I don't personally feel strongly enough to voice an opinion either way when it comes to the ethics of rom downloading. I did, however, want to just jump in to post a quote released by Nintendo regarding Rom downloading if you already own the game in question.
Copied from Nintendo's corporate legal site: Can I Download a Nintendo ROM from the Internet if I Already Own the Authentic Game? There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic. Therefore, whether you have an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet. --- On Sat, 3/26/11, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Audyssey] collection of accessible emulators for the blind > To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org> > Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 2:11 PM > Hi Milos, > > Right. this download is only for the more or less > accessible rom > emulators themselves. If you want the roms you will have to > go to a > dedicated rom sharing site like > wwww.doperoms.com > to actually download and install the roms for each > emulator. > > As for the issue of sharing the roms on list that's sort > of > problematic as far as copyright issues goes. Most companies > such as > Nintendo don't have a problem with someone sharing their > roms provided > they A, own the original game console, and B, the actual > physical > cartrage the game came on. Since I still own my original > NES with > several games like TMNT, Double Dragon, Castlevania, > Megaman, etc I > can legally download those roms and play them on a NES > emulator for > Windows or Linux with no problem. However, since I didn't > own a > Nintendo 64 I could get into hot water downloading and > sharing N64 > roms since I never owned the original media. In some cases > it is > questionable when we are talking about multiplatform > games. > > For instance, I own the original Tomb Raider game released > for Windows > 95. Unfortunately, it will not work on Windows 7. So what I > did is > grabbed the Tomb Raider version for the PSX and now play it > under > Linux via a PSX emulator. That is sort of questionable > legally since > it is the same game I own, but for a different platform. > Not sure how > Edos would respond to me playing the game for a different > platform > than the version I purchased back in 1996. However, I > technically do > own the original game/media so its not like I am outright > wripping the > company off since I paid for the game. > > That said, here is my opinion how to handle this as a > moderator. Since > it is probably not a good idea legally to simply zip up an > archive of > roms for various platforms I think the best thing to do is > to suggest > sights where to download the game roms and you download and > install > them at your own legal risk. Since I don't know if you > legally own the > game or console in question I can't forbid you not to > download rom x, > but as a list moderator I can't let people just post these > things > freely on list not knowing who has and does not have the > original game > and platform. Since I suspect many of you don't actually > own a > Gameboy, N64, Super Nintendo, etc as well as the games > sharing them in > that case would be software piracy and goes against our > list rules. So > just share trusted rom sharing sites and leave it at that. > Ok? > > Cheers! > > > On 3/26/11, Milos Przic <milos.pr...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Hi all, > > But where to find some roms to play? I > think that there are no roms in > > the colection. Or is it not for this list because of > the copyrights? > > Best regards! > > Milos > Przic > > msn: milos.pr...@gmail.com > > skype: Milosh-hs > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com> > > To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org> > > Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 1:01 PM > > Subject: Re: [Audyssey] collection of accessible > emulators for the blind > > > > > >> Hi, > >> > >> The link was fine when I downloaded the emulators > collection. If > >> people are having troubles downloading it now I > would imagine Flopbox > >> as reached its maximum download limit and is > refusing downloads. > >> That's what happens if you have a free Flopbox > account. It only allows > >> you a limited number of downloads and then Flopbox > stops working. In > >> my opinion Flopbox is a worthless pile of junk for > sharing files on a > >> mass skale. > >> > >> Cheers! > >> > >> > >> On 3/25/11, Shane Lowe <shanel...@insightbb.com> > wrote: > >>> I don't think dropbox liked that link. > >> > >> --- > >> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > >> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > >> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > >> You can make changes or update your subscription > via the web, at > >> http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > >> All messages are archived and can be searched and > read at > >> http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > >> If you have any questions or concerns regarding > the management of the > >> list, > >> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > >> > >> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, > version of virus > >> signature database 5986 (20110325) __________ > >> > >> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > >> > >> http://www.eset.com > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, > version of virus signature > > database 5987 (20110326) __________ > > > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > > > http://www.eset.com > > > > > > > > > > --- > > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > > You can make changes or update your subscription via > the web, at > > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > > All messages are archived and can be searched and read > at > > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the > management of the list, > > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the > web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the > management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
