Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
Actually, I'm not. Those sorts of things are exactly what the government granted consumer rights surrounding terms and conditions in user agreements are meant to address. Agreeing to give up your legal rights, including signing yourself into slavery, are specific examples that those consumer rights were originally meant to protect.
Companies are not supposed to be allowed to place restrictions on what you do with a physical product after you own it. They are also specifically not allowed to put things in usage agreements that violate existing law or that require a consumer to give up their rights.
Without those consumer rights that you claim the government should stay out of, companies would be able to do exactly that.
Luckily, the law disagrees with you.
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I'm not saying there are no instances where the government shouldn't step in and regulate things in user agreements.
I'm just saying it should be a last resort for extreme cases. And minor stuff like not being able to mod a console and keep the warranty or play on that companies online network don't fit that bill. Nor do DRM schemes tying content to one companies device etc.
I'm far from a conservative, but I'm not a socialist who wants the government regulating the markets excessively either. Companies can design their own policies with warranties, access to
THEIR online network and so forth and should be free to do so unless some really extreme violation of consumer's rights taking place.
Which is absolutely not the case with the X-box modding. The consequences for modding a console are clearly stated and reasonable. Sadly a few people who haven't modded consoles have gotten caught in the net, but most of the bitching is just from nerdy hackers who like modding stuff and pirates who mod to steal games--which is why such policies in user agreements are needed in the first place.