The U.S. Copyright Office denied an exemption from the DMCA to allow gaming historians to access out-of-print games they can’t legally get.

“Most of the world’s video games from close to 50 years of history are effectively, legally dead. A Video Games History Foundation study found you can’t buy nearly 90% of games from before 2010. Preservationists have been looking for ways to allow people to legally access gaming history, but the U.S. Copyright Office dealt them a heavy blow Friday. Feds declared that you or any researcher has no right to access old games under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.”

  • @ArgentRavenEnglish
    30•2 months ago

    We used to rent these games from Blockbuster Video! On DVD when we had DVD burners and little to no drm! How did it suddenly not become acceptable?

    • @absquatulateEnglish
      22•2 months ago

      Lobbying. The greedy fucks will lobby until they get their way

    • @Blue_MorphoEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      Physical rentals are still legal. This is only about the legality of online rom downloads.

      • @ArgentRavenEnglish
        1•2 months ago

        I’m speaking mainly of the distrust against the public having access for fear that we’d abuse it and not give them a cut. We can’t have access to these things now, but we used to. Regardless of form, regardless of piracy.

        It’s more of a move to restrict ownership when you make a purchase, that has a farther reach than just games. I could see this being applied to cars, houses, etc. In that you only rent a license, and don’t actually own anything. I see this as just a first step, and the logic they use to justify it doesn’t make sense.

        • @Blue_MorphoEnglish
          1•2 months ago

          We can’t have access to these things now, but we used to.

          ??? There was no change. It was always illegal. This was a petition to change it to be legal and the petition was denied.

          Despite it being illegal, Internet Archive has hosted and I hope will continue to host rom collections like tiny best set go.