Hacking the Xbox

Dear Reader,
Thank you for downloading and reading this book.
No Starch Press and I have decided to release this free ebook version
of Hacking the Xbox in honor of Aaron Swartz. As you read this book, I
hope that you’ll be reminded of how important freedom is to the hacking
community and that you’ll be inclined to support the causes that Aaron
believed in.
I agreed to release this book for free in part because Aaron’s treatment by
MIT is not unfamiliar to me. In this book, you will find the story of when
I was an MIT graduate student, extracting security keys from the original
Microsoft Xbox. You’ll also read about the crushing disappointment of
receiving a letter from MIT legal repudiating any association with my
work, effectively leaving me on my own to face Microsoft.
The difference was that the faculty of my lab, the AI laboratory, were
outraged by this treatment. They openly defied MIT legal and vowed
to publish my work as an official “AI Lab Memo,” thereby granting me
greater negotiating leverage with Microsoft. Microsoft, mindful of the
potential backlash from the court of public opinion over suing a legitimate
academic researcher, came to a civil understanding with me over the issue.
It saddens me that America’s so-called government for the people, by the
people, and of the people has less compassion and enlightenment toward
their fellow man than a corporation. Having been a party to subsequent
legal bullying by other entities, I am all too familiar with how ugly and
gut-wrenching a high-stakes lawsuit can be. Fortunately, the stakes in my
cases were not as high, nor were my adversaries as formidable as Aaron’s,
or I too might have succumbed to hopelessness and fear. A few years ago,
I started rebuilding my life overseas, and I find a quantum of solace in the
thought that my residence abroad makes it a little more difficult for me to
be served.
While the US legal system strives for justice, the rules of the system
create an asymmetric war that favors those with resources. By far one of
the most effective methods to force a conclusion, right or wrong, against
a small player is to simply bleed them of resources and the will to fight
through pre-trial antics. Your entire life feels like it is under an electron
microscope, with every tiny blemish magnified into a pitched battle of
motions, countermotions, discovery, subpoenas, and affidavits, and each
action heaping tens of thousands of dollars onto your legal bill. Your
friends, co-workers, employers, and family are drawn into this circus of
humiliation as witnesses. Worse, you’re counseled not to speak candidly
to anyone, lest they be summoned as a witness against you. Isolated
and afraid, it eventually makes more sense to roll over and settle than to
take the risk of losing on a technicality versus a better-funded adversary,
regardless of the justice.