Australia rules modchips are legal

Now this is cool. I have to say that this is a relief from all the news stories about the DCMA screwing away consumers rights in favour of the mega-corps. The Australian IT is reporting that the High Court of Australia has unanimously ruled that mod-chips are legal.

As this is now the second case to rule this way, a nice legal precedent has been set for any type of modchip for any system - ranging from Xboxes to DVD players. Of special mention in the article is this:

However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) intervened in the case and argued that region-coding was detrimental to consumer choice. It said that mod chips created artificial trade barriers between Australian and overseas games and DVD markets.

I wonder what long term implications this case will have - especially with the ACCC’s view on region coding…

Update: This has been covered on Slashdot</p></body></html>