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Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats
JayBonci writes: "I saw this first over at Retrogames, and I thought it might be of general interest to the Slashdot community. Its a response from EmuGaming to Sega's broad letter to news sites over the whole DC disc piracy thing. You can read more about it by going here. The article mentions a lot of Sega's legal tactics for looking out for its IP rights. Do they have much merit? Check out the article and see for yourself."
as a dreamcast owner I am down right disguested by sega, this pirate thing was the one thing it had going for it, I dont condone it but at least more poeple were buying the damn system. Its saddens me, they released a system with bad hardware and for the most part mediocre games, oh well im just gonna buy the ps2 and sell my "dreamcast" cause it really is just a crap system.
"its thinking"
No it wasnt and thats why it sucks.
negahban@mindspring.com
No, I think you're missing the point. You don't have to be in an agreement with someone in order to be prevented from stealing their property. Don't pick away at analogies like that unless they fail to make the point intended. Code obviously isn't the same as cars in many ways, but they are the same in the fact that Sega owns code and GM owns cars (before they sell them.)
Sega, since it's a corporation in the United States, can also view code as its physical property, not information. Your opinion doesn't matter on this issue.
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Yeah, I also saw beowulf clusters of Dreamcasts used to display Explicit pictures of Natalie Portman. Definately a step in the right direction.
Sega has three new commercials out. I've seen them play on Fox, MTV, USA, TNT and NBC.
Family Console?
funny munging
I have an inalienable right to back up my own software. I have a right to use software I purchase whether I drop the CD and break it or my Dreamcast/CDROM/PS/whatever fries and takes the disk with it. I have a right to do this AND I have a right to circumvent the security measures on the device in order to do so. AND I have a right to have sources for information on how to LEGALLY back up my software. It's people like you that allow our rights to be denied and allow us to be exploited. It's people like you that allow EULA's to be twenty pages long and require signing your firstborn son into slavery for five years. If you don't believe in freedom, move to China, because you don't belong here.
To: drharris@brobeck.com
As a concerned, long-time Sega customer, I feel obligated to respond to Sega's recent "Gestapo/bully" tactics that you "Daniel R. Harris of BROBECK, PHLEGER & HARRISON LLP" have been heading up.
Sega, under your counsel, is effectively trying to ban free-speech. According to your "legal" template, you state...
"Most gamers would not walk into a store and steal a Dreamcast title off the shelf. These same gamers, however, emboldened by sites like yours and the appearance of anonymity provided by the Internet, do precisely that by copying and downloading the same software titles."
By your own wording, you are calling me, a long-time Sega customer, a thief. You specifically state, that most gamers wouldn't walk into a store and steal a Dreamcast title. That is absolutely true of me, I would never consider stealing a game. Then you go on to state, that these same gamers, because of the Internet, will pirate a game. Right there, in that sentence, you, Mr. Harris, are calling me a thief. I do not appreciate your lies.
I am not a thief, Mr. Harris. I own a Sega Dreamcast, a Sega Genesis 3, a 1st gen Sega Genesis, and a Game Gear hand-held system. Between these machines, I own more games than can conveniently be counted. I OWN them Mr. Harris. I also own a computer, a few computers in fact, and a CDRW drive. I've NEVER pirated a game. I've never even used my CDRW to backup a Sega game. But it would be well within my legal rights to do so.
Spurred by your actions, and the actions of Sega of America, I will now be backing-up ALL of my Dreamcast games, that can be backed-up; Just as I've backed up every piece of computer software that I've ever purchased. Furthermore, I will post advice, and technical information, on every relevant message board, and web site that I can find, to help my fellow gamers, maintain their current game collections.
I'm not a pirate Mr. Harris. I do not support piracy in any way. I believe, and accurately so, that it can ruin an industry. But I am a formerly loyal, and previously long-time Sega customer. The $700+ that I've spent on my Dreamcast, this year alone, will be the last penny Sega gets of my money. I realize that $700 is not allot of money in the big picture, but $700 multiplied by the rest of my game-buying life is.
I honestly hope that you will apologize to me, for calling me a thief. And I honestly hope that Sega will apologize to their customers, for allowing you to call them all thieves. You represent all that is bad about the gaming industry.
Making a backup copy is not illegal.
