U.S. Customs Conducts Mod Chip Raids

Chips that allows consumers to bypass copyright protection were the latest contraband targeted by the federal agency.

U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents stormed 32 separate locations in 16 states on Wednesday, but they weren’t searching for guns, drugs or even illegal immigrants. The officers were on a hunt for mod chips, the hardware that makes it possible to bypass copyright protection on consoles such as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Wii.

All modern consoles have built-in hardware schemes to prevent users from playing games from outside their region or copying them. Since the instructions are written onto chips that can’t be altered, it’s impossible to circumvent them with mere software measures as they might be on a computer. Instead, hackers devise and market mod chips, which must be physically soldered onto a system board to defeat the console’s protection.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, mod chips cause the industry to lose billions worldwide in lost sales. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce speculates that they cost the U.S. economy between $200 billion and $250 billion every year, at a loss of 750,000 jobs. ICE agents were seeking the manufacturers and distributors or such devices in Wednesday’s raid.

The agency did not reveal how many seizures were made as part of the most recent raids, but in 2006, all of their raids netted a total of 219 arrests, 134 indictments and 170 convictions.