Hacking Simply Yes or no Answer

[hrdkrtazz]

ok i got a two part question...

1.Is modding the nintendo wii with the homebrew,emulators and to play backup's for your OWN personal Use illegal?

2.Now is modding the nintendo wii for people and charging them a fee(for your services of couse)Not selling backup's or giving them emulators ect...is that illegal? or isnt there an issue with either?


I have searched havent came up with anything..So if this is a good discussion please lets Discuss

 

[retiredjerk]

it all depends on if they want to go after you and how badly. i see idiots on craigslist offering to load games on usb and its the same dudes doing it for over a year now and they seem to be coasting along. i think it all depends on interpretation of the law though.

 

[TroyTheZombie]

yeah, its illegal.

Will the law or nintendo bother going after you?

maybe. there has been odd cases here and there.

Is it likely? no, not really.

 

[ocdetective]

As this is a global site the answer to both questions could be yes or no.

 

[Bladexdsl]

yes to both
doesnt mean you can't still do it

 

[tj_cool]

ok i got a two part question...

1.Is modding the nintendo wii with the homebrew,emulators and to play backup's for your OWN personal Use illegal?
Homebrew (including emulators) is completely legal, backup launchers however aren't (even if its for personal use)

2.Now is modding the nintendo wii for people and charging them a fee(for your services of couse), not selling backup's or giving them emulators ect...is that illegal? or isnt there an issue with either?
Homebrew is free and one should not pay for it. Don't make people pay for it and don't pay for it yourself.

I have searched havent came up with anything..So if this is a good discussion please lets Discuss

 

[Jacobeian]

ok i got a two part question...

1.Is modding the nintendo wii with the homebrew,emulators and to play backup's for your OWN personal Use illegal?


Depends on your country's law regarding legit backups (i.e backups of games you actually OWN): in some it does, in other it doesn't
Console modding is most often NOT illegal.

QUOTE(hrdkrtazz @ Dec 18 2009, 08:21 AM) 2.Now is modding the nintendo wii for people and charging them a fee(for your services of couse)Not selling backup's or giving them emulators ect...is that illegal? or isnt there an issue with either?

I have searched havent came up with anything..So if this is a good discussion please lets Discuss

charging money for modding is not illegal but it might trigger attention to your other (and maybe illegal) activities more easily, so watch out
(re)selling homebrew applications is legal if the license permits it: everything under GPL can be sold BUT you have to provide a link to the sourcecode if you modified it OR to the original (and generally FREE) binary.

selling copyrighted game backups is obviously illegal

 

[Raika]

Pirating is illegal, but we still do it. Why? Cos it's fun.

 

[Retrievil]

It all depends on what country you live in, and how far you go in modifying the firmware. If you are taling about the US ....

Installing the Homebrew Channel is not illegal, because the Homebrew Channel does not modify the firmware in such a way as to defeat the copyright protection built into said firmware. If you install a modchip, or a cIOS that allows you to play burned games or use USB loaders (such as Wanin's or Hermes), yes it is illegal. Even if you never burn a disc, modifying the firmware to allow circumventiion of the copyright protection built into it is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Mille...m_Copyright_Act

In some countries it is not illegal, but you may still be held liable for copyright infringement, which is a civil matter. In other countries it is not illegal at all. Either the issue has not made it to the courts or they have rules in favour of the consumer, for example the recent decision in Spain that ruled in favour of flashcard makers.

Simple enough for you?

 

[Bladexdsl]

nintendo classifies any homebrew, backup launchers ,usb programs or anything NOT made or endorsed by them are illegal and will void your warranty.

but who gives a fuck

 

[Deleted member 35947]

It would be against Nintendo's terms of services. They can't make up laws, or make things illegal.

The rest depends on local law as some others have pointed out. For example, I read before that in Australia it's not illegal to circumvent console protection for out of region content, while it's illegal to bypass content that is region free or is already set for that region. I guess that'd make DS flash cards illegal in Australia.

 

[zuron7]

Modding your wii is illegal.
And getting software made by a company without paying them is also illegal.

We should protest to Nintendo to open a app store for all homebrew.

 

[Satangel]

Yes to both the questions.

 

[smf]

Depends on your country's law regarding legit backups (i.e backups of games you actually OWN): in some it does, in other it doesn't
Console modding is most often NOT illegal.

In the US it is legal to make a backup under fair use, however thanks to the DMCA it is illegal to bypass the DRM.
In the UK it is not legal to make a backup & the EUCD is based on the DMCA.

So installing CIOS and a loader is probably illegal.

There is another potential problem with CIOS, the DIP module is possibly a copyright infringement. But we don't have the source to prove that.

 

[WildWon]

It's illegal. Both questions are illegal.

Modifying systems are against TOS for owning those systems. Look at Microsoft, hence the ban waves. If nintendo COULD track it, they would.

Done.

 

[SanGor]

it depends on the laws in your country, in germany backups are illegal if there is any kind of copyprotection.(no matter how easy it is to get around it)
further more all tools who can get around copyprotections are illegal too in germany.

 

[Fat D]

It's illegal. Both questions are illegal.

Modifying systems are against TOS for owning those systems. Look at Microsoft, hence the ban waves. If nintendo COULD track it, they would.

Done.

The question is whether those agreements are legally enforcable - it is not the company that makes the laws, and hardware is still properly bought and not licensed. Modding the console therefore is legal, however the device you mod it with might not be under your legislation.

 

[hrdkrtazz]

thanks everyone got alot of replies.this was a decent discussion because i was unaware but it seems im getting alot of mixed answers..The reason for this Thread is..Please dont flame me.I have been posting ads (Yes what do ya know,craigslist!!!)to mod peoples wii..Well someone put a replie up to one of my ads that they reported me to the BSA..from my research the BSA is some privacy software shit.Now may i remind you.i was not/never Selling backup's i was just modding there systems to allow backup's to run.and this has kinda got me worried..Should i be worried?now im getting wierd text messagings,Emails from people that want modding after i removed all my ads,is it a setup?Should i stop modding and making it public?i mean i see modded systems all the time on craigslist/ebay for sale..Whats so wrong with what i am doing?And if its so illegal how would they allow them on ebay and craigslist??

 

[Dmon84]

It's not illegal to mod a wii. If you bought a wii, it is yours and you can do with it what ever you want. Even if it is not your wii, modding is not illegal!!!
Using an emulator to play downloaded games or play backups maybe is, depending on your laws.

 

[Binxy]

Modding your wii is not illegal. Hell, if you want to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of it who is to stop you?

Since you are from the USA making backups of stuff YOU ALREADY OWN is quit legal too.
And you do not charge someone for modding their Wii. You take donations of a minimum of lets say 50 bucks.
Not sure on the emulator thing. I think emulators are okay but Rom's or any Iso's that you do not pay for illegal.

Good luck with all this.