In an ongoing series of raids around the globe customs officials, copyright enforcement agents and revenue officers have been steadily chipping away at the game console modification industry. The largest of these efforts, Operation Tangled Web took place in 16 US states in August of 2007, with police and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executing 32 search warrants. According to officials illegal chips and other devices used on gaming consoles violate the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Game console modification is the introduction of either hardware (or less frequently, software) to a videogame console which allows users to circumvent antipiracy and region specific coding limitations. Game console owners have a large variety of options for modifying their consoles, with the most frequent method being the installation of a â€mod chip’ directly onto the console motherboard. The Operation Tangled Web warrants targeted US based manufacturers of game console modification chips, though the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not commented on the numbers of arrests or the quantity of illegal chips seized in the raids. As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE plays a leading role in targeting criminal organizations responsible for producing, smuggling and distributing counterfeit products. ICE investigations focus on keeping counterfeit and pirated products off U.S. streets, and on dismantling the criminal organizations behind this illegal activity. "Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections," ICE Homeland Security assistant secretary Julie Myers said remarking on the Operation Tangled Web raids. "These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering." Counterfeiting and piracy is estimated to cost the U.S. economy between $200 billion and $250 billion annually and results in the loss of up to 750,000 jobs according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As might be expected console manufacturers do not favor this kind of alteration to their technology, as it allows the user to play games and software not purchased from the parent company, resulting in a loss of income. According to estimates from the Entertainment Software Association sales of counterfeit or illegally obtained games cost the video game industry about $3 billion a year globally. While game console modification itself is still a grey area in a dwindling number of countries none debate that the ultimate purpose of aftermarket modification, enabling a console to play pirated games, is a violation of international law. Privacy advocates complain that consumer rights are being trampled in what they see as a strictly business-driven desire to prevent console modification. "Plain and simple, selling and distributing products to illegally bypass game consoles' piracy protections is a crime with real-life consequences. This is not a game; we're talking jail time. Enforcement initiatives of this scope send a clear message to both the public and pirate community that this illegal activity will not be tolerated," said Michael D. Gallagher, president of ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "We commend Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the participating U.S. Attorneys' offices for targeting individuals and groups selling the modchip and pirated game software." A November 2008 raid of the popular and often notorious Sim Lim electronics shopping center in Singapore turned up 10 Nintendo Wii gaming consoles illegally modified to play pirated games. This is the first time modified Nintendo consoles have been discovered by authorities. More than 35 million sets of Wii have been sold around the world since its launch in 2006, making it the best-selling game console in recent years. Nintendo maintains an anti-piracy task force of it’s own based out of Redmond, Washington, which claims to have assisted law enforcement officials in the seizure of over 61,000 Wii mod chips.
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