03-06-2011, 05:43 PM
Hmm, the classic cybercrime debate... 
This is a very gray area, since legislation against it varies a lot from country to country.
Basically, under the current laws and for all countries, concerning JPCSP the following is known:
- JPCSP is legal: it's distributed under a common license, doesn't use any copyrighted code and it doesn't fall under the category of malicious software, so it's fully safe to own and use. Emulators are always a grey area when it comes to legislation, but the truth is that there's not illegal behind them. Users, on the other hand, may have "unclear" intentions for them, but that's not the applications fault. Most companies just plainly ignore this fact and attempt to strike and circumvent the laws as they please just to ban the usage and development of said applications because it's easier that way. However, it's quite hard to do anything about freeware and open-source projects like JPCSP.
- Ripping your own games is legal: by law, it's legal to own an image of a copyrighted game you bought. Again, companies attempt to circumvent this to avoid piracy, which is understandable, but they often do it in a way that leaves much doubts on their real intentions.
The dump process itself is considered legal only when applied to software you bought and, therefore, you own. If applied to something that's not yours, it also falls under the unauthorized copying category.
- Distributing game images is illegal: obviously, by law, and taking into account the above statements, any code you rip from your games is illegal to distribute. This is applied in most countries and falls directly under the unauthorized copying category.
When you buy a game, that gives you the right to do with it what ever you want, except distributing valid copies of it. I believe it's quite understandable the existance of such restriction, since it's easy and effective to distribute data over the internet. You would be basically giving copies of games away to people who didn't spent any money on them.
That's what game companies want to stop. However, the problem is not on game console emulators, nor on ripping your own games, it's precisely on the users who violate this particular law and distribute copies of their software. By breaking one law they compromise the two statements above, which, in turn are being more and more pressured by game companies in court in order to actually become illegal.
This is a very gray area, since legislation against it varies a lot from country to country.
Basically, under the current laws and for all countries, concerning JPCSP the following is known:
- JPCSP is legal: it's distributed under a common license, doesn't use any copyrighted code and it doesn't fall under the category of malicious software, so it's fully safe to own and use. Emulators are always a grey area when it comes to legislation, but the truth is that there's not illegal behind them. Users, on the other hand, may have "unclear" intentions for them, but that's not the applications fault. Most companies just plainly ignore this fact and attempt to strike and circumvent the laws as they please just to ban the usage and development of said applications because it's easier that way. However, it's quite hard to do anything about freeware and open-source projects like JPCSP.
- Ripping your own games is legal: by law, it's legal to own an image of a copyrighted game you bought. Again, companies attempt to circumvent this to avoid piracy, which is understandable, but they often do it in a way that leaves much doubts on their real intentions.
The dump process itself is considered legal only when applied to software you bought and, therefore, you own. If applied to something that's not yours, it also falls under the unauthorized copying category.
- Distributing game images is illegal: obviously, by law, and taking into account the above statements, any code you rip from your games is illegal to distribute. This is applied in most countries and falls directly under the unauthorized copying category.
When you buy a game, that gives you the right to do with it what ever you want, except distributing valid copies of it. I believe it's quite understandable the existance of such restriction, since it's easy and effective to distribute data over the internet. You would be basically giving copies of games away to people who didn't spent any money on them.
That's what game companies want to stop. However, the problem is not on game console emulators, nor on ripping your own games, it's precisely on the users who violate this particular law and distribute copies of their software. By breaking one law they compromise the two statements above, which, in turn are being more and more pressured by game companies in court in order to actually become illegal.