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[pcostabel]

Looks like someone in congress is into the emulation scene...

Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies

(1) Compilations consisting of lists of Internet locations blocked by commercially marketed filtering software applications that are intended to prevent access to domains, websites or portions of websites, but not including lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to protect against damage to a computer or a computer network or lists of Internet locations blocked by software applications that operate exclusively to prevent receipt of email.

(2) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.

(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

(4) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen readers to render the text into a specialized format.

 

[Fatghost]

That's pretty neat. Are the N64 or PS1 even manufactured anymore?

 

[Shrike_Priest]

Does this mean it's passed or is it just a suggestion?

Edit: Just saw the date. But I'm still a bit fuzzy as to whether or not that's actually a "proper rule". Because one would think that the Emu-scene would have exploited that paragraph beyond belief by now if it's two years old.

 

[Juice]

I noticed this on PSPUpdates this morning.

Doesn't seem that it's going to change anything at all with legal precedent. Emulators are still legal, but what this particularly enables people to do is to crack encrypted ROMS for hardware that isn't sold anymore.

Since one doesn't have to break DMCA to this date when dumping an ISO, this won't really be meaningful unless future consoles (e.g. PS3 with blu-ray) come stacked with all sorts of DRM. Games like GTA:LCS look like they have built in methods to avoid ripping the complete ISO image without any tinkering, so that might even apply.

But only once Sony's all done with the PSP

This doesn't mean anything in the long run.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

But wouldn't that result in the fact that pretty much any SNES/NES/Genesis game that isn't widely available today (as a port or whatever) is fair game to emulate/download? Or am I reading it wrong?

 

[Fatghost]

But wouldn't that result in the fact that pretty much any SNES/NES/Genesis game that isn't widely available today (as a port or whatever) is fair game to emulate/download? Or am I reading it wrong?

It would be fair game to emulate. Downloading the ROM I assume would still be a violation of the copyright.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

Ah, true. Forgot the old "you still have to have the thing"

I'm still annoyed at the legality problem of emulating a SNES game on my PSP when I have the PSX port legally. Morally, I see no problem with it, but it's just a big gray blur.

 

[radios shipping overview]

This is quite old, and the emu/rom-kiddie scene got all excited when the news first came out. I believe it's intended to be used by library owners or people who are actually archivists by profession, and I haven't heard of a single case where this section would have been used in court in a case regarding emulation (because there aren't many ^^.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Letting you decrypt apps/games that you legally own doesn't make it legal to distribute them.