this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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We're not in danger of losing anything. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle. How is passing new laws going to magically detect and erase all the PSX, SNES, MAME, etc ROMs that I play offline from my computer? How is it going to prevent people from torrenting these files through VPNs in countries that don't give a rat's ass or sharing encrypted ROMpacks? Jesus, even archive.org is chock full of retro games. Trying to get rid of ROM sharing at this point is like trying to dry up the ocean with a fistfull of cotton swabs.
Plus, emulation itself is not and cannot be illegal, barring a complete redesign of intellectual property law from its very foundation. Games themselves, BIOSes and encryption keys are protected, but an emulator is, in rough terms, "something that achieves the same result through different means", and if that could be made illegal, then someone could patent the hammer and you'd have to pay a fine for nailing two things together with a rock.
We are in danger of losing things though. Sure, we arent going to lose super mario all stars, or any of the Tony Hawk series, but thats not the point behind providing legal protections.
Policy vacuums cause issues. There needs to be legal frameworks in place to properly protect media, as we have already addressed for other types of media. Having them accessible via piracy doesnt achieve the same goals, let alone protect rare/niche/alternate versions/prototypes/otherwise currently unwanted stuff
I agree with you, we need legal protections - but for the future. Even the E.T. game for Atari has ROMs easily available. It was just too easy up until recently (and still is with Nintendo hardware) to dump ROMs and write very functional emulators. I'd say nothing up to the PS3 era is in danger, but that's a very partially educated guess.
lets just hope theres no media empire with a legion of mouse-eared lawyers champing at the bit to do such a thing.
similarly i'd be a bit worried that any new legislation would be more strongly influenced by those rights-holding interest groups rather than consumers.
Imagine someone in 50 years who wants a rom from the 80s. will they be able to get it easily?
It'd be nice if it was as easy as getting hold of a brothers grimm story.
You're forgetting that patent law applies to industrial property across every sector of the economy. This is a technology issue that goes far beyond entertainment media.
oh right. i thought it was about copyright
By making laws that say it is ok to arrest/jail/fine you for having them. What we need are laws that say “this activity is ok, because these products are no longer worth anything to companies”
Ancient Luddite politicians will say it’s ridiculous to compare software to hammers, then they will call the internet a series of tubes, throw snow on the US House floor, and pay the Pentagon $40k for a hammer.
Sorry but that just isn't realistic, no matter how effective it is at pushing your anger buttons.