Microsoft insists autistic Xboxer is a cheat

Jennifer Zdenek, the mother of an 11-year-old autistic boy, is outraged at Microsoft's Xbox Live for labelling her son a cheat and taking back all his online achievements, which she claims were earned fairly.

Zdenek said her son, Julias Jackson, only seems to have cheated because he's so good at playing Xbox games. She insisted his achievements were earned through many hours of hard work, Seattle-based US TV channel Q13 Fox reports.

Xbox Live is supposedly Julias' main source of interaction outside of school, and being labelled on Xbox Live a "cheater" has devastated him, his mum claimed.

Zdenek said that she would cancel her son's Xbox Live subscription at the beginning of next month should Microsoft continue to ignore her requests that Julias' achievements be reinstated.

That doesn't seem likely to happen. Xbox Live staff have emailed Zdenek three times to say why Julias' Gamerscore was reset and that he can still earn achievements in future. Assuming, of course, Xbox Live's system doesn't once again conclude he's cheating.

In an update to this story, Microsoft released evidence on why it had concluded that the boy had cheated. The company also offered Julias a free month of Xbox Live to start fresh with a new Gamertag. ®