MatthewCrippen
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Accused Xbox 360 modder finds case pleasantly dismissed
The case of 28-year old CSU student Matthew Crippen has come and gone. Arrested last year on Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations -- specifically, for modding Xbox 360s to enable them to play pirated games -- federal prosecutor Allen Chiu announced on the third day of trial that the government was dropping its case against him "based on fairness and justice." It's not a complete surprise: according to Wired, on the previous day (Wednesday), an undercover agent testifying against Crippen claimed the defendant used a pirated game to test a modded console in his presence. That detail, required for the prosecution's case (the use of pirated software), was never mentioned in any of the previous reports or sworn declarations, so once the judge dismissed it as evidence, the case against Crippen hit a snag. Source link's got the full, very interesting tale, but if you're patient, there's always a chance one of the Law and Orders will pick up the story in the years to come.
Console hacker arrested, faces up to ten years in jail
Just when you thought it was safe to get out your soldering irons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants you to know that its agents are still out there, on the lookout for for even more mod chip-wielding nogoodniks and their non-DMCA compliant consoles. According to the AP, a 27-year-old CSU student named Matthew Crippen was recently arrested for "modifying Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act" and released Monday on $5,000 bond. The dime was dropped on this perp by the Entertainment Software Association, and the raid conducted by Customs agents sometime in May. He will be arraigned on August 10th, and if convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Let this be a lesson to you: while the ICE may have its hands full with human slavery, drug trafficking, transnational gangs, and stolen artifacts, there is always time to make an example out of a man that knows his way around the inside of a Playstation.
