Windows

"...just what is Immigration and Enforcement doing arresting an American citizen ..."

Read it again: 'Immigration and CUSTOMS Enforcement'. The article mentions pirated software, and I'm guessing (!) the software came from outside the US. That would make it Customs' responsibility; no 'government gone wild'.

Like many articles of this nature, I suspect there are facts missing, not necessary intentionally. I'm not defending or criticizing digital copyright enforcement, just suggesting why Customs is involved.

"Ars spoke to Jennifer Granick, the Civil Liberties Director of the Electronic Freedom Foundation to find out. The news was bad. "With hardware, you can do pretty much anything you want with it. There are very few rules that apply. You buy it, you own, you can take it apart, and that's perfectly fine," she explained. The problem is that no one simply modifies the hardware. "It becomes complicated with modern hardware because it's combined with firmware, the embedded software.""

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/08/modder-arrest-a-reminder-that-most-console-hacks-are-illegal.ars

The fact is that you bought the hardware. That hardware is supported by software. You bought the entire system. If you remove the bios and install a new one, what are you modifying - the hardware. Where is that illegal.

Next point, at no place does it state that the individual was arrested for illegal software or backups, only for modding systems.

The analogy is that your computer bios fails. You replace the bios chip with one that has code that the manufacturer does not approve of, say one that allows access to settings such as overclocking that the manufacturer does not approve of. You do not use the manufacturers bios code but modify an open source version of Phoenix to the specifics of your system. Where is the foul? You have replaced the hardware and the software with your own variety. I find this to be an abuse of the legal system for hardware lock in.

Next, ICE does not have jurisdiction over legal violations that do not involve immigrations, emigration, import, or export. What are they doing involved in a purely domestic matter that has nothing to do with their proper jusrisdiction?