Click Here to see.
Blatently copying and giving away stuf that does not belong to you is wrong and illegal, if you do that, you should go to jail. If you demand people pay attention to the GPL copyright, you must also demand people pay attention to somebody elses copyright.
It's comments like this that make slashdot a less effective community.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Regardless of whether you think people exercise their right to make legal backups, there are many who do and I am one of them. If they are permitted to take away our right to backup our games just because some people abuse that right, that would be the same as taking away our right to drive a car because some people drive drunk. So think about what the universe is like outside your little world and realize there are people who are different from you. Just because you wouldn't see the value in making a backup copy of a game doesn't mean nobody else does.
Boot disks are not used to play pirated games. They are used to play backup games. The people that play pirated games with them are abusers. We should not lose our rights because others abuse them. I'm certain that Linux, which is a tool that is being given out, is hurting Microsoft financially. However, that doesn't mean that we don't have a right to distribute it. We are free to do whatever is within our rights and if it hurts someone (or some corporation) financially, screw them. That's what capitalism is about. They have lots of ways to make the money back. If you can't live with capitalism move to China.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Sega worked their asses off trying to get their company back on its feet. It did, with a GREAT turnaround. They tried to protect piracy with proprietary information. A DreamCast disc is software written for a DreamCast. It is (and I hate saying this) copyrighted intellectual property. DCisos.com had no right or reason to want to access the data on those discs, as the DreamCast does this in the fashion they were meant to be. People like this caused the DCMA. DreamCast has not been emulated yet, won't be for a while because AFAIK the chipset/CPU is proprietary, and still then you could BUY the game and BUY a GD-ROM drive. They DO exist. Kalisto had no business copying games. They were not for backup purposes. I frankly think SEGA should win this battle. I do not like the DCMA, but there IS reason for it. -Rob
very similar actually but not to the letter (haha)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, as I've not yet had my medication today.
The problem is that when people start rationalizing why they steal games, they start convincing themselves they deserve them, which they do not.
"No, they just don't want to pay anything. You got it right that people don't care, but they're not making some profound statement about the industry, they just want free stuff."
Maybe people do just want free stuff. But this gets back the the whole "Napster debate". Which is something thats been addressed time and time again.
I have no problem paying for good games. On the other hand, I don't like paying alot for a game that sucks. So, I guess you could have the same effect if you just didnt buy the "bad" games in the first place, which would cause a decrease in demand. But, then wait, how do you know if a game is good or bad before you buy it? You dont. So again, were back at the beginning.
Do you follow what I'm getting at?
Okay, I lied, more than one word: Game reviews. There a plethora of site that review games; read a bunch, and you can get a general idea of what you would think of the game.
I don't know about you, but I just don't rent games anymore. If I go the store, and see something I might like, I buy it. Maybe I'm too lazy to rent stuff, I dunno. Most of my friends that still play video games are of the same opinion.
Game reviews? Yea, right. Game reviews are what you read to decide if something is worth renting (or in the case of pirates, copying). Besides, have you seen good review for a non-3D game in a long time? Not since Castlevania:SOTN for the PSX. Reviewers are all seriously 3D biased. Most 3D stuff just sucks, IMO. As game machines get more advanced, the games become less of games, and more of "3d world explorations". Even Mario 64 (the original king of 3D platformers), had hardly any enemies worth mentioning. It was fun, but mostly because it was the first of it's genere.
Maybe I just miss the "classics" like Mario World (SNES), Bonk (PCE/TG16), Zelda 3 (SNES), and the like.
Well, I guess this post kinda became a "Why 3D sucks rant", but it's still relevant.
I don't rent games either, but I also don't buy many games (not meaning I pirate them, I just don't play that many). If you have a resource available that can solve your problem, don't bitch about the problem.
The real question is how many non-3D games you've seen recently. There's not that many out there, hence not many reviews, good or bad. Strider got good reviews, however, if I remember correctly. Reviewers aren't biased, 3D games are the bulk of what gets made. If you're looking for 2D stuff though, try Strider for the PS as I mentioned above, Legend of Mana (RPG) for the PS, Saga Frontier 2 (RPG) for the PS, or Klonoa (side scroller) for the PS.
