6 ms·
Slightly unrelated but emulators have been a big part of my childhood because I grew up in a country where a PlayStation was unaffordable for the middle class a
by adhvaryu 3y ago
Slightly unrelated but emulators have been a big part of my childhood because I grew up in a country where a PlayStation was unaffordable for the middle class and Nintendo simply didn't sell their consoles there.
Luckily emulation has always been legal thanks to a case 2 decades ago [1]. I see it as one of the "big wins" of the (US) judiciary because it has made the lives of many children joyous, across the globe.
Plenty of old games on now obsolete platforms can still be enjoyed thanks to emulation. I hope the precedent never goes away.
[1] https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/biztech/articles/11sony.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/...
- Narishma 3y agoDoesn't that case only apply in the USA?
- leehuffman 3y agoWho cares? This person is telling a story about their lack of access to cool new tech, and what projects like this one have provided them. Split hairs all you want but giving less privileged people access to funsies that eventually turn to deeper technical interest and (I assume) a higher earning career is the overarching message and I’m all the way about that. The weird dissection of an uplifting & cool comment like OPs is classic HN & definitely unnecessary. Edit: And their reply resonates with me. Not fronting like I couldn’t have those things, but I dug deep into retro gaming (via emulation) in my early teens and my career can be traced back to that original interest & deep diving.
- Narishma 3y agoI just fail to see how a court decision in the US would have any effect on another country. It's not like OP's situation and access to emulators would have been any different if the decision went Sony's way.
- leehuffman 3y agoYou legitimately can’t comprehend how a court ruling in the US would affect anything or anyone outside the US? For real?
- tough 3y agoYou just gotta look at DMCA or Copyright
- memsom 3y agoWell - it depends on the topic really. And, not the fact a law exists in the US. A judgement in the US has no bearing on law in other countries, except where it is used to then set a presidency as others had said. US law is actually different enough from some other countries that what is legal in the US is outright illegal, and vice versa. If you want some low hanging fruit - anything to do with guns, gender identity, abortion, liable/slander and "free" speech - many countries disagree and actively oppose the US stand point, on both sides of the US position. Another good example is anything granted in the US constitution is not a "God given right" outside of the US (which probably intersects with guns and free speech, maybe other things). US passing a law is not going to change that. DMCA does not affect other countries - we have our own laws - some of which were put in place in line with the ideas that caused the DMCA, but some of which predate it. Also - "fair use" is a wholly US concept, and might not apply, depending on where you are located.
- bee_rider 3y ago
- canadianfella 3y ago[dead]
- dontlaugh 3y agoThe US is a significant market and emulators being allowed there helps emulators in general?
- passwordoops 3y agoAs demonstrated by copyright, US legislatures generally define global law when it comes to tech and entertainment
- memsom 3y agoNot really. US copyright law is based around protecting the rights to use a "work", but European copyright law tends to protect the originator. It might seem similar, but in practice it is not. "Fair use" as an example, does not exist in the way defied in the US in the UK. We have "fair dealing" and it is a lot more specific. There are defined use-case exceptions to copyright, it is not "do what you like, claim 'fair use' and take it down when you get a DMCA notice".
- Mindwipe 3y agoNot really. The general standard length of protection (life plus 70 years) is from Germany for example.
- causi 3y agoYes, but it doesn't need to apply anywhere else for people everywhere to be able to access the software. It only needs one place where it can be openly worked on.
- ASalazarMX 3y agoIf USA doesn't care about emulation, it means those specific copyright tentacles won't poke my government, hence my country (Mexico) also won't care. Even if USA cares, sometimes my country still won't care if it means spending a lot of money on policying the Internet. Sometimes, the love-hate relationship between Mexico and USA has its advantages.
- patmorgan23 3y agoInternational copyright law is somewhat harmonized through international treaties. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) actually implements what the US is obligated to when it joined the World Intellectual Property Organization. Copyright provisions regularly make their way into multi-lateral trade treaties (such as the Trans Pacific Partnership)
- LeFantome 3y agoIt may be a US law but the result is greater availability of emulated tech. As a regular user, the legality of the emulator is secondary to the likelihood of the emulator existing.
- _shantaram 3y agoSeconded. My PC hardware was never very powerful either, but I had access to the entire library of (S)NES/GB(A) games to play on my mum's phone as a child.