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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."
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.
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.
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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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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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www.dcisos.com
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Looks like you failed Analogies 101
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
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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