I buy mainly RPGs, and I've avoided some due to reviews I've read. One review isn't enough, but six reviews that all say the same thing is often good enough for me.
They had scans of Dreamcast game covers, manuals, CD's, and more on the site. THAT IS COPYRIGHT INFORMATION IN WHICH YOU NEED PERMISSION TO USE. If Sega does not want you to use them, then I can ask you to cease and desist. The boot CD is also their property, because it was done using Sega proprietary information, not reverse engineering (despite what Utopia says).
My boldface. Just a little slip there, using the word 'I' instead of 'they'. Shouting is another clue, where have I seen that before? Hmmm. Astroturfers are scum of the earth.
--
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Nader calls it best when he calls the current state of America as a "Corporate Socialist state".
Meaning: You do something 'wrong' (as defined by the megacorps), and you get severely penalised back to the Industrial Age.
Folks, the world of Shadowrun looks like it's looming closer.
Let's just say I intend to be a decker.
I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
OK, I own a DC. Yeah I know, I'm a big damn fan of the underdog. Apple, Sega, I also root for the Coyote.
Anyway, I agree with Sega. If they don't defend their intellectual property, (Logos, manuals, boot Roms) then they lose it. The only way to do it is to issue sweeping draconian statements like they did.
Don't get me wrong, I like emu's as much as the next guy. But only for things like older systems, where he parts can no longer be purchased. NES, etc. They should be released into the public domain. Any current selling systems new from the company, I believe should be protected until the system is discontinued.
It's a hell of a philosophy, I know. But hey, I don't have any lawyers on my back to question it.
-------------------------------------------------
True, I suppose situations where a better experience of playing the game on a different platform would facilitate a real use for moving the ROMs around to different platforms (in this case, gameboy->PC)
:)
:)
:))
That also involves a change in media. I guess if you had some real reason you preferred a DC emulator on a computer over the actual DC, you would have to "back up" onto CD-ROM from the DC disc.. but that would result in a loss movies and stuff anyway which would suck
Since a Playstation uses CD's, there's no excuse
(BTW - Gameboy Advanced looks cool
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That was by far the worst post I've ever read.
KDE 2 being in final beta is scary when things like kmail don't work on real computers like Alphas. I am scared what kde 2 final will be lik on alpha.
You could try, if you want to be laughed out of the store.
I wouldn't say it was wrong. That's not what I was saying at all. I was saying that "backing up" is a front for piracy and that if you break your games you can get new ones anyway.. and that they break rarely. Backing up a CD-ROM game onto another CD-ROM makes sense. Backing up a dreamcast game onto CD-ROM using the ripping utils which pulls the movies and shit off doesn't make any sense.
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Actually Mr. Harris (Sega's lawyer) cares less about the merits of his case than his ability to intimidate ANY website that publishes unauthorized information about Dreamcast materials. I use the term "unauthorized" to imply not desired by Sega as opposed to illegal content. I don't have a problem with Sega defending its intellectual property interests, but the blunt and oafish tactics of Sega's legal counsel in attacking websites is violating the legitimate free speech interests of sites such as isonews.com which even offered to cooperate with Harris if he could provide ANY examples of illegal content. I don't know if Harris is after publicity or the interests of his client, but I do know that he is attacking the cancer of piracy with a machete when he should be using a scapel. An intersting (and illuminating) dialogue between Harris and the isonews staff should be available at the website sometime in the near future.
Your right. Nobody's opinions, except the ones catering to the moderators, count.
I have an inalienable right to back up my own software
Something has been bugging me since I first heard the term 'fair use'. If you have a legally guaranteed right to make backups, isn't Sega denying you that right simply by selling copy-protected software? Isn't the entire console games industry? How about DVDs? So why doesn't the EFF take them all to court and force them to sell their products on unprotected media?
Of course not. By the way, you do know that your nick is the French word for 'cold', right? I mention it on the off-chance that you were trying to spell Sigmund Freud's surname.
Typos are proof of nothing.
Sega and more importantly their parent company is publicly traded. Take a look, they are UNPROFITABLE. They make great games, and rather than renting to try and buying what you like people steal them. They make money from software, not hardware, and say what you will: this is theft. I choose to support Sega with my money. I sincerely hope that they succeed in both financial terms and in shutting down DC piracy. Can you really blame them?
