Copy Protection And Eula

kill4thrillskill4thrills Join Date: 2004-06-24 Member: 29506Members, Constellation
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">need some legal enlightment...</div> i actually sat down and read a game's EULA (End User Licensing Agreement), and yes, i was out of all other reading material while i was sitting down taking a crap. what caught my eye was the part that says you can make one copy of the software for backup and archiving purposes as long as both the original and copy are always in your possession.

I've heard that this was true for all software, from my reading of emulation websites, that once you own a piece of software, some law requires that the company allow you to make one copy of that software, hence you can legally download roms and other software if you already own a copy of it.

what intrigues me, is that all the copy protection that publishing companies use nowadays actually thwart your attempts to make a back up copy. i've heard that some will detect cd copying software and then refuse to run, and some will go as far as uninstalling cd copying software from your system. so are all these copy protection techniques they are using illegal? or are they not actually legally required to allow you to copy the software?
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Comments

  • BulletHeadBulletHead Join Date: 2004-07-22 Member: 30049Members
    nothing beats control A, control C, control v, burn <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited July 2005
    AFAIK, this is a very muddy area as far as the legal side of things goes. Technically, yes, we are supposed to be allowed one backup. In practise though, we are not, mainly because of rampant software piracy. Likewise, technically oral sex is illegal in almost every state in the US.

    Most people going "omg 1 free backup" are traditionally the same as the people going "ha ha stick it to the man free 0day here download now for 24 hours". Hard to take people serious when they can't spell Microsoft without inserting a $.

    It's not really well advertised much, but some publishers will send you a new CD if you send them the broken remains of your current CD since you can't make a copy. Sucks, but better than having to shell out another $50.
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  • BulletHeadBulletHead Join Date: 2004-07-22 Member: 30049Members
    My mom's greetings card magic CD literally EXPLOADED in her cd/dvd combo writer/reader...

    we had a copy made... but that cost us over 80 bucks for a new cd/dvd drive <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    damn jou Micro$oft!
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  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-BulletHead+Jul 17 2005, 10:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BulletHead @ Jul 17 2005, 10:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> My mom's greetings card magic CD literally EXPLOADED in her cd/dvd combo writer/reader...

    we had a copy made... but that cost us over 80 bucks for a new cd/dvd drive <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    damn jou Micro$oft! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Don't do it... aww, too late, you already did! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • CabooseCaboose title = name(self, handle) Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13597Members, Constellation
    <a href='http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections.shtml' target='_blank'>Read</a> and enjoy!
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  • AllUrHiveRblong2usAllUrHiveRblong2us By Your Powers Combined... Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11244Members
    Why bother reading EULA's and copyright law and the like? Don't Copy That Floppy can teach you everything you need to know about your software rights, and it has flashy colors and a slammin' beat.
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  • JediYoshiJediYoshi The Cupcake Boss Join Date: 2002-05-27 Member: 674Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Caboose+Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Caboose @ Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <a href='http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections.shtml' target='_blank'>Read</a> and enjoy! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Why does that site remind me of a certain gaming backup site? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
    Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
  • ThaldarinThaldarin Alonzi&#33; Join Date: 2003-07-15 Member: 18173Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-JediYoshi+Jul 18 2005, 10:43 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (JediYoshi @ Jul 18 2005, 10:43 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Caboose+Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Caboose @ Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <a href='http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections.shtml' target='_blank'>Read</a> and enjoy! <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Why does that site remind me of a certain gaming backup site? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    And they don't even link to the site which they stole the layout from. Tut tut. Softare piracy to website piracy all within a topic.
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  • maniacrippermaniacripper Join Date: 2004-01-13 Member: 25288Members, Constellation
    they used to be owned by the same person, might still be, haven't been there in ages
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  • CabooseCaboose title = name(self, handle) Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13597Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-JediYoshi+Jul 18 2005, 03:43 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (JediYoshi @ Jul 18 2005, 03:43 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Caboose+Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Caboose @ Jul 18 2005, 12:32 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <a href='http://cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_protections.shtml' target='_blank'>Read</a> and enjoy! <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Why does that site remind me of a certain gaming backup site? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yea, go to that site of which you speak, then look at the links on the left side. there are quite a fre **world.com sites in a little chain there.

    linkworld, mp3mediaworld, etc.
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  • GWARGWAR Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2297Members, Contributor
    Copy protection is fine, as long as it remains passive.

    Starforce however is where I draw the line, it is ACTIVE copy protection that goes around messing with your drivers to prevent copying of pretty much any disk. I boycott any game that uses it, not that I could run it anyway because I have a scsi cdrom/burner.

    (Only evil emulated drives use scsi, durrrr)
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  • KungFuDiscoMonkeyKungFuDiscoMonkey Creator of ns_altair 日本福岡県 Join Date: 2003-03-15 Member: 14555Members, NS1 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos
    edited July 2005
    Would it be possible to use linux to bypass a lot of this copy protection? Could you not copy the image of the disk and burn it to CD?

    Starforce is kinda evil. . . .
    too bad more games don't run on linux nativly <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
    Kind of makes me want to move all my work to a linux machine then just keep a windows machine for gaming.
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  • InjuryInjury Mahou Shoujo Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7992Banned
    edited August 2005
    <span style='color:red'>NUKED</span>
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