To the Honorable [            ],

My name is [             ], I am 25 years old, a voter, and a home owner in residing in [            ], New Hampshire. I have two Bachelors degrees from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one in Mechanical Engineering and one in Science Technology and Society. I also work designing engineering software for the aerospace industry which produces many vital mechanical parts that go into the machines that our military depends on.

Recently a series of raids were performed by the Department of Homeland Security's "ICE" division targeting many American citizens in various states, including the near by state of Massachusetts. The raid is documented here on the ICE website. http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/070801washington.htm.

I feel that the Digital Millennium Copy Right Act (DMCA) is being abused to target people who haven't done anything wrong. I feel that these actions violently abuse the civil liberties and freedoms of America's intelligent technical community, and that taxpayer dollars are being wasted to directly aid and enforce the monopolistic policies of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Corp, among others. I am not advocating piracy, however these actions lead me to believe that many politicians are either misinformed about what a modchip actually does, or they are simply putting corporate interested above those of American liberties. 

In the press release I linked above Julie L Meyers was quoted saying the following "Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections,". She ignores the fact that legitimate uses exist for the chips aside from piracy. I will detail some of the uses for a modchip that should be legal using the Microsoft Xbox as a specific example.

The Xbox console can be modified to allow the Linux operating system to be run on it. This enables the system to do many things it would not normally be able to do without a modchip such as browse the internet and use various computer programs that run in a Linux environment.

It is also possible to take a modified Xbox and put enhanced media player software on it. This will allow people to play their home movies, view pictures and perform other tasks that the system would not otherwise be able to do without the use of a modchip. The media player is also advanced enough to connect to various websites (such as apple.com) and play movie trailers and a number of other computer related tasks.

While it might not be apparent to most end users and consumers, nearly any intelligent member of America's technical community would be able to demonstrate that modern video game consoles are nothing more than personal computers in a funny plastic box. A previously performed analysis with proof if this fact can be found here: http://www.xbox-linux.org/docs/xboxpc.html

As personal computers it is within the legal rights of their owners to make modifications to these system as well as install alternative operating systems and software. It is beyond the legal bounds of companies like Microsoft and Nintendo to institute market restricting mechanisms that prevent users from using alternative software on their computer platforms. This is direct violation of the DOJ's Antritrust suit against Microsoft: http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_tuncom/major/mtc-00030468.htm

The use of Modchips breaks this illegal protection instituted by these companies and now I fear that our own protection agencies are not being used to protect these American freedoms but rather acting to violently enforce the market restricting mechanisms illegally put in place by the aforementioned corporations.

While it is true that some modchips do allow users to break copy protection, it is clear that there are other legitimate uses for the chips. An Xbox modchip, comes loaded with software on a chip to enable all of the features of the system. This software, is written 100% by the open source community, and itself contains no copyrighted code. The DMCA also has an exception to its anti-copyright circumvention clause that states it is legally acceptable to circumvent copy protection to allow interoperability of different operating systems. I see no justification for targeting the people who install these chips, nor the people who use them for legal functions.

I am not a lawyer, nor a politician, so I may not know all of the details of the law. I am however a proud American citizen, a member of the technical community and social scientists and it is clear to me that, regardless of what the law states, the freedoms of and liberties of American citizens are being abused and their lives torn apart for monopolistic interests of large corporate entities. 

I understand that most Americans do not understand the technical details of these systems. As a citizen and member of the technical community I feel it is my duty to point out these wrong doings and do all that I can to help you, and other American's understand the issue as well as possible to make the best decisions possible protecting the freedoms and liberties of all American citizens. I feel these actions committed are wrong and I implore you to take a closer look at these actions and help make a positive change to prevent further abuse of our technical freedoms and liberties. 

If you would like more detailed information about the topic, I would be glad to provide it or speak with you and others further on this issue.

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