Hardware

Recently, US customs agents conducted a series of 32 raids in 16 states.

They weren't looking for an illegal cache of automatic weapons, a missing container deadly toxins, or a truckload of illicit psychoactive substances.

Oh no, they were after something far more sinister....gaming modchips.

Yes, you've read correctly, the United States Department of Homeland Security is wasting time and resources cracking down on gaming modchips in their moronically entitled "Operation Tangled Web", conducting 32 raids in 16 states.

This is patently ludicrous. I was under the impression that in America, if you buy something like a gaming console (which is essentially a computer), you ought to be able to do whatever the hell you want to it. That is a natural right. Plain and simple. The fact that something like this could possibly be illegal is preposterous. We live in a democracy, not a police state!

Usually in America, you're "innocent until proven guilty." Unless of course, you're dealing with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in which case, you're guilty even if you could prove yourself innocent. Even attempting to circumvent copy protection for ANY reason is illegal. Regardless of whether it's for personal use or not!

Want to put that DVD on your iPod or AppleTV? Sorry, that's illegal under the DMCA. You have to circumvent CSS in order to do that, you filthy pirate!

Want to convert your old VHS tapes to DVD? Sorry, you have to circumvent Macrovision scrambling. That's illegal.

Want to use your Slingbox to watch TV away from home? Sorry, that's rebroadcasting! Clap him in irons!

Want to watch DVDs on Linux? Oh, sorry, you need the DeCSS libraries to decode those. Which are illegal. But that's okay, after all, open source software is a cancer! Right?

Want to watch a DVD from a different region? Oh, sorry. The MPAA executives don't like to play in a global economy! So they got their buddies in Congress to make that illegal too!

Want to record HD television on your TiVO? Don't even think about it if it has a broadcast flag!

Want to write your own homebrew software on your Xbox 360 or PS3? Sorry, you have to circumvent copy protection in order to do that, and that too is illegal under the DMCA.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that the DMCA tramples on the rights of consumers, criminalizing ordinary people for exercising their fair use rights. It's a law put into action by corrupt politicians who are puppets of the MPAA, RIAA and the gaming industry. And the fact that Homeland Security is now raiding people homes for this kind of thing just highlights how rotten this legislation really is. Homeland Security should stop running around being the 'game gestapo' and focus on...I dunno...actually securing the homeland.