xbox hacking

Has anyone been to http://hackingthexbox.com/ ? Mr. Huang is selling a book with xbox hacks and what looks to be general security type stuff. The original publisher backed out due to fear of the DCMA. Why would Microsoft care if you modified thier product once you buy it? I think its silly. Once you purchase something you have the right to modify it anyway you want. For instance when I bought my house, I was able to rip it apart and redesign one of the rooms....and there where plenty of books out there that show me how to do it. The same thing goes for my car. I can make mods if I wish, but I may void the warranty. I think M$ is crazy if they think they can stop people from selling books on how to mod thier xbox systems. Anyway, my little senseless rant. I wanna hear the other side of the story for those that agree with M$. Thanks,

MC

This was a previouse discussion.
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...highlight=xbox

ARRGGH....sorry,

OK, what is the best way to search this site to see if something has been posted. I always use the "search" field and I never seem to get back accurate searches. I searched "xbox" and nothing came back. This is the second time I posted something that was covered in another thread and don't wanna keep doing it. Is there some secret to searching the other threads for similar posts?

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Why would Microsoft care if you modified thier product once you buy it?

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Microsoft cares because of the DMCA. Microsoft usual End User License Agreement does not allow for reverse engineering, decompiling, or changing the original code in any way. I am 99.99% certain this includes the X-Box gaming console. This is not silly. It's to protect intellectual property rights. X-Box hacking falls into that catagory, and I think the publisher was smart to back out. MS is not very nice when it comes to stealing their stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, one can argue Microsft stole **** too, but let's face it... Robin Willams put MS in the the most perfect light:

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... Monopoly is just a game senator. I am trying to rule the ****ing world...

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Once you purchase something you have the right to modify it anyway you want.

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Wrong. You have purchased the right to RUN and USE the product within the terms of the EULA or the terms set forth for the game console. Not to hack it and to violate those terms. It may not be fair, but those are the terms. If you do not like the terms, Microsoft tells you not to use the product and return the product for a refund.

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I wanna hear the other side of the story for those that agree with M$.

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I do not agree with Microsoft's tactics for monopoly and business parctices. However, the law is the law, and when we break the law we take chances of getting caught and going to prison. It's that simple.

Ya wanna hack? Ya wanna change **** around? Go open source and hack away! They can sure use you. :D

<rant>

so how long have people been able to put restrictions on personal possessions? I mean like said earlier, I can buy a car, soup it up past the point of street legal, but I can still do it even though I can't drive it.... How can MS say that you can't modify your own personal possessions? When did EULA apply to hardware as well as software? This must have crept up because this is the first I've heard of hardware restrictions..... I can see modifying the original code could be against an EULA, but as far as total hardware mods, like sodering wires (no software uses or changed), how can they do this? Could I buy a house and sell it with a EULA? How bout a car? How bout a COMPUTER???? Where does it end? Where does it begin? Mabey I'm thinking about this all wrong, mabey one of you can clarify this for me :)

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I'm in partial agreement with meloncholy, about being able to do what ever you want with the property you own.

But check this out: The license agreement is not posted on the outside of the product, it's there for you to read once you purchase and open it. If you don't agree with the license, you can't take the product back. Most of the stores I know don't let you return electronics, especially games or anything on a cd (they will exchange defective stuff, but not new and working). So then what? You don't agree with the license, but now you can't take it back for a refund.

What I think, and again, this is just my opinion, once I spend, my hard earned money to purchase a product, and I physically take ownership, that license goes right down the toilet, because it's mine, all mine, my precious (lotr).


--PuRe

I dont think that M$ realy has any say about hacking your own machine but i do remeber seeing somewhere about them not letting you onto the xbox live network if they dectedt a modified system. As far as intelectual property goes does that mean its illegal to even unscrew the case? I agree cross. when will it all end?

Well, it's not really a hack. But it's pretty nice, nonetheless. It's an easter egg. Okay, it's for the xbox (if you honestly didn't already know). Here's how to do it.
1. Insert an audio CD and let it begin to play.
2. Stop the disk and step back in order to "Copy" selected tracks of the CD to the hard drive.
3. When the track list comes up, "Select All" and continue.
4. Then choose "New Soundtrack" as the destination for your selection.
5. Now you will enter the name of your soundtrack. You must enter the name exactly as:
<<Eggsßox>>
Including the greater than, less than, and beta symbols.
6. After you have entered the title select "Done" and the thank you message will begin. Following the message you will see a scrolling list of the Xbox Team.

Have fun! =D

When you take the case off the xbox you void the warranty. You can install a switch to turn your mod on and off, to avoid detection on the xbox live network. The chips are legally sold unflashed in the states. You can them flash them yourself, with sowtware found on variouse boards on the interent. It may be illegal to do this as alittlebitnumb pointed out. However, haven't we all copied a vhs before, or recorded something off of television and then viewed it later. This, im my opinion, isn't a battle for knowledge. It is a battle over money. The newage golden rule. "He who has the gold makes the rules."

I feel that if I want to see how things work, I can do so in the privacy of my home. I also have the right to free speech. However when you over step those bounderies you are breaking the law. In most cases you will get away with it, but if you take it too far, you will ended up in trouble.

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When did EULA apply to hardware as well as software?

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Because the hardware and the product was designed by Microsoft and the people they hired, and they hold the rights to the machine design and the software within it. You get to use it, but you still cannot modify it. Like in the old days when IBM introduced the MCA slot, the hardware was protected, and was VERY expensive. As you may know the ISA slot prevailed because it was an open standard. Same goes with the Mac. The hardware for the most part is proprietary, and you have to buy a Mac from a Mac dealer and no knockoffs are made. That's why Mac is not as popular as the X86 based machine, where knockoffs can be made.

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The license agreement is not posted on the outside of the product, it's there for you to read once you purchase and open it.

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You are wrong and right at the same time. Outside of Microsoft software, there is a notice that does indicate you must agree with the terms of the End User License Agreement before you are allowed to use the product. Some software goes as far as as soon as you break the seal you automatically agreed to the terms of the license (it does not matter if you read it or not). As for returning it to a store, I actually got to return a game when I showed them the license agreement and showed the clause where I was allowed to bring it back if I did not agree with the terms. I got the refund. :)

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What I think, and again, this is just my opinion, once I spend, my hard earned money to purchase a product, and I physically take ownership, that license goes right down the toilet, because it's mine, all mine, my precious (lotr).

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You are certainly entitled to your opinion, and many anti-DMCA advocates argue the fine points of "fair use" to fight the DMCA, and how it promotes monopolies and restrictions for users. Until the law is retracted the law is still the law. If you guys are that againt the DMCA, there is always legislation and fighting for a removal of a law.

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haven't we all copied a vhs before, or recorded something off of television and then viewed it later. This, im my opinion, isn't a battle for knowledge.

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This is a terrific point of "fair use" and how the law is being challenged.

Until that time, we are expected to follow the law. When you break the law, you take chances. That's it.