"My God, this must be a truly remarkable corn chip, to be so widely and confidently touted."
Pay attention to what I say. I never said that the boot disk should be illegal. I just want everyone to acknowledge that the vast majority of the people don't use it for backups, they use it for free games.
Now you can backup your copyrighted video tapes so you don't need to buy a new one when the original wears out. I wonder if the movie industry will sue me for encouraging piracy?
That was a pretty good troll, I almost fell for it.
There are large amounts of Dreamcast commercials on TV, wow. If I have to see one more CGI Randy Moss, I'm going to shoot something.
Pay attention before you post.
/making/ guns. They are being sued for /purposely/ and /knowingly/ putting the guns into the hands of criminals buy flooding the market with significantly more guns than there would be legit buyers, making it easy to go down the street and buy one.
The gun manufacturers are not being sued for
Just like saying tobacco companies are being sued for the stupid choices the smokers make is BS. If tobacco wouldn't predatorily market to children and teens, pump extra nicotine in and deny it and play all sorts of other tricks and just sell straight tobacco they would have no problems. And if the gun makers just made guns and let them be used for what they would instead of trying to get them to criminals in order to sell more, they would have no problems.
Ever get the impression that your life would make a good sitcom?
Ever follow this to its logical conclusion: that your life is a sitcom?
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Comment removed based on user account deletion
www.dcisos.com
-
Meep meep
They had scans of Dreamcast game covers, manuals, CD's, and more on the site. THAT IS COPYRIGHT INFORMATION IN WHICH YOU NEED PERMISSION TO USE. If Sega does not want you to use them, then I can ask you to cease and desist. The boot CD is also their property, because it was done using Sega proprietary information, not reverse engineering (despite what Utopia says).
Had dcisos.com not posted manuals, etc and the boot dc, and just provided the news, this wouldn't have happened.
I am in the process of backing up all my PC game CDs, because my CivCTP one broke. If I owned a game console, I would make backups of all of my CDs because if I didn't, I know I would have to go out and get a new copy of a game regularly. This is just like the old 8088 I used. You got a floppy (original), then you copied the floppy to another (working) and used the working copy. Are you going to tell me that was wrong, or that copying a game on a hard drive to a CD to make sure that all your stuff works if the HD goes bad is wrong? Give me a break.
Sega thinking that since they have some big bucks they think they can bully people around. They want to scare these people into stopping spreading information around. The only question is Will the site owner call sega's thier bluff? Will the /. community help if they get sued?
Please make a new "Copyright violations" /. topic icon, so I can filter all these junk pieces out.
NetBSD has been running on Dreamcast for a few months now. Of course there's no root drive to mount.. yet..
Depends. If it started out damaged, you could probably get a new one. Most stores have a limited return and exchange policy (within 10 days, usually). A friend of mine bought and beat a game in one day. It was supposed to be a tough game, but there you go. He took it back, and got a different game. Now, if you go back four months after you bought it, you'll get laughed at.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
It's been so long since Sega was top dog, they've forgotten what it feels like. With PS2 being delayed into oblivion, they have an opportunity to come away with the whole console market, but they've forgotten how to pull it off. Remember back when the Sega Genesis came out and all its hype and commercial air-time play? Has anyone even seen an ad for the DreamCast? Not on network television.
The US isn't Japan. You can't just come out with a new shiny box of electronics (and some Engrish name like "Famicon" or somesuch) and expect 25% of the population to buy one. It takes a whole lotta marketing, and Sega doesn't know how to put out. Sony managed to overcome its Japanese roots, as has Nintendo in some respects (since the days of Virtual Boy -- uggh). I have no hopes for Sega.
So now, instead of improving their products or trying to sell more, they're picking on the little guy. It's too much like the RIAA/MPAA, and like them, Sega is doomed to a slow fiery death. I say, good riddance.
If the site would just remove the scans, Sega would have no more argument and it would be back to a normal news site. I am surprised that they haven't just done this. It would be the easiest and sanest things to do.
I am a bad speler. Please ignore speling meestakes in me poast.
The thing is, stealing the games really doesn't bother me all that much. The boot disk itself is really a marvel to behold, I'm amazed that someone was able to hack the Dreamcast to get it to work.
