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IS HOMEBREW ILIGAL!?

purple_tentacle_

By purple_tentacle_
in Off-Topic Mayhem

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purple_tentacle_ Newbie

purple_tentacle_

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My answere: NO...but if you use an emulator with iligal content on it its iligal. But owning the emulator isnt its if you use iligal roms. If you have the cd or the game or whatever it emulates. Its perfectly legal. IF you rip it as long as its a rip from your own game you own its still iligal.

 

Now here is the opinion that cought my eye and answered my question:

 

Alright. this is what I've learned.

 

The nature in which all code is written is what deams it legal or illegal.

 

now any homebrew which is coded for and compiled by the PS2Dev.org SDK which was developed under legal methods IS legal, no if's and's or but's

 

if the code was compiled by the official SDK and release as unsigned free homebrew (whether the SDK is Legimate or Stolen) then and ONLY then is that specific homebrew application Illegal. and why? because the Sony SDK is licensed under a closed license agreement to which only official developers know what it says. and well there is the issue of the leaked version, which was not legaly distributed.

 

Emulators are and have always been legal to write, distribute, and own (Iso Loaders included) but! because of there possible applications of this such program you cannot prove you are using them in a legimate way. (such way would be owning the cartrages or disks which are being emulated on the machine, ALSO! you must have had the original hardware used to "rip" the data from the cartrages or cd's and depending ont he extent, the original hardware used to run the software."

 

Its he answere that made most sence to me and its the truth. My answere was just from what the people said. This answere doesnt aply to all countrys. Only this law aplyes to the U.S.

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purple_tentacle_ Newbie

purple_tentacle_

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And its illegal not iligal! I mean wtf....

 

Sorry I have bad spelling. I am worse on the internet becuase I type fast and dont realy think of what I am trying to spell out.

 

Still it's funny how he knows it's "legal" but can't get the negation right. Ah well, he said he's in high school, so there's still hope :p

 

Its was a big debate I found on the Internet. I personaly think its legal but Everyone has there own Ideas. The paragraph in the Red isnt mine its a quote that somone else made.

 

Well not everyone speaks English as a first language. I don't know if this is the case for purple_tentacle but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.

 

Its my first language I am American and I was born here.

 

Besides what is Homebrew?

 

I was worried that most people wouldnt know what it is. Its what they call the apps that you can put on your wii using a hacking system. Like right now I have a modded wii and I used hombrew to get ScummVM on my Wii and I also used it to get the games on the system too. Its kinda wierd stuff but its fun to mess around with. Everones worried about it bricking there wii. Theres only some hombrew out there that will brick your wii but ScummVM is safe. Most hombrew is. Check out this site it will explane. You can also use hombrew on the 360 and PS3 but it is more popular and esier to use on the wii.

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xgfx Newbie

xgfx

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I know most of you know this, but I thought i'd lend some information to the .. less informed.

 

Definition

Homebrew - Software designed to run on consoles (and handhelds) to add new features

 

Emulators - Software to run ancient games. Aren't Homebrew by default. Only when ported to run on handhelds/consoles.

 

Legality

Homebrew - Depending on console, installing Homebrew is a breach of the user agreement. This isn't illegal exactly, you're just breaching an agreement you made with the manufacturer. You're not likely to be prosecuted for it (unless you're massively profiting from it somehow). The most I'd imagine that would happen is the manufacturer would void your warranty/not provide support.

 

Emulators - Not illegal at all. The games played on them, well, that depends on how honest you are.

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purple_tentacle_ Newbie

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The argument is that you bought the hardware, and so you have the right to do what you want with it - this includes using Homebrew software. I agree with it, as do most people. Basically nobody can do anything about it. ;)

 

As for emulators, they are legal so long as you have the rights to use the software you are emulating.

 

Well you could buy hombrew software but the creators of most of the software say that if "you bought it you were scammed" so dont pay for hombrew. Hombrew is intended to be free.

 

@xgfx Thanks for giving the definitions. Its kinda hard to explain what Hombrew is.

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plamdi Newbie

plamdi

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If you have the cd or the game or whatever it emulates. Its perfectly legal. IF you rip it as long as its a rip from your own game you own its still iligal.
Incorrect on both counts. Firstly you must 1. posess a legal right to create a copy of the game, and 2. you must use the emulator either with a. the original media or b. a copy of the game that you legally created as described in (1).

 

ScummVM, for instance, is an emulator - it emulates (at a very high level) all the original functions of the command interpreter (the program that acts as the go-between for the code and the player/player's hardware and devices).

 

ALSO! you must have had the original hardware used to "rip" the data from the cartrages or cd's and depending ont he extent, the original hardware used to run the software."

 

Not really. The Wii hardware itself, for instance, is fully capable of dumping the data from a Wii-disk to an SD card (with the right software running), but that doesn't mean that owning the Wii hardware entitles you to own "back-up" media.

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xgfx Newbie

xgfx

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Yeah, that's if they're hacking them, and selling them on for profit. If you're doing it in the comfort of your own home, on your own consoles, the only punishment would be a voided warranty, and in Xbox's case a ban from their Live multiplayer service.

 

Who was caught doing this?

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purple_tentacle_ Newbie

purple_tentacle_

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The only recent modding related arrest I'm aware of was that of Matthew Lloyd Crippen. He's neither "high up" nor a "celeb", he's a student who was modding consoles on the side.

 

Oh well He was on tv and he sounded important or somthing like that to me. I didnt realy catch the whole story but it scared the piss out of me so I pulled the plug on my wii.

 

Modding consoles disgusts me...I feel sorry for that guy though he basically ruined his whole life. :(

 

Yep he will be spending the rest of his life in a cold drafty Prision with the rest of the worlds scum.

 

Yeah, that's if they're hacking them, and selling them on for profit. If you're doing it in the comfort of your own home, on your own consoles, the only punishment would be a voided warranty, and in Xbox's case a ban from their Live multiplayer service.

 

 

Who was caught doing this?

 

Oh well I thought that I would add this. I like updating my threads to keap people up to date on the subject.

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plamdi Newbie

plamdi

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Somone high up (Maby a celeb but I am not sure) was recently arrested for hacking/ Moding Wii's Xbox 360's and PS3's.
That case simply illustrated the point that the DMCA goes way beyond the actual scope of the two WIPIO treats that it implements. As I believe I've already stated - unless a modchip is specifically used to create a back-up copy of a game illegally - while circumventing DRM that is legally protected as a TPM - it isn't illegal, in Australia, as determined by the High Court in Sony's case.

 

ozmodchips.com have operated legally in Australia for over two years, are a popular website/Australian modchip retailing business, and continue to operate because their activities are not illegal, unlike exactly the same thing happening in the USA as you previously described. And Australia has fully implemented the same WIPIO treaties that the DMCA implements for the USA (as we - and every other signatory to copyright - are required under international agreement to do). So it's not as if it will "one day" become illegal, the simple fact of life is that modchips themselves are usually not inherently illegal - but copying media (even if you own it) usually is.

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