An encouraging sign

[MankeyMan]

http://www.isonews.com

It's always good to see stuff like this. Fucking pirates.

[buttasuperb]

owned


Piracy is a crime even when the works are distributed over the Internet for free or where the conduct does not involve monetary gain, such as the trading of pirated products for other pirated products.

[bargora]

Time for some folks ra ed on to lay low for a while.

[ManekiNeko]

I'm going to be the sole voice of dissent here and remind everyone that even older video game ROMs are copyrighted material as well. I doubt that anyone here is going to be too happy if Digital Press or another popular emulation site is seized by the United States government. They could do it, you know.

JR

[Captain Wrong]

I'm going to be the sole voice of dissent here and remind everyone that even older video game ROMs are copyrighted material as well. I doubt that anyone here is going to be too happy if Digital Press or another popular emulation site is seized by the United States government. They could do it, you know.

JR

Agreed, and furthermore, I don't think isonews actually offered the pirated goods, just gave information about them. I know the actual charge here deals with mod chips, and I don't want to open that can of worms again, but shutting down a site that talks about doing something, which is illegal, granted, but does not give access to said illegal material, kind of disturbs me.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/02/27/industry.copyright.reut/index.html

And an interesting commintary here: http://angrybear.blogspot.com/

[omnedon]

How long before it's illegal to turn a screw on your personal property in the U.S.A?

In the U.S., it is legal to backup your personal property, but illegal to try to do it.

You guys are on a slippery slope. They were closed for selling microchips. What's next? Independent newspapers?

[Daniel Thomas]

How long before it's illegal to turn a screw on your personal property in the U.S.A?

In the U.S., it is legal to backup your personal property, but illegal to try to do it.

You guys are on a slippery slope. They were closed for selling microchips. What's next? Independent newspapers?

I don't worry. With all the anti-war, anti-Bush stuff on my website, I'll likely be declared an "enemy combatant" and shipped away to Club X-Ray in Cuba. I'm sure I'll get my walking papers the week "Patriot Act 2: The Revenge" is passed.

Seriously, though, this is just absurd. Three thousand lives are wiped out on 9/11, and what does the government do? Go after pot smokers, videogame pirates, and tell the public to buy duct tape. What a joke. Bush's approval rating is down to 50%, and even that seems far too high.

[Daniel Thomas]

I checked the website in question just now, and I have an idea which should anyone who's in trouble.

Seeing as this involves Microsoft, all you have to do is give $100,000 to Attorney General Ashcroft, and he'll drop all charges and let you off the hook. Hey, it worked for Microsoft in the antitrust case, didn't it?

Again, this government is being run by boobs.

[Sylentwulf]

The general stance on piracy is, if the company is no longer making ANY profits off of the item/game, and is no longer available, then copying/free downloads are fine.

Thus, it hurts NOONE. If the company isn't making any money off of it, and you can't buy it (new) anywhere, it's technically called abandonware. meaning it's a free-for-all.

So... N64, Gameboy, gameboy color, gameboy advance, PS1, PS2, Gamecube, DREAMCAST, and x-box are ALL A BIG NO-NO for copying. (along with some others I'm sure I'm forgetting.)

[bargora]

The general stance on piracy is, if the company is no longer making ANY profits off of the item/game, and is no longer available, then copying/free downloads are fine.
Whose stance is this? Yours? "Like, everybody's"? The gov'ment's?


Thus, it hurts NOONE. If the company isn't making any money off of it, and you can't buy it (new) anywhere, it's technically called abandonware. meaning it's a free-for-all.
Personally (i.e., morally), I feel the same way IF there's basically no way that a company is going to republish the thing, like in a compilation pack or on an e-card or something like that.

Hmmm...If an old game's being pirated to hell and gone, is that (1) a disincentive for a company to republish it, because everybody's already got an illicit copy, or (2) a sign that the market for the thing is there, indicating that a company would be stupid not to republish it?


So... N64, Gameboy, gameboy color, gameboy advance, PS1, PS2, Gamecube, DREAMCAST, and x-box are ALL A BIG NO-NO for copying. (along with some others I'm sure I'm forgetting.)
Double hmmmm.... What about all of the SNES games that are getting a second life on the GBA? Are you positing that it's OK to copy them?

[Li Wang]

Does the page the DOJ put up in the place of the regular index seem kind of unprofessional and cocky to anyone else? The whole way the Isonews logo is used plus the fact that sites that get shut down usually just dissapear altogether made me initially assume this was a hoax. Maybe it's some kind of scare tactic to try and get people to stop pirating or something. I dunno.

[Mr-E_MaN]

I was actually hoping to see a sign... oh well... maybe I can post and encouraging sign.

http://members.shaw.ca/eklund/goodpost.gif