Ausgamers has posted news about the new ammendments planned for our copyright laws which will make mod chipping illegal. It's been known for a long while that the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) will affect our copyright laws, and any confusion stemming from past court cases about the legality of mod chipping will be put to rest as a news alert issued by Minter Ellison Lawyers has laid out the changes and the ramifications for console mod chipping when the copyright reform takes place...
The exposure draft prohibits the use of devices and services to circumvent access control TPMs. It is an offence to circumvent access control TPMs punishable by a fine of up to $6,600.The exposure draft also prohibits dealings with devices and services to circumvent all types of TPMs (including access control TPMs). Dealing in circumvention devices and services will be punishable by up to five years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $60,500. The concept of 'dealings' has been expanded and will include distribution, offering, provision and communication. There will no longer be a requirement for a dealing to be 'in the course of trade'.
The Playstation 3 has been confirmed to be region-free, taking away the main legitimate reason for mod-chipping, while it hasn't yet been confirmed or denied for the Wii console by Nintendo. The Xbox360 is region locked.
I think that MOD chipping for me is about getting extra functinality out of your console rather than trying to circumvent the copyright issues. People are demanding for more homebrew functionality in their consoles.
For me, the main thing is that the consoles are region free. We are legally allowed to import games, so we should be able to play them.
It's gonna suck if this happens apart from the fact that it's free for the USA and costs us.. Howard just loves to take it up the date hole from Bush and do whatever he says. What about all the legitimate businesses that are going to go down the toilet because of this. The government should compensate them for closing shop. check blade electronics he is selling up now trying to get some idiot to buy before it all hits the fan. Me personally i mod xboxs for a bit of extra cash, none of which i put bigger hard drives in so therefore none of my customers use a modded box for pirating games from the video store...
The PS3 and PSP are region free. And its likely this will happen with future consoles. So modding should not be an issue, unless you are pirating games - and thats what 99 percent of modders are doing.
I should point out also, that there is no excuse for homebrew now either. Because the PS3 will be completely open to homebrew as well.