Since the change of hosting, what are the policies regarding posting binary images 10 years or older for educational and preservation purposes? Did we ever settle on this?
Just putting in a bet here that a big influence will be whether the intellectual property involved is still relevant today. For example, a Super Mario Bros. rom image isn't going to be okay to post for a long time, while the FC Rocky firmware probably isn't an issue. I would expect the rules to cover the worst-case scenario and end up being "no".
Well, there are other forums (like NA) where ROM posting isn't prohibited, so the benefits of such prohibition are not clear cut. I think if ROM posting is allowed, it should be for cases where it's clearly beneficial to the community in some way, not just dumping the entire NES library on the forum just because the rules allow it.
It'd be best if we could have a public discussion about the forum rules and actually publish them somewhere. The server administrator can take part in the conversation, and can choose to accept whatever rules the community comes up with or veto them.
It'd be good if we could come up with an actual policy, though, rather than referencing the late Parodius network rules.
It'd be best if we could have a public discussion about the forum rules and actually publish them somewhere. The server administrator can take part in the conversation, and can choose to accept whatever rules the community comes up with or veto them.
It'd be good if we could come up with an actual policy, though, rather than referencing the late Parodius network rules.
mikejmoffitt wrote:
Just putting in a bet here that a big influence will be whether the intellectual property involved is still relevant today. For example, a Super Mario Bros. rom image isn't going to be okay to post for a long time, while the FC Rocky firmware probably isn't an issue. I would expect the rules to cover the worst-case scenario and end up being "no".
Technically, there isn't a single video game that isn't covered by copyright yet (except those that were explicitly put into the public domain), and anybody can still get sued for posting a copyrighted ROM (not to mention companies' willingness to threaten the site besides just the person sharing), so...
Solution: WhoaMan needs to register with the US Copyright Office as the designated agent of a service provider under OCILLA. This must be done through a mailed paper form and requires the payment of a fee, currently $105 for the designation plus $35 for up to 10 domains.
OK. So am I gonna throw some money at someone to get this done? 
Sik wrote:
mikejmoffitt wrote:
Just putting in a bet here that a big influence will be whether the intellectual property involved is still relevant today. For example, a Super Mario Bros. rom image isn't going to be okay to post for a long time, while the FC Rocky firmware probably isn't an issue. I would expect the rules to cover the worst-case scenario and end up being "no".
Technically, there isn't a single video game that isn't covered by copyright yet (except those that were explicitly put into the public domain), and anybody can still get sued for posting a copyrighted ROM (not to mention companies' willingness to threaten the site besides just the person sharing), so...
Yes, I'm aware of this... I mention something so obscure as an example of something that probably won't be an issue. From a legal standpoint, it is the same.