What does bother me is when people try to justify the theft. Hey, when I play pirated games on my friend's Dreamcast, I know I'm profiting from theft. I really just can't bring myself to care. It just irks me when people try to argue it's not theft, when they won't admit what they're doing. If you're going to get free games, don't whine about it. Everyone here knows the boot disk was not designed for, nor is it used for making backups.
From Sega:
People in this thread have nit-picked on the word usage of this statement, which I have to admit was poorly thought out. The statement, as it reads, makes it sound like all DC owners are thieves. All they should have added was a "Some of these gamers" and it would have read what is the truth: Most people would not walk into a store and steal a game. I know I wouldn't. On the other hand, most people wouldn't feel as guilty if they pirated the game. I know I don't.Everyone here knows the spirit of the statement was that people who otherwise wouldn't steal games may steal games off the internet. Why? It's easier.
its talking about dcwarez.com. i was part of dcwarez, and happen to know what the letter said :P. also, both us site owners for dcwarez have connections to emugaming. anyhow, the stuff sega presented us with was total bullshit. they had no transgressions listed. They even wrote back saying they appreciate our better moderation of the boards, but we have 3 hours to shut down (this 8 days before the deadline). They have no evidence, but it's still risky and expensive to pursue the lawsuit. However, this really is an issue of free speech, or lack thereof, and not of piracy. you should all tell sega that.
is www.dcwarez.com not dcisos.com
Imagine you have owned a copy of a game, let's say Soul Calibur, for Dreamcast. Now, imagine you did at least manage to make a backup copy of it (even though you have to circumvent copy protection in order to do this (wtf???)). Now, let's say you lose your original game (disc, case, INSTRUCTION BOOKLET) in a fire or something. Is it becoming clear to you? Why does needing copies of the instructions automatically say that you are pirating a game?
Take a dollar, divide it by 100, take two and call me in the morning.
I had no idea it was even possible to copy Dreamcast games. Thanks, Sega! And a sweet note of thanks to the RIAA for letting me know that music could be copied at about 5MB per song, and to the movie industry for letting me know Scour had lots of free movies. You guys are swell!
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
normal gamers who would not steal a game from the store, but "emboldened by sites like yours," would steal it from the internet, next on UltraRealTV
" Your web site is dedicated to the dissemination of information to facilitate and encourage the illegal copying of Sega's intellectual property. "
dissemination of information
Interesting terms, those. What does it mean? It means you're telling people what you know, what you've observed, what you've whitnessed, It's reporting, and they're trying to stomp that because the reporter is reporting the wrong news. Would Tom Brocaw(sp?) stand for this?
Facilitate and encourage
An interesting terms, those.
This is suuuuch a lame excuse to threaten somebody with. The Washington post Facilitates and encourages people to be liberal every day! Do you see Rush L. asking them to cease and desist?? No. and neither should dcisos.com cease and desist from dissemination of information or Facilitating and encouraging people to do whatever they want.
Just once I'd like to see these knee jerk lawyers get sued for not representing a company intelligently in an elightened community. It would take just a simple one line clause in the contract when hiring of a firm that specifically says that guerilla lawyering risks termination of the defense contract with the company. That seems fair to me.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
Anyone know of a mirror of the original site?
Trolls throughout history:
Jonathan Swift
Standard IANAL Boilerplate...
While reading the letter-and-commentary on the noted website, I was struck by an interesting thought. My impression (see above) is that, as a general rule, you're allowed to make a single copy of software/etc. for backup purposes only. (I think that's pretty much standard on every commercial EULA I have ever seen.) But what if there are technological barriers to making that backup? It is common for CDs/DVDs to include "features" designed to make it almost impossible to do a bit-for-bit copy. (Lots of times this is because the available media is rendered defective -- preburning track 0 and so forth.)
It is one thing to allow users to make a backup; but what use is this if the company knows that such backups are impossible using "legitimate" equipment or methods? That seems to be exactly what is going on here: you can't make a direct copy of the Dreamcast games to back them up; said website provides information on how to do it; now Sega is upset and threatening to sue.
Okay, Sega, then how am I supposed to backup my game? Or do I get to return it as defective whenever it breaks/wears out?
