Was Microsoft Right To Ban Pirates From Xbox Live?
During the last few days it became evident that Microsoft had initiated a mass banning of modified consoles operating pirated games on Xbox Live.
But was it right to do so?
During the last week, Microsoft acted on a method it has developed to detect modified Xbox 360 consoles running pirated games and took action to permanently ban them from the Xbox Live gaming service.
If reports are to be believed, up to 1 million consoles were banned in the swoop.
“All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live,” Microsoft said in a statement.
But was Microsoft right to take this action, which, perhaps not all that coincidentally, coincided with the release of Modern Warfare 2, the most anticipated online-capable game this year?
My opinion is this – all is fair in love, war and piracy, and those that pirate anything should fully understand that at times there will be drawbacks.
Anyone familiar with the satellite/cable hacking scene in Europe (I presume the US position will be similar) will know that while it’s all very nice getting free services for months and months on end, eventually there is a payback of sorts, albeit in a limited way.
In response to a new ECM (electronic countermeasure) the special box you bought will stop working or the pirate card will need updating, usually just as the latest blockbuster or sporting event hits PPV. Virgin Media and NTL TV pirates will discover this next year when Nagravision 3 is implemented.
It’s a cat and mouse game. If people rely on pirate products, they must accept that these are the rules. The suppliers of the product or service will do everything they can to stop pirates getting their stuff without paying them for it and of course, they are completely within their rights to do that.
But what Microsoft did was different. Although using pirate games and modified consoles is against the Xbox Live terms of service, instead of canceling a user’s Xbox Live account, it actually banned the user’s console from accessing the service.
This means that if that particular Xbox 360 gets sold on (which is going to happen) the person buying that unit will find that it has reduced functionality, in that it won’t be able to access Xbox Live. The unsuspecting buyer will effectively be punished for the actions of someone else.
So while I believe that Microsoft has the right to terminate a user’s Xbox Live account for a breach of the agreed terms and conditions, I think it’s a step too far to deliberately damage their hardware, albeit in a limited way.
As I mentioned earlier, Modern Warfare 2 was released this week and in my opinion it is absolutely worth every penny, and there will now be many people who have had their consoles banned looking on in envy. They will all have to buy new consoles if they want to experience the amazing online play that Xbox Live offers.
The question is, will they risk modifying their next console?
As always, that’s the gamble….
“This means that if that particular Xbox 360 gets sold on (which is going to happen) the person buying that unit will find that it has reduced functionality, in that it won’t be able to access Xbox Live. The unsuspecting buyer will effectively be punished for the actions of someone else.”
You aren’t supposed to sell your xbox in the first place therefore Microsoft offers no support.
“It’s a cat and mouse game. If people rely on pirate products, they must accept that these are the rules. The suppliers of the product or service will do everything they can to stop pirates getting their stuff without paying them for it and of course, they are completely within their rights to do that.”
I 100% agree. By the way it’s not like piracy as never boosted a console’s sells in the videogames history. At the end it’s really a game.
Just to let everyone know who reads this.. Microsoft didn’t magically find a way to detect modified consoles.. Cat & Mouse not really.. I told all my friends this was going to happen (I dont own any 360 etc only my old xboxs and a ps3 which barely gets use).. I also told them 3rd party memory was going aswell.. You should hear them complain now..
AS FOR BANNING … PLEASE ALL READ THIS..
IF YOU ARE PERMANANTLY BANNED THIS INCLUDES YOUR CONSOLE AND UP TO FULL CREDIT CARD AND USERNAME.. YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED BACK ON THE SERVICE *(assuming same credentials)*..
Buying any second hand console 360 wise be advised the console may be banned permanantly from XBL.. Good luck trying to talk the rep into unbanning your box.. It can’t be done..
Things to watch for in the future.. 3rd party controller mods.. Meaning quick fire stuff etc.. This may be the next target so be advised against using these.. And cmon.. do you really need these online? Your safe using them offline..
As for hardware being damaged all this info was known from day 1 that M$ would ban the console if necessary.. People are so naive to think Microsoft’s not watching modded consoles.. My bet is they can see the majority instead of the minority.. Just a heads up..
This is why PC gaming is so much better
Yeah, PC gaming is much better, and not because you can easily pirate games (I prefer to get my games via Steam), but because of the performance! Lol, I’ll prolly get flamed by console fanboys now. xD.
Don’t buy another xbox… buy a PS3
It’s just ridiculous. As a potential consumer of this product, first I’ve seen the Red Ring of Death, and now I’ve learned that a whole console could be banned remotely. Given MS’s reliability, do you think I trust them to ban only the right ones? Is this a joke? And why should a company be able to have that much power to see into your hardware (YOUR hardware in YOUR home) and see how it is modified? I would never purchase anything from a company that worked this way. This is so much worse than that Kindle thing where they “un-sold” previously rented content of 1984 and Animal Farm.
It’s things like this that make me wonder things like “If Microsoft dies like Goldman-Sachs or GM, what happens to XBox Live?” It seems much safer to use an open-source product instead of one tied to a company that may fail. (And who knows who may fail?)
