The time has come, the end is near

Looks like i've got something to look forward to when i get home...

Microsoft Starts New Ban Wave on LIVE Against Modified Firmwares *update*

It looks like Microsoft started a new wave of bans against modified DVD firmwares or DVD+/-R DL discs.
Several users on our forums and on IRC report their Xbox 360 has been banned from LIVE today. We get reports of Toshiba-Samsung and Hitachi-LG drives banned with both Xtreme and even the newer iXtreme firmwares. However we also see many reports of people who are currently on LIVE and have no been banned (yet). No reports of banned BenQ drives yet (but few of these drives have been flashed yet).

If you have the 'Z Code' 8015-190D it means you are banned. As always Microsoft bans the console serial from LIVE, not your LIVE account.
If your console is banned or if you have been playing on LIVE today with modified FW without getting banned, report you findings in this thread (include at least your live status, full drive model (swapped drive?, spoofing?) and firmware version used).

*UPDATE*
It appears that modified fw is NOT being detected, and is instead once again due to 'bad' discs. Keep in mind that the only full proof way to make a 1:1 backup is to do it yourself. iXtreme is as fullproof as it can be, in that it validates everything it possibly can from a firmware point of view, but a game can have slight data change somewhere, most commonly in DMI. Or it can be due to early copies being watermarked so to speak.

This is why you run the risk of being banned on xbox live if you pirate games. Always remember that you run a risk doing such actions.

In regards to game data being properly validated, xdvdmulleter is a tool that has a constantly maintained database to validate backups against retail copies to ensure full stealth. If you have a samsung SH-D16x and would like to contribute to the project to prevent future Live bans, please join #stealth360 on Efnet, IRC.
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