Hello,
Edit thank to PriorPtoject I discovered the modlog : https://sopuli.xyz/modlog?page=1&actionType=ModRemovePost&userId=1683334
I recently posted a tutorial to pirate on steamdeck which was removed.
I checked th rule and it doesn’t appear to be forbidden are the rules out of date or did I miss a rule ?
It’s actually kind of funny that emulators, which explicitly violate copyright law in the US as a circumvention measure prohibited by the DMCA as well as infringing for any rom created after the 1920s (ie. all of them) which have not been placed into the public domain, are perfectly fine here because that doesn’t “feel” like piracy since the games are not generating revenue.
Anyway, you’re almost certainly looking for !steamdeckpirates@lemmy.dbzer0.com instead of this community. I didn’t even know that community existed until yesterday with the kerfuffle over lemmy.world defederating from dbzer0.com. Streisand effect-ish in a way. Best of luck, and keep a keen eye out for the EIC.
I think they just blocked !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com rather than defederating completely.
I guess they have to draw a line somewhere.
Yeah I posted my tuto in !steamdeckpirates@lemmy.dbzer0.com already.
That look like a sweet spot to start a pirate community for SteamDeck.
Seem a little empty now though
It does seem fairly empty at the moment. TBH, I don’t have enough time to play the games I’ve paid for (or gotten from Epic), but it’s interesting that it’s out there.
edit: there is about twice the unfederated content on the dbzer0 server compared to what is here on Sopuli (as of this morning) if that matters.
It’s actually kind of funny that emulators, which explicitly violate copyright law in the US as a circumvention measure prohibited by the DMCA
Except this is false. Emulation is legal per the DMCA, and this was settled decades ago. It’s downloading ROMs that is illegal
That’s a fine distinction, and requires that no decryption or protection is removed as part of the emulation software - which is entirely true for a very nice, neat, theoretical legal argument. It’s like saying Plex is designed for playing your format shifted media and there is nothing illegal about that, or that I arrange copyrighted songs for only for myself and never print them out, only perform them for my personal enjoyment or as part of a blanket license at a venue. All 100% legal, as long as nobody considers reality. I have no problem with any of it, but it’s worth admitting that we’re counting angels on the head of a pin.
(Note: I also run a plex server and I have format shifted my own physical media, of which I have kept the physical media and do not loan them out - as part of my collection).
and requires that no decryption or protection is removed as part of the emulation software
This is false. The DMCA has an exemption specifically for bypassing access restrictions.
Also, inb4 the Dolphin topic, the encryption key that was included is legal. Emulators are allowed to copy small parts of code, just not all of it; and the encryption key is a randomized string of characters, which is not protected by copyright
They also are not permitted to bypass, enable, or decrypt any part of a content control system - even one as simple as ROT13. In fact, decrypting and format shifting (from cartridge or CD to storage, for example) without explicit permission is actually an infringing act, BUT it is not prohibited in certain special cases (known as “fair use”) and if you are taken to court you can attempt to prove that your use was Fair under one or more of the legal sections dedicated to it. You are still infringing, but it is not illegal and there is no penalty for doing so. That is, as I state above, and very fine point in the law that is fun to argue but ultimately is just a die roll as to whether what you’re doing produces enough smoke to get you targeted by content owners. Because if you get caught, you’re probably going to lose - either directly, or your life savings in legal fees to prove your use was fair, and courts rarely award fees back to the defendant in these cases. (IANAL, but I have done work in performance rights, and worked with an IP lawyer in the business to ensure that everything we did was legal and defensible)
but if they use any code from the actual system, it’s illegal.
Actually, this is not the case. DMCA allows some amount on code to be duplicated, just not the whole thing. You’re not allowed to copy everything, but copying some code is allowed.
Also, the encryption key that was copied in Dolphin is just a random string of letters and numbers. That’s not copywritable, so no copyright infringement happened from including that in the software, regardless of what Nintendo claimed
Tutorials on how to use and install the legal side of emulators are allowed, it’s when you encroach on copyright that things become a problem. Piracy is not allowed.
Do not post links to sources of copyrighted materials.
Pictures of your Deck running software never published to PC are questionable. My biggest problem with /r/steamdeck is how it made me feel like I joined a bad faith community by buying the device.
There are a handful of moderators and we discuss as a group before we take action. I am not the only voice, so you may opt to wait for others to comment.
I think it’s important for posters to see from the side of mods. I’m not a mod here and speaking out of my butt so please take everything with a grain of salt.
I am a big advocate of hacking and doing slightly non-acceptable things out of curiosity.
But I’m also not interested in dealing with legal threats or being pulled into weird scenarios all because one person has a strong opinion about right & wrong.
When I face that issue, I instead encourage the poster/author to instead create a separate Convo somewhere else that is outside of the responsibility of the mod team. Like, I support your actions but I’m not going to stress over it. Because at the end of the day, I’m just trying to provide a space for the majority and have fun with the convos.
Hello, I can understand that. That why I ask for the reason to be able to understand since removing a post is not communicating.
Are you aware of the modlog? Post removals generally do have an explanation. There’s a handy one in your case:
Discussion on how to pirate games is not allowed. We’ll update the rules to be more transparent about this.
https://sopuli.xyz/modlog?page=1&actionType=ModRemovePost&userId=1683334