"I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. I'm all out of bubblegum." MSE USC APX AIA CSI CASp
If your dreamcast game CD is badly damaged, couldn't you take it back to the store (or sega) and get a 1 for 1 replacement?
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The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I'm sure the lawyer, Daniel R. Harris would love your mail asking any questions / clarification on this and related issues. And why should just one of us ask and report back? I'm sure we all want our own individual replies. Anonymous web-based email.
Now, please keep it civil and try not to flood the poor mail server. That wouldn't be nice.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
As for feeling sorry for game companies, there are several things wrong with his arguments.
First, the more protection you give game companies, the more likely they are going to reissue and rehash and old game. Short term protection is necessary to give those companies the ability to make a profit. But they have already made huge profits. Long term protection, however, removes the incentive for game companies to innovate and come up with new game ideas.
In addition, copyright law was not intended to let companies manipulate the market by letting titles go out of print and then reissue them in a new format that requires technically incompatible hardware and forces everybody to pay for the same content many times over. Such behavior constitutes an abuse of copyright law.
As for defending the companies that brought us all those good game console games--what about their effect on open source gaming? Open source games existed before the PC and consoles, but they have suffered significantly from the PC and console game companies' inroads. So, let's keep the "sympathy" angle out of this argument: it is hardly a clear win for Sega and the other game companies.
What this comes down to is that Sega and other game companies have already taken advantage of copyright laws. And they want even more: prohibitions on emulators, prohibitions on fair use, prohibitions on changes in storage medium, etc. But what's their justification? I don't see much interesting innovation. We, the people, decide what copyright law ought to be, to encourage creative talent to work. If we go the direction that Sega and its defenders want us to go in, we will stifle innovation and creativity for the financial gain of a few stockholders. I think we need to go the other direction: shorten copyrights and liberalized copyright laws. That would encourage innovation and result in better games in the long run, while still allowing authors to make a profit.
I believe it it letters like yours that waste bandwidth, are the kind that make slashdot a less effective community. At least he had something relevant to say.
You can't take the sky from me
This time $ega went too far. They forced a legitimate site that merely reported news of the scene, and didn't even include covers, images, or anything to that extent. http://www.isonews.com. Have you visited isonews.com (before they were forced to removed all info that is related to the scene that facilitates piracy)? I would want you to, with the resources provided to you by the site isonews.com, see if you can find a direct link to a game, or get any assistance in finding dcisos. You wouldn't get anywhere. All the site did was report what has been released on a given day, and what the game entailed. NOT links where to find the game, or directions on how to burn the game. The forums, which provided an outlet for sharing information on how to properly copy a game, again, do NOT in any way assist you in obtaining illegal copies of dreamcast ISO's. They simply assist people that obtained the ISO's through resources of their own merit, on what to do. This is not hurting Sega, for the fact that they obtained the ISO through means not related to isonews.com. They are simply sharing information RELATED to piracy, not facilitating it. When I mean not facilitating, I mean not helping the users more easily obtain copy-righted material illegally. $ega is violating free speech taking down a site like isonews.com. I understand taking down dcisos.com, since they DID have direct links to the boot image, and covers. I agree with bomb, just not in the sense about backup images. Who downloads dreamcast games to "backup"? I don't, I'm speaking on the terms of violating free speech. NOTE: I am not related to isonews in any way, just a frequent visitor
On the issue of the boot disk, well it can also be used to start legitimate games written by people not using any of Sega's IP. It can also be used to turn your DC into an MP3 player of VCD player via similar software. And you DON'T need the boot disc to play the newest "backups" they are self booting, stick in the CD-R back-up and pow, the game plays. You should really know what you are talking about before you voice your opinion.
You can't take the sky from me
I don't care if you believe that piracy is an evil that will destroy game developers or if you hold dear the notion that all information should be free. The actions of Sega going after websites that do not directly or even contributorily infringe upon Sega copyrights are wrong. www.isonews.com is a completely legitimate website that reports information that is (or at least should be) protected by the First Amendment. For Sega's "tech saavy" lawyers to spend their time harrassing and threatening the distribution of information instead of actually going after actual software pirates is absurd and offensive. I hope isonews.com takes Sega on in a court of law for the gaming giant hasn't a leg to stand on. Perhaps a federal judge will be able to understand the distinction between free speech and copyright infringement that so many of the users miss.
