Xbox modder could spend three years in prison

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Things aren't looking good for a university student accused of modifying video game consoles.

Opening statements were scheduled to begin Wednesday in the federal criminal trial of 28-year-old Matthew Crippen, a student at California State University Fullerton.

Homeland Security authorities arrested Crippen last year on accusations that he violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). He is accused of modifying Xbox 360 game consoles for money so the machines could play pirated games and other content.

This is the first time a federal prosecution for console-modding has reached a jury trial. A conviction could land Crippen in prison for up to three years.

A six-woman, six-man jury was selected Tuesday to decide the case. According to Wired, only a few of those panelists said they owned an Xbox or played video games.

The prosecution is expected to bring in witnesses including a Microsoft security expert and the undercover agents Crippen allegedly modded consoles for. He apparently charged between $60 and $80 for his services. (By the way, msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

In an interview with Wired, Crippen said he tweaked the consoles not for illegal piracy purposes but to let gamers use decrypted copies of their own gaming software, suggesting that because the Xbox 360 has been known to scratch discs players might need to use a backup copy.

Needless to say, authorities weren't buying that argument.

Things got even more bleak for Crippen and his defense team last week when the judge ruled they could not use the "fair use" defense. Crippen's attorneys had hoped to argue that installing a mod chip in a gaming console was no different than jailbreaking an iPhone to allow owners to use software not approved by Apple. iPhone jailbreaking was OKed under a DMCA exception approved by the U.S. Copyright Office.

Microsoft and other game companies certainly get prickly when users start tinkering with their products. After all, piracy is an enormous issue for the video game industry. In fact, Microsoft had initially issued warnings against tinkerers planning to alter their new Kinect sensor device.

The company, however, backed off those threats as it became clear most modders were altering the new game device to create some pretty cool (read: non piracy-related) innovations.

The take-away message here: Totally cool if you want to tweak our equipment so you can dance around in women's bras. Totally not cool if you want to tweak our equipment to play pirated games.

UPDATE as of 2:20 p.m. PT:

A Wired reporter, who has been in the courtroom, is reporting that opening statements in the case have been delayed and the case put on hold after the federal judge unleashed a 30-minute tirade at prosecutors. He reports:

For related stories, check out:
Xbox modding trial on hold after judge berates prosecution
Kinect sex – what's the holdup?
With Kinect controller, hackers take liberties

Winda Benedetti writes the Citizen Gamer column for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter .