Robin Hoods Playground

Xbox Live Class Action Investigation

An investigation is currently being conducted regarding business practices of Microsoft with respect to its recent cancellation of certain modified Xbox consoles for use with Xbox Live.

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.

If you are an Xbox Live subscriber, had your modified Xbox console banned from Xbox Live, were not refunded a prorated sum for the time left on your subscription or have experienced other problems as a result of being banned, and would like to participate in a class action against Microsoft, please submit your information below.

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if you would like to become part of this
Go to this link
http://www.abingtonlaw.com/Xbox-Live-class-action.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and fill out the info needed.
CoFree

I am going to take a wait and see on this one...based on my status alone I do not think I am going to participate.

yea
i still dont know what oi think of this

my fingers are crossed for em hope they win
but i think iv had enuf dealings with ms to know
that its probably a waste of time

but it was definatly below the belt of them to screw with your hdd

wait,wait i dont get it.

so this is like some sort of petition to get Microsoft to give us back out money? or a petition to get our voices herd in a court room?

i am very please coffee posted this but i want to get an understanding

someone please be kind, and break this down for me plain and simple thx a bunch!

the law suite is to get a court to see if M$ broke any laws when it disabled the stuff it did when it banned your console
and other things
is my understanding

Phheewww. If MS didn't see this coming they need to fire someone!

CoFree wrote:the law suite is to get a court to see if M$ broke any laws when it disabled the stuff it did when it banned your console
and other things
is my understanding

oh ok i see now thx bro!

It was defintley on the cards this one for MS.The question is how far will this go.

The more join the more likely M$ will be hesitant on the bans.

I think the article is a 100% right about the shotgun blast that M$ did against consoles. They used a method that wasn't full proof because they were getting pressure from Activision. I know several consoles were banned that didn't even know the meaning of mods. M$ definitely needs to be taught a lesson.

wow i was reading around on other forums and people are defending microsoft like crazy. is there a tos on the xbox itself or just xbox live? that brings me to my next question, i read that post last week about what exactly happens when you get banned from live, is none of that stuff in the tos? if you get banned from the service you should only get banned from their service unless other wise stated in the tos right?

Thats right...

I would be willing to take part in this, but when I go to sign up it says "if you would like money back from your lost account..." which I do not want, once I was banned, I turned on my stock console and played it, so I lost maybe 2 mins of online time?

Yeah, my gold account is fine, and I want to keep it. I can still play online at friends' places. I think I would much rather back Datel in their lawsuit. Although, getting M$ to leave alone features and functionality not related to Xbox Live, that would be huge victory.

I read this a few times over the last couple of days and I would be a little skeptical about it.

To me it sounds like this...

"... If you would like to participate and give us your Name, SSN, Address, Phone #, Console ID, Live ID, and whatever else we might want, so that we can track you down and watch you to possibley press charges of Infringement or Piracy against you in the future, than click here yeahright.com ..."

I may be a little crazy but IM sitting out too...