Three men have been charged in the US with selling illegally modified Xbox game consoles that allow the devices to play pirated video games, according to reports. Two of the suspects ran a video games shop in Los Angeles. Games consoles such as the Microsoft Xbox or Sony Playstation 2 include copyright protections that prevent them running pirated games or games subject to regional control (where a console bought in one part of the world cannot run games purchased in another).
The trio were caught after undercover agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid $265 to have a modification chip, a hard drive and 77 pirated games installed on an Xbox. ICE had been tipped off by trade group the Entertainment Software Alliance.
The three men have all been charged with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and to violate the DMCA, and face a maximum of five years in prison.
