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Hey, question about roms...

Aaron5367

The Legendary Spriter
  • 634
    Posts
    20
    Years
    Hey, I have read the webmasters area rules and I don't see anything saying you can post up sites with roms on them. And on top of that why not? They arent illegal... I am wondering if you can or cannot.
     
    Well when you think about it, they are, yet aren't illegal. They aren't because most sites warn you before hand that you need the origional game pack to download them. But they are if you don't have the game pak. It's really just how you use them that matters if they're legal/illegal!
     
    ROMs are illegal- it doesn't matter if you have the game or not. When I checked it just a few minutes ago, the only thing you had on your site was a ROM page. What's the difference in giving a link to a site that has ROMs and posting a ROM file right here? Not much...
     
    Ok, true (Last time I saw it they werent >_<) but there is no rule in P.C. saying that you can't post a site with roms on it.

    Edit:
    Morkula said:
    ROMs are illegal- it doesn't matter if you have the game or not. When I checked it just a few minutes ago, the only thing you had on your site was a ROM page. What's the difference in giving a link to a site that has ROMs and posting a ROM file right here? Not much...
    and that is bull that the only thing we have on our site is roms...
     
    Aaron5367 said:
    Ok, true (Last time I saw it they werent >_<) but there is no rule in P.C. saying that you can't post a site with roms on it.

    Edit:
    and that is bull that the only thing we have on our site is roms...
    Have you read the rules lately?

    PC Rules said:
    ROMs of any game, Pok?mon or not, are prohibited. This is gone into greater detail in the ROMs section. Warez are prohibited. You cannot post cracked software, or post Serial Numbers.

    And this is from the rules of the ROMs forum (also the first rule on the list).
    No ROMs. It's a general rule of the entire community. Threads asking for them will be closed and posts containing links will be deleted. You also cannot link to any site that contains a ROM.
    See that last line?
     
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    my suggestion is to get rid of your roms.. unless you LIKE jail.. and/or being broke.

    they WILL find you and do bad, bad things to you and/or your parents.

    best bet = don't have roms - period!
     
    Ok then. Quick question, since I'm extremely curious as to the extent of the rule.

    If you have a link to your site in your sig, and it contains a link to a site with roms, would that go by? The reason I'm asking is because I have an update to my links page sitting here with two sites listed that have roms.

    PPNSteve said:
    my suggestion is to get rid of your roms.. unless you LIKE jail.. and/or being broke.

    they WILL find you and do bad, bad things to you and/or your parents.

    best bet = don't have roms - period!

    Sorry to break it to you, but the last time any law enforcement did anything to a site with roms was a LONG time ago, about three years. Since then, nothing major has been has been done. It's usually a fandom that will get a rom site shut down via DDoS or the like.

    Really, the worst they would do is send him a warning, and then they'd forget about it.
     
    Last edited:
    PPNSteve said:
    my suggestion is to get rid of your roms.. unless you LIKE jail.. and/or being broke.

    they WILL find you and do bad, bad things to you and/or your parents.

    best bet = don't have roms - period!
    did you even read our posts (sorry if that sounded rude, I am trying to be as nice as I can be)

    Edit: Emulation is not illegal, roms are, thanks for listening aaronandjoseph's site will now have roms posted on a p2p link,
     
    Last edited:
    I'm saying roms are very illegal.

    Well like my saying goes "hardly anything good in this world is free" and also if the company that made the game is not getting profits from your download then it's illegal.
     
    Happy Dude said:
    I'm saying roms are very illegal.

    Well like my saying goes "hardly anything good in this world is free" and also if the company that made the game is not getting profits from your download then it's illegal.
    It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact. And several people have already proven this fact.
     
    I just realized something. You guys keep saying all ROMs are illegal, but Open Domain (I beleive that's how it's said) ROMs aren't. They're covered by a GPL-like license that makes them exempt. I know that many older arcade ROMs are included under that license, as Leo Laporte once mentioned on Call For Help when they made their own tabletop arcade machine. Fan-made games are covered as well. However, you have to make sure they're Open Domain ROMs.

    If I can find a copy of the show notes or an arcitle on it in one of the Tech Almanacs, I'll type it up or scan it.
     
    Yame~TD said:
    Sorry to break it to you, but the last time any law enforcement did anything to a site with roms was a LONG time ago, about three years. Since then, nothing major has been has been done. It's usually a fandom that will get a rom site shut down via DDoS or the like.

    Really, the worst they would do is send him a warning, and then they'd forget about it.
    Umm you'd be very wrong about that.. especially where Nintendo's games are concerned.. happens every single day though usually done thru an ISP or civil court.. you still risk jail as it is a crime in most countries.

    Yame~TD said:
    I just realized something. You guys keep saying all ROMs are illegal, but Open Domain (I beleive that's how it's said) ROMs aren't. They're covered by a GPL-like license that makes them exempt. I know that many older arcade ROMs are included under that license, as Leo Laporte once mentioned on Call For Help when they made their own tabletop arcade machine. Fan-made games are covered as well. However, you have to make sure they're Open Domain ROMs.

    If I can find a copy of the show notes or an arcitle on it in one of the Tech Almanacs, I'll type it up or scan it.

    ANY game you make yourself and some hacks (more of an grey area) are considered legal - it the rom of a commercially distrubited game that's illegal.. i.e. a Pokemon or Mario GBA game..
     
    Strange, I would have heard it over IRC if it happened. Meh, news probably doesn't travel fast enough to get to us before being lost.

    *Note: I love being part of several private groups on IRC. I get tons of news that way.

    As for the Open Domain ROMs, I know that, but everyone was talking as if ALL ROMs, OD or not, were illegal. I was just trying to mention that it's not completely true.

    Edit: The 2003 Almanac doesn't have the article, and the 2004 has something on ROMs, but doesn't mention the OD ROMs. Too bad the TTV CFH site was tore down. G4, I honestly hate you. -_-;
     
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