HackingTheXbox

Thank you for downloading and reading this book.

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

I was an MIT graduate student, extracting security keys from the original

Microsoft Xbox. You’ll also read about the crushing disappointment of

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,

through pre-trial antics. Your entire life feels like it is under an electron

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.