“MS Banned 600,000 from Xbox Live, Aims at 1,000,000?

[xero]

Microsoft’s ongoing crackdown on pirates and modded Xbox 360s is said to have resulted in 600,000 Xbox Live accounts being banned from North America alone, with more to follow…

Microsoft is facing a possible class action lawsuit from Xbox 360 users aggrieved at being banned for piracy, alleging that the company intentionally timed its bans to coincide with the release of popular games, and deliberately took advantage of the fact it was not refunding unused subscription time.

Abington Law rubs its hands with glee at the prospect of a profitable class action suit:

    As has been reported widely in the media, tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox Live.

    Although modification of Xbox consoles is *arguably* against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft “conveniently” timed the Xbox console ban to coincide with the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game.

    This “convenient” timing may have resulted in more Xbox Live subscription revenues for Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Halo 3: ODST and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

    Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Activision) and Halo 3: ODST (published by Microsoft Game Studios) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games.

    Additional *reported* problems resulting from the bans include, but are not necessarily limited to:

    * Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with Xbox Live or piracy (HDD functionality for example);

    * Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with piracy (Netflix, game add-ons, music, and arcade games for example);

    * Obtaining information from Xbox consoles without permission of the owner;

    * Other problems/consequences associated with these bans have been reported here and elsewhere.

    As an aside, PIRACY IS A LEGITIMATE CONCERN for Microsoft and other content producers. HOWEVER, (to use a poor analogy) Microsoft has chosen to use one of the most indiscriminate “weapons” in its arsenal in an effort to combat piracy — as a result, use of this “weapon” has resulted in a great deal of collateral damage — many people were affected who had nothing to do with piracy.

    Furthermore, Xbox console functions that have nothing to do with piracy were also affected or disabled.

    Details aside, Microsoft’s bans could (and should) have been more measured.

Notably, the lawsuit is explicitly on behalf of Xbox Live users who had their “modified Xbox console” banned, meaning that the issue of them violating their usage agreement with Microsoft is not in doubt.

Undoubtedly a self-serving venture for the lawyers concerned, but with millions of dollars tied up in the timing of the bans it is far from ridiculous to suggest Microsoft may have taken such factors into account – indeed, it would have been rather sloppy had they not done so.

Just whether they will succeed in getting anything out of Microsoft is another matter however, though with hundreds of thousands of angry pirates and a supposedly substantial number of accounts banned in error there will likely be no shortage of people eager to see them pay for having the gall to try to make users pay for their software…

[Jello]

i absolutley hate tactics like that, its just more profitable for there greedy fingers. (Whoah 600,000) O.O

[shadowofdeath]

My money is on the people filing the suit to be the ones who were caught with modded or pirated content. People tend to get pissed when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

[Ninja-Lion!]

or down their pants, masturbating with your money.

[xero]

just beware of papercuts ok lion?

[Aimer]

That shows half of the world are hackers and people who pirate games ._.

[[NotD] Dr.Nick]

Yeah I heard about this I guess people claimed that they didn't Mod their console and still got banned. I wonder if my inactive console got banned.

[Chicken Lips]

just go PS3, simple as that.

[Jello]

agreed chicken O.O free interwebz

[shadowofdeath]

I don't think they'd ban a console that hasnt been active on live

[[NotD] lespy]

hahaha, mod pc games not xbox!!!

[Dewy]

agreed chicken O.O free interwebz

1. You get what you pay for. 2. Sony is going to start charging soon. So yeah, good luck with your "free" "good" online service.

Besides, all these people whining about getting banned need to just suck it up. So what is Microsoft waited to ban you. You were taking advantage of them, I think its funny that they take advantage of you. Especially if you use burned disks, the live subscription is not nearly worth the amount of the game you pirate. Not directing this to anyone in particular, but shit. It's like whining about getting put in jail for stealing a car after having bought a new model or something. You broke the rules, get the fuck over it.

[[NotD] lespy]

agreed chicken O.O free interwebz

1. You get what you pay for. 2. Sony is going to start charging soon. So yeah, good luck with your "free" "good" online service.

Besides, all these people whining about getting banned need to just suck it up. So what is Microsoft waited to ban you. You were taking advantage of them, I think its funny that they take advantage of you. Especially if you use burned disks, the live subscription is not nearly worth the amount of the game you pirate. Not directing this to anyone in particular, but shit. It's like whining about getting put in jail for stealing a car after having bought a new model or something. You broke the rules, get the fuck over it.

agreed

[Absolution]

Not sure why everyone goes into the "Just go sony" mode. You agree not to pirate games/do stuff to the 360 when you sign on live. If you get banned it's microsoft doing exactly what they said they'd do. All it shows to me is microsoft doesn't support piracy. Sure they will get some money out of people that did mod their 360 but hey if I could make money off something stupid people got caught doing I'd do it too.  I'm sure you would as well.

Of course I think they should have made a way for the people that buy a "new" or used 360 to know it was banned before they waste their cash on it but eh there is always some drawback to everything people do.

[Ninja-Lion!]

besides, its about 300 times easier to mod and hack on the ps3.