Send Link mailing list submissions to
[email protected]
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
[email protected]
You can reach the person managing the list at
[email protected]
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Link digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Public libraries cannot preserve video games (Stephen Loosley)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2024 18:32:05 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Public libraries cannot preserve video games
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Publishers are absolutely terrified "preserved video games would be used for
recreational purposes," so the US copyright office has struck down a major
effort for game preservation
The ESA's absolutist position is that it would not support similar sorts of
copyright reform under any circumstances.
By Dustin Bailey published 11 hours ago
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/publishers-are-absolutely-terrified-preserved-video-games-would-be-used-for-recreational-purposes-so-the-us-copyright-office-has-struck-down-a-major-effort-for-game-preservation/
"This fails the needs of citizens, in favor of a weak argument from the
industry, and it's really disappointing"
A three-year fight to support game preservation came to a sad end today.
The US copyright office has denied a request for a DMCA exemption that would
allow libraries to remotely share digital access to preserved video games.
"For the past three years, the Video Game History Foundation has been
supporting the Software Preservation Network (SPN) on a petition to allow
libraries and archives to remotely share digital access to out-of-print video
games in their collections," VGHF explains in its statement.
"Under the current anti-circumvention rules in Section 1201 of the DMCA,
libraries and archives are unable to break copy protection on games in order to
make them remotely accessible to researchers."
Essentially, this exemption would open up the possibility of a digital library
where historians and researchers could 'check out' digital games that run
through emulators.
The VGHF argues that around 87% of all video games released in the US before
2010 are now out of print, and the only legal way to access those games now is
through the occasionally exorbitant prices and often failing hardware that
defines the retro gaming market.
Still, the US copyright office has said no. "The Register concludes that
proponents did not show that removing the single-user limitation for preserved
computer programs or permitting off-premises access to video games are likely
to be noninfringing," according to the final ruling.
"She also notes the greater risk of market harm with removing the video game
exemption?s premises limitation, given the market for legacy video games."
That ruling cites the belief of the Entertainment Software Association and
other industry lobby groups that "there would be a significant risk that
preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes."
We cannot, of course, entertain the notion that researchers enjoy their
subjects for even a moment.
More importantly, this also ignores the fact that libraries already lend out
digital versions of more traditional media like books and movies to everyday
people for what can only be described as recreational purposes.
Members of the VGHF are naturally unhappy with the decision.
"Unfortunately, lobbying efforts by rightsholder groups continue to hold back
progress," the group says in its statement, noting the ESA's absolutist
position that it would not support a similar sort of copyright reform under any
circumstances.
"I'm proud of the work we and the orgs we partnered with did to try and change
copyright law," VGHF founder and director Frank Cifaldi says on Twitter.
"We really gave it our all, I can't see what else we could have done. This
fails the needs of citizens in favor of a weak argument from the industry, and
it's really disappointing."
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
--
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
_______________________________________________
Link mailing list
[email protected]
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
------------------------------
End of Link Digest, Vol 383, Issue 31
*************************************
