is it legal?

[Man]

Just want to get some opinions from you guys.

As more and more games are protected by some unbreakable(at the moment) protections, I am thinking of whether it is legal to download a crack and the burn it into a cd BUT Under a condition that I possess the original disc. I know it is illegal to use warz if I do not have purchase the CD. But if I DO have a original CD, am I breaking the law? I just use them for personal back up.
thanks

Man

[NeTsurFer]

I'm now layer but I guess according to the US DMCA it is illegal do circumvent any protections.

[Andareed]

According to the DMCA, operatoin, distribution, or creation of any circumvention of security is illegal in the US. Technically, Daemon tools and alcohol are illegal because of their emulation features.

The dmca also bans some stupid things too. You should check out http://www.eff.org/ for more info.

[LocutusofBorg]

it depends all where you live. In Germany, f.e., it's (at least for the moment) not illegal to backup your software. Daemon Tools didn't change the protection in any way (codebased) but changes the datastream so it is atm legal (in Germany, of course). This is exactly what the industrie and the beloved EU want to change - so it seems to be illegal in Germany, too, soon.

After all the Digital Rights Management and new laws lead surely to big problems for all of us. Even this webboard isn't legal if the new laws will be implemented!! You are not only bounded to Daemon Tools itself with new laws, we even did not give any hints HOW to copy a game, if new "Urheberrechtsnovelle" is implemented. At the moment, this new laws are really a pain in the a** for any admin/developer

[Man]

It seemingly not good at all. No matter what you still break the law. Owing the original and not having the original. It just encourages people to use warz. I wish one day all CDs and games are getting much cheaper than people won't bother to make illegal copies.

Has Venom thought about what to do if DT suddenly becomes illegal? Register the company to North Korea 8)

[LocutusofBorg]

Has Venom thought about what to do if DT suddenly becomes illegal?

This task depends on Swenske and myself, nothing should change for Venom, this problem hit the distributers

we already take precautions, I can assure you

[NGNI Cafe]

How can it be "illegal" if sooo many gaming centers are using it - at least here in the US...?

I mean, I can't imagine anymore a center or internet cafe where you would be giving CDs to the kids so that they can sit down and play the games...

The thing is that the whole industry of gaming centers is STILL not significant enough to raise Microsoft's or the Senate's eyebrows. But when that moment comes, some rules and regulations about it will change, no doubt about that!

Right now the Microsoft EULA agreement says that you can NOT run a game from a server or other device that is not physically located on the actual computer where the game is being played. So that means that if you have the image mounted on the actual PC, it seems to be OK with them... For now...

[Man]

CCD has gone.

Just heard CCD has gone. I am thinking of what has changed in Germans law recently to force CCD out from the game. Hope DT won't be forced to share the same faith.

Another side issue, Spybot Search and Destroy has classified CloneDVD as an usage tracker.

http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=donations

I wonder what Ollie is thinking.

Man

[fullArmor]

So long you don't distribute that "modified" CD you just made.