Ummm…you must be very new to this phenomenon known as the internet. Do you know how much information you give THIS site just by logging in? Google “whois” and you’ll see how the nature of TCP/IP reveals your information to the servers you connect to.
You’re an idiot, MicroSoft is not touching YOUR hadware, they are banning you from THEIR servers. You pay for a service to use their servers, your console still works after the ban, you cant use any of their live services after. They have no power on your hardware, just their hardware.
actually your wrong, they stop you from playing games off your hdd,(making it useless on the banned console) as well as locking me out of my profile, because its no longer finding it, and the only way to restore is thru xbox live …..
Microsoft IS touching your hardware. My 120gb HD wont work on my banned console or any other HD’s.
Its the long arm of M$ reaching into your home which is a bit over the top.
Oh M-soft.
This reminds me of the Ff-SkipScreen Drama :)
Its my console, and Ill modify it if I want. What happens if you have backups of the games youve bought? Hypocrisy!
I think microsoft did the right thing. You dont pirate games and then play xbox live what a bunch of idiots
Microsoft cannot simply stop at banning the Live account. Since it was not the Live account that was hacked it was the physical hardware. The service agreement that you “sign” when getting Live states that you are not aloud to use modified hardware. The problem with hacking is that it does far more than allow for pirated games. It allows cheating as well.
Honestly Steam (for the PC) does the exact same thing MS does. If you get caught hacking they ban your account. Effectively stealing all of your purchased games from you. At least MS lets you still use the games you legally purchased, they just block you from using them online.
As much as it sucks, if you didn’t hack your console and did get banned it will be possible to convince MS since you will be able to warranty it in some way. The reason these banning and such happen so rarely is because MS & other providers have to be super careful not to crash unhacked hardware.
P.S. If you seriously need to hack your xbox or PS3 or whatever, just don’t hook the thing up to the internet. You aren’t breaking any laws by hacking the device. It’ll cost you the warranty and internet, but you knew that going in. If you didn’t, then quite frankly your an idiot and you deserve to be banned.
This might be the right time for me to buy a second modified 360, I don’t care if it’s banned or not, since my first isn’t and will never be.
Maybe you could even collect the gamerscore by putting your profile on a card.
meh…its all shit anyway….
Ha! New firmware released to avoid ban. http://xbox.joystiq.com/2007/05/30/new-firmware-prevents-modders-from-being-banned/
that was in ’07 duesch bag
@ze – That firmware is over 2 years old. MS busted that a long time ago. No doubt that new firmware will be released soon to allow live use without being detected. Banned consoles though will likely remain banned, sucks for those unlucky enough to be hooked up at that time but its the risk you take if you want to mod/hack your console.
You can defeat the ban on your console by changing the contents of your keyvault. Probably best to seek out the skills of whoever modded your box to begin with though.
And you need to make a NEW live account…
Wait! What, you can’t sell an Xbox? That’s not even legal to prevent you from doing. Software included, regardless of a license if you got it retail!
Microsoft is the law.
hi there after reading the comments i am so annoyed i bought my 2nd xbox 6 months ago ( my fisrt one broke with water being spilt on it buy my 2yr old) i have turned it on today to find out i have been banned. i have no idea why this has been done i dont play “copied games” or anything like that. i called Xbox today to find out they wont give me any reason why. i am so annoyed and the only responce i get from MS is to buy a new one.
how can this be legal i would understand if they would give an explanation but they wont tell me anything.
[...] : FreakBit) Une lesbienne bannie de Xbox Live pour avoir affiché son homosexualitéBaston : les pirates [...]
Jesus, most of you should stop playing your Xbox games and should learn to spell. Almost every comment on here has a spelling mistake.
I play video games but it hasn’t turned me into a retard.
Oh, by the way if you have your account banned for modding then it’s just the risk you run by trying to save some money. I would like to see a ban on players who use modded controllers online as it ruins the experience for everyone else.
you want to steal games?
that is your right but if you are caught and your console is banned, it is all on you.
you cannot blame MS for wanting gamers to pay for the content, and in all honesty, does anyone wnat to play on XbOx LiVe against someone who may be running a cheat against you?
have a nice day.
This happened to my friend….
I my self am not stupid enough to
mod my console. If You guys are going to be so cheap
why do you even have an xbox in the first place???
Seriously Just Buy The Games and support the developer for future games and sequels to your favorite games.
Fuck “MICRO SCHROTT” FUCK KONSOLES AND ALL THE MICRO FUCKING DEEP SCHITT!! FUCK THAD
@ Hom3r: “This is why PC gaming is so much better”
+1 i agree
@ Joseph: “Don’t buy another xbox… buy a PS3″
Yeah Xbox 360 = Piece of Shit
i’ve never had an xbox & never will.
PS3 FTW!
The same thing happened to the original xbox and now to the 360, If you mod your system there is the risk of getting caught. If you get caught do not complain. Your fortunate that you do not/will not get fined for the games you have pirated to play on your 360. Microsoft has all rights to ban you if you mod in any way, shape or form. You the buyer of the product accepted a agreement when getting xbox live. But i do think its unfair of Microsoft to charge for xbox live, PC and Sony have no extra fee for gaming with peers. You buy the game you play online thats that for Sony and PC. But all in all being a modder myself have some dignity and quit bitching
microsoft is a bitch not for banning those of us that mod. we all know the risk. but because thay bann inosent people and dont tell them why. or even try to explain there reason why. i think thats bull shit. ive been banned and i dont care but to the ones that were not moded thay should be remberst or sent another console. thats my opinion
lol… as always M$, but that of not letting install games on your HDD thats going too far in my opinion
Whats next? when finally the natal proyect comes out (if it does come out that is)
if you have cf M$ will disable its functionality of capturing your moves? lol…
Spind when natal comes out Microsoft will keep it on the 360 for a month or a year earn as much as possible with more people buying the system then they are going to come out with a new system. To maximize profit.
you know whats fucking cheap? 570 dollars for my elite consle, 75 dollars a game, 40 dollars for a charger pack which is exhausted after one year, 30 dollars for a new mike because the one they give you is shit, 70 dollars for xbox live anually, 150 dollars to ship my red ringed xbox because they produced a faulty machine and decided to sell it. Shut the fuck up you stupid pussy bitch and grow a fucking brain your getting husstled hard out of your money and your just watching like a stupid fucking donkey.
It’s easy everyone! Buy a Ps3, it has free online services, trophies, and pretty much everything else the 360 has plus more. M$ is getting wayyyyy tp picky and expensive with all the money they already have. Fuck them.
Everyone get the fuck over it. If you don’t like something, don’t fucking buy it. Well I did forget, this is the internet where everyone just bitches all day. Get the fuck over it.
Banning their live account makes no sense. Banning consoles is entirely the right way to go about it. If the console is modified and then MS ban the user from xbox live – the console is still modified, so they can just set up a new account and make the initial banning a pointless exercise. Also, let’s say that I share a console with my brother/son etc and I decide to modify it. My brother/son/whoever else goes on XBL and MS detect a modified console and ban the user account. This sounds a bit similar to what we are all complaining about with the whole 3 strikes thing – how can you punish multiple people for the sole actions of one? Simple: you can’t. What you can do, though, is ban the box. Sure that punishes everyone, but it’s not as permanent as banning the account, because you can go and get another console and presto – back online.
I got my console banned during this effort as well. Another plus point for MS is that banning sells more consoles, because people will have to go out and buy a new one. However, what’s more likely to happen is that people will go and buy a new console, wait a few months, RROD their banned console so they can claim a new one from the store under the other console’s warranty (you can force 3 red rings by removing the thermal paste from the cpu/gpu). Now they have 2 consoles. They can either sell one to recoup some of the money (not like they haven’t already saved enough on games to cover the new console anyway), or they will mod one and leave the other – that way in the future if one gets banned they can still play legit games online with the other.
Why is banning the box good. Obviously banning thier live account is better. If they faound the bok had modified files on the first xbox account whats to stop them from finding out you the same modified xbox on your new account. you got to think about this shit. After awhile people wouldn’t get X-box’s if its so expensive and your shit will break.
I don’t understand your question. You basically just said the same thing as me.
Banning the box is good because one box can have any number of live accounts. Therefore taking out 1 live account on a box and leaving all the rest is pointless. Also, taking out the only 1 live account on a modified box is pointless because it takes the user about 4 seconds to set up a new one and continue playing pirated games.
Take the box off the Live service and it doesn’t matter how many accounts were on it and how many new ones the user sets up, they still aren’t going to get online with it.
You seem to be getting confused with how it works – “If they faound the bok had modified files on the first xbox account whats to stop them from finding out you the same modified xbox on your new account”. Well, if you use the same modified xbox on a new account, the box is still banned from live, so it makes no difference. That’s why it is more effective to ban the box and not the account.
“After awhile people wouldn’t get X-box’s if its so expensive and your shit will break”. Exactly. You’ll get fed up of buying new XBoxes and just stop modifying them.
The article was about Microsoft being right or wrong in banning the boxes. The answer (in my oppinion) is that they were right, for all of the reasons I listed above. Your counter argument seems to be that they were wrong because it stops people pirating games, but that was their intention in the first place. I’m not saying it isn’t bad for the pirate, of course it is. That was their aim all along, so in fact they were right to do it.
Banning the console itself is rude and direct to the point but i guess still M$ has the right to do it.
What is indeed (in my opinion) over the line that M$ damages YOUR hardware as if the banning from XBL wasnt enough punishment.
And yes it will generate a bit more of income for them, but what is the reason that the 360 is still on competition in the first place?
Because it can be modified, among other reasons of course but in my opinion the one i just said is the one with most weight.
You all think you are getting it bad by being banned.
Well, I modded my 360 (jtag) and doged the updates and had a great run on line
__UNTIL__
One evening, in my sleep, a Micro$$ft agent slipped in my home and raped my earhole. He made me promise to stay off line.
I didn’t get banned I just had m$$oft f*&k sum sense into me
Chill–dudes