job, but I have been out of work since early may, and modding is the only thing that was keeping me above water with the bills. Now I can't mod, and I can't even sell anything off to pay for bills either since it has all been confiscated due to a ludicrous interpretation of the DCMA. Now it's all said and done, and I just have to wait for them to decide what I did wrong, but while I'm waiting, I have NOTHING of any worth anymore, other than a computer monitor, and my car. Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter, and last night, I slept in my car and my girlfriend sent me a text message telling me it felt like someone was taking me away from her. They took my life away. I would like to formally thank Microsoft and Nintendo for cracking down on the little guy with a soldering iron in his garage, rather than going after the people that are responsible for the bootlegs being available.
HSD - Xbox-Scene and it's affiliate sites do not condone or endorse piracy, however we do strive to discuss, educate, and explore methods of modifying and operating game consoles in ways not originally intended or envisioned by the manufacturers. We whole heartedly believe in the right to backup your investment. This act in and of itself isn't legal in many jurisdictions. Running a "modchip" store, site or service in many jurisdictions isn't legal. XS advises that anyone, regardless of country you are in take the time to educate yourselves on what is legal, and not legal in your jurisdiction. FallsInc wasn't some large modchip site or service. He was an individual making a few coins on the side. While his story won't be the last we'll hear about the raids, we do encourage everyone reading, especially those in the US to take the time and the measures necessary to ensure that you won't be in the next batch of raids.
This isn't JUST a problem for the United States. Europe isn't exempt from the broad strokes of the bloated DCMA legislation. Europe in 2001 passed the EU copyright Directive which has many similarities to the DCMA. There are many good resources on the net about the DCMA and the EUCD. Wikipedia is a good start Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
I'd like to thank FallsInc for coming forward and sharing his story with us.
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Topic: Raid casualty comes forward to tell his story (Read 2163 times)