Ford would have no reason to. If you had a picture of your Ford on the internet as reference on carjacking, and using it to show exactly how to carjack, then they would have a reason to, and they probably would.
So your saying that the comment...
"Nobody at Sega gives a shit about your. And you're a fucking moron."
...is having something relevant to say?
Wow, I guess 3+ paragraphs of commentary is just a waste of bandwidth, but 1 unintelligable sentence, now thats really something, eh?
Go back and read who said what before you say something so stupid again.
- One vote DOES count: The Republocrats took over the House in '94 by winning 19 districts with under 1,000 votes each. Assuming the total number is 19,000, that translates to one vote per school district in the US.
- Non-voters are the largest political force in America: Consider that the predictions say that only 46-49% of those eligible to vote actually do. That, my friends, makes for a plurality. The non-voters actually construe more than half the electorate and are their voices heard? The shortwave broadcast I heard suggested that if every person who was to vote Nader called two of their friends and converted them from the Legions of Morons (the republocrats and Democritans), then Nader would be the Big Dog.
- To get involved costs something, but not getting involved costs more. Moore talked about how he wanted to get on a school board to throw out his principal, who he felt was unfair. He was a lazy bastard and called the board of elections, which told him: 1. Even though he was barely 18, he could run. 2. He only needed 25 signatures to get on the ballot. 3. They would mail him the petition. He succeeded in terminating the principal AND the assistant principal.
- Nader has done more quantitative good than both major-party candidates combined. Airbags and the NHTSA are thanks to Ralph Nader's work against GM. We are not as exposed to radioactive matter thanks to Nader.
Vote Nader: The Only Candidate Biting The Hands Of Corporate America.I used to be someone else. Now I'm someone better.
Real life is underrated.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the law is not equipted to deal with these kinds of matters. Why should it? Existing copyright law has been in place for over 100 years. It was written to deal with means of infringement that were common/possible back then.
I'm not a lawyer, but lets face facts: Reading any law/statute ought to give you an idea of what it's about, and where the lines of interpretation are. Right? Wrong. Legal interpretation, as we have seen so many times in the past, doesn't have to be either logical or just. (Anyone remember O.J.? We're not talking a few game carts here)
I'm behind the idea of backing up your games (I still play FF 1 for nintendo.), and I agree that shutting down sites like these serve no purpose other than to flood the legal system with questions it can't really answer. But dude,
Don't be a moron!
Find some REAL legal council. Slashdotters are great, but almost none (most likely) have written a bar exam. Don't leave this stuff to chance. Cover your ass.
I think that the one thing most techies interested in free speech and subsidiary rights forget is that NONE OF USE ARE IN THIS ALONE! If you fall, 10 more people will take up the fight.
It does no-one any good having our talent supplanted into prison and becoming some idiot's buttery corn hole for a few years.
This is not a joke. I saw it at Linux Kongress in Germany last week. Emacs runs. XBill doesn't run. It's being worked on.
Well, hmmm, what does it mean? I guess it means Sega should stop being so anal and start looking for new friends in our part of the universe, because nothing on god's green earth will stop us from forcing open whatever technology tries to stay closed.
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Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
Hands up everyone who believes they have an inalienable moral right to make warez.
Basically, it all goes back to the argument that people giving information should not be held responsible for those who choose to misuse it. If I put up a website about how to use a handgun, and someone uses my website to kill someone, that's not my fault.
.. well, that's been the excuse of the console piracy scene since the NES.. and it's a load of crap IMHO. I don't know anyone who "backs up" their games, the people who are competent enough to find the information how to do so have always either not been using that information or been using it to pirate games. If your game breaks you usually beat the shit out of it after not playing it for a few years, and if it breaks while you're still enjoying it you return it. All my old NES games/Playstation Games work.
.. but, the question really is weither or not that sharing this information is illegal. I don't think it is, but I guess Sega thinks it is and that they can beat it out in court. Kind of unconstitional, eh?
Of course, the difference, at least to me, between Napster and this is that Napster actually supposedly does have some legitimate legal uses that are being executed (though slim, most people I know use it to just trade illegally copied MP3s, but maybe I'm crazy.)
As far as "backing up" your console games
There's no question that the "backing up games" == "how to pirate games"
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