Microsoft"s campaign against Xbox mod chips has ratcheted up a notch with the launch of the Xbox Live online gaming service. According to a posting at Got Mod?, (there"s a site that"s going to be pretty concerned about the issue) the company is attempting to detect mod chips when users connect, then placing them on a banned list - forever.
If this really is the case then it means we"re already seeing how unique hardware IDs could be used in anger by certain companies. Because it"s the unique ID of the Xbox that"s claimed to go onto the banned list.
The Got Mod? poster says that after persistent connectivity problems (which we hear exist for people who don"t have mod chips fitted too) he called up the support line and confessed to a rep that he"d modded his Xbox. The rep seems to have been equally upfront; he said he"d been issued with an "idiot sheet" (these exist in practically all front line support callcentres) intended to deal with questions in this area.
He explained that the mod chip is detected when you connect to Xbox Live, and that your machine"s ID is then read, and added to a banned list. Even if you remove the mod chip, he said, your machine cannot be unbanned, as it"s Microsoft"s belief that it can never be seen as trustworthy again.