Let's discuss Legality,

At most forums you're absolutely not allowed to ask for roms/iso's (let's say game downloads). Don't be afraid: I won't ask for it. I'm just curious of what you people think is illegal or not. To find out I’ve got two examples. Here we go.

1 - ROMs : I'm a retro game fanatic. I still got all my computers and games. (starting with pong :D ) I’ve got an arcade machine and a pinball machine. There are some games which I really like to add to my collection but which I can't find anywhere. I even can't find them at Ebay. So the only way to play the games is by using an emulator and download the specific gamerom. So this is illegal isn't it ? But I won't harm anyone with it. Not even anyone involved with the production of the games since the game is 20 years old and out of production for many years.

2 –ISO’s : I own a psp and an original GTA UMD disc. I played GTA for a while when a friend told me about firmware 1.5 and how to run emulators with it. I downgraded my psp and really enjoy the new possibilities. Maybe one day there will be an iso version of GTA which will run with fw 1.5 (don't discuss if this is possible or not - that’s not the question). Than it will be possible to play all my emulators AND GTA. But I need that iso to get it working. So, when I download that iso, will this be illegal ? I bought the original game in the store, but that won’t run with fw 1.5.

These are just two examples. I found this legal/illegal-discussing very interesting. Let's share thoughts here........

ROMs/ISOs are illegal unless the rights have been released in the public domain. There is something about owning ROMs/ISOs of games that you own but only if you can make the backup yourself but even in some cases that is not permitted by law and also varies from country to country.

Ethics however is a completely different story.

ISOs:-

The EULA (End User License Agreement), that you consent to when you purchase a product, entitles a user to create backups of media for their own personal use!

The main reason its not discussable on this forum, is that although you may be making legal backups, the same methods can be used for piracy, so we prefer to error on the side of caution and not discuss them at all!

There is another problem I will cover in a later section!

ROMs:-

ROMs conform to the same legality as ISOs, you are entitled to a backup!

However, ROMs for very old systems, i.e. NES, etc, although, it is technically illegal to own the ROMs if you didn't make them, the manufacturers are no longer actively seeking offenders...they've become semi-accepted, much like abandonware!

Just because the manufacturers are not that bothered anymore, you can still get busted for having or distributing them...so we still will not discuss them!

Minor Problem Mentioned Above:-

Although, technically, the end-user is entitled to have a backup of their shiny new media. Cartridges, UMDs and Discs using custom filesystems (Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox) are not standard media, and the only way to get access to that media is to reverse engineer the system (or use the tool of someone who already did)...which in itself is against the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act)...so you can still get screwed that way!

Cheers,
Fox

P.S. Just to let you, us Mods are watching this thread very closely...Its very close to the line!

Well, thanks for the reactions. First of all I want to make clear that I don't want to start a discussion which isn't allowed at this forum. I just came up with two situations which are illegal, but in my opinion shouldn't be illegal. I would like to read the opinions of other people around here. That discussion is allowed I hope.

Roms- Though we won't discuss it, pretty much everyone here downloads roms. I'm not talking about freeware ones. The legality is solid. We are all breaking the law. But this is our own problem and as long as we don't discuss them we are all fine at dcemu. Dcemu's policy about this is everyone does it, just don't discuss it. I mean its easy to justify old NES or Genesis roms because it is hard to find a working cartridge of games such as Sonic The Hedgehog or The Legend of Zelda. That is an unspoken agreement within the dcemu community. Its okay just don't talk about it here.

ISOs- ISO's and in fact any discussion of attaining these files is banned completely. It has no unspoken agreement on dcemu. Simply put, whether attaining these ISOs through legal means or otherwise discussion is not allowed. The discussion of ISO's for any system that is currently being supported (e.g; PSP, PS2 and/or Xbox) is not only banned but discouraged. Meaning not only can you not talk about it but you are encouraged not to do it!

What it comes down to
-Downlaoding Old Roms do not harm current systems or companies
-Downloading ISO's for current systems will harm that console

Anyway this discussion has been argued to death by both sides at this forum topic. Lets keep that long argument there.