Man Charged Criminally for Modifying his Console

Submitted by Dan Chapman, Articled Student

The RCMP have arrested a man in Quebec in connection with what it calls the "Illegal reproduction of video games" in a March 31, 2010 raid on his Roberval home (read the release here). The man was apparently selling counterfeit games on social networking websites online. The RCMP claims that when it has "grounds to believe that material has been copied for the purpose of commercial distribution, or to such an extent as to be prejudicial to the copyright holder", it will take action or investigate, as this distribution or sale would constitute a violation of the Copyright Act.

The RCMP cited section 342.1 of the Criminal Code as justification, in part, for the arrest as well however. Interestingly, it went on to state that the modification of a console or computer is considered an illegal act under this section, and punishable by up to ten years in prison. The implications of this statement are far-reaching and may make thousands of Canadians overnight criminals simply by virtue of having intercepted "any function of a computer system" as a result of a modification they may have made to their system.