Microsoft Bans 1 Million Alleged Pirates from Xbox Live
The Big M swung the banhammer fast and hard earlier this week, leaving as many as 1 million modded consoles without Xbox Live access, reports Information Week.
It should be noted that this action comes on the heels of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, whose multiplayer functionality is expected to strain the online service substantially. The move may have been accelerated by the troubling number of pirated copies floating around the internet prior to its official launch on the 10th.
In an official statement, Microsoft had this to say: “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live.”
At last count, Microsoft’s Xbox Live service boasts an impressive 20 million members, but it’s unclear how many are premium Gold level members as opposed to the free Silver service. Either way, cutting down 1 million players is a substantial chunk of the audience.
I know most gamers would agree that taking action against pirates and hackers would be beneficial in many aspects, but it’s a bit unnerving that Microsoft won’t disclose how they wrangled-in the offenders. The next time you’re typing a message to a friend over XBL, entertain the notion that a sweaty dude in Redmond, WA is reading what you say.
Big Brother is watching…
[Via: Information Week]
Zuri Grimm
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5 Comments
Seems rather obvious to me why they don’t disclose how they detect modded consoles – don’t want to give the pirates a heads-up so they know what to work around. I’m surprised they’ve kept it secret this long, to be honest.
I agree and thought that too, but it would be nice to have some reassurance that Microsoft isn’t monitoring everyone, or that they only look into profiles once some sort of red flags pop up on their systems. It just seems a bit shady to me.
Understandable – I totally get where you’re coming from on that.
I’ll bet another thing that ticked them off to was the fact that Gamestop broke street date the saturday before the game came out and sold a bunch of copies of the game. Can’t wait to see the story of the fine they will get for that one.
It’s rather obvious how they spotted the modded XBoxes. They have complete access to both hardware and software information every time you connect. Your XBox is an open book to them, just like your PC. It has to be, or OS, driver and firmware updates would be impossible.