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[Xbox-Scene]

(Australia) Modchippers Under Fire with New Law Posted by XanTium | September 14 00:09 EST

From cnet.com.au: Users of modchipped videogame consoles could face fines of up to AU$6600 under new laws being put in place by the Australian Federal Government, a news alert from law firm Minter Ellison says. Those who distribute or offer modchipped devices could face fines of up to AU$60,500 and/or up to five years in jail. The new laws, which are being put in place to comply with Australia's obligations under the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), will be in effect from 1 January 2007. A draft of the legislation was released for public comment earlier this week. According to the Minter Ellison statement, the "AUSFTA requires Australia to prohibit the use of devices and services to circumvent technological protection measures (TPM)". Some exemptions to the law will be put in place, including for those doing computer security testing, law enforcement and library use. Read More: cnet.com.au Thanks to Burbs and SparcMX for the news/link.

[emko]

wow that sucks. good thing i live in canada

[jobler]

QUOTE(emko @ Sep 14 2006, 04:28 AM)

wow that sucks. good thing i live in canada

Congratulations. Now get the hell out of our commonwealth! You guys obviously can take care of yourselves.

Australia gets these laws put in place, then revoked, then put in place, then revoked again. We will probably see the end of this law before it is put in place...

[DJ_L3ThAL]

really didn't see that one coming

[gasclown]

I dont remember voting in favour (or at all) of any american laws...

good thing its just a draft eh?

[Caldor]

Think of the precedent this puts in other areas.

No more Slysoft Anydvd.

No more region free dvd players.

[RiPpN-N-TrIppN]

yeh i dont see this commin reality
even if it does it wont be the first law ive broken
whats with Australia using Amercias laws any way
next thing we will seee is guns being sold at 7Eleven
i think we should stick to our own laws

[jmnz]

Personally I think it's rediculous. Our laws here in NZ are currently pretty similar, I'm hoping like hell they don't follow suit with this shit though

[eDeus]

The law sounds too encompassing - xbox 1 + xbmc is now just as illegal as playing bootleg games?

[dxj1973]

the scene has 350000 plus members. including those that did not register,there is probably more than half a million actual users of these systems. only some are pirating.these are what they want to get rid of.just like cars,one can upgrade to improve performance.even though the final product "could" be used for speeding(in cars) or piracy(in systems),that doesnt make the modification products illegal.they are just trying to stop spreeding, or piracy in this case.read up on the "digital millenium copyright act". it helps understand the laws as they sit about modifiying sytems in the usa. read andrew huang's book.he did a real good job of explaining some of the dcma. opened my eyes.

[RiPpN-N-TrIppN]

yeh i can just imagine it now
2 guys standing in the line to get food in jail
what did you do
oww i stabbed 5 ppl and got 4yrs
you
oww i modded a xbox and got 5yrs

ha
good luck

[Morgue]

So yeah... apparently im up for 25 years for what i've done with modding... This isnt good. We have a bunch of bloody monkeys running our country... heres hoping to it not going through.

[Reese Kaine]

What about the softmods?

[1nick9]

wow this is bullshit, we get 1 crazy law lifted n lil bit down track its replaced by anyother crazy law..... this wont b stopping me but, console hackin shouldnt b underfirer!!!!!


cheers

[TSOPrano]

Last I checked nobody cared about Australia.