[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #441: Save the game

Wed Jun 10 10:30:14 EDT 2015

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OPLIN 4cast #441: Save the game
June 10th, 2015

[image: ESA vs. EFF robots]A number of serious issues have recently come
under discussion due to a contest over gaming. The Electronic Freedom
Foundation [EFF] has asked the Library of Congress to provide an exemption
to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] so that libraries, museums,
and game enthusiasts can preserve online games that have been "abandoned"
by the publisher. The argument is that preservation of access to these
games also preserves important cultural history. But the Entertainment
Software Association has pointed out that the workarounds needed to
preserve these games are also the same techniques hackers use to pirate
games. It remains to be seen who will win this contest.

   - The legal battle for gaming's past
   <http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/9/8379737/entertainment-software-association-esa-electronic-frontier-foundation-eff-piracy-history-archive>
   (Polygon | Philip Kollar)  "Let's say you own a gaming museum or even just
   a large personal collection that has historic value. When a publisher shuts
   down the online servers for one of your games, you may want to hack the
   console hardware in some way to allow it to continue being played. In this
   way online-only games or modes wouldn't be lost forever. But, according to
   the EFF, this technically isn't legal, which is why it reached out to ask
   for a special exemption."
   - ESA oppose DRM law change preserving online games
   <http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/04/09/esa-eff-drm-online-games/>
   (Rock, Paper, Shotgun | Alice O'Connor)  "The EFF proposed
   <https://www.eff.org/document/eff-comments-dmca-exemption-abandoned-games>
   an exemption for 'abandoned games' as comments to the Copyright Office in
   February, and the ESA have now responded. The proposed exemption would
   allow folks to pick at shut-down games, creating workarounds for
   authentication or starting their own servers without getting in legal
   trouble. It'd cover publishers closing services for games, like EA
   routinely do, as well as the hypothetical shutdown of Steamworks, which
   many games rely on for their multiplayer. [...] However, the exemption
   wouldn't cover games with persistent virtual worlds like MMOs, or browser
   games either."
   - Publishers fight to block third-party revival of "abandoned" game
   servers
   <http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/04/publishers-fight-to-block-third-party-revival-of-abandoned-game-servers/>
   (Ars Technica | Kyle Orland)  "In a 71-page brief
   <http://copyright.gov/1201/2015/comments-032715/class%2023/Entertainment_Software_Association_Class23_1201_2014.pdf>
   [pdf], though, the ESA says that these kinds of workarounds can't be
   separated out from the wider piracy-prevention functions that the DMCA
   protects against. To add third-party server support to a console game, for
   instance, the ESA argues that a user has to first get around access
   controls built into the software and the hardware itself to modify the
   code. 'Consequently, the proposed exemption would, in effect, eviscerate
   virtually all forms of access protection used to prevent video game
   piracy.'"
   - EFF seeks DMCA exemption to preserve abandoned games
   <http://torrentfreak.com/eff-seeks-dmca-exemption-to-preserve-abandoned-games-150409/>
   (Torrent Freak | Andy)  "Indeed, the testimony of ESA Senior Vice-President
   and General Counsel Christian Genetski before the Subcommittee on Courts,
   Intellectual Property and the Internet last year (pdf
   <http://judiciary.house.gov/_cache/files/8596bbac-6b4b-4b21-a795-d5e2bff890b3/09.17.14-testimony-esa.pdf>),
   outlines the software group's position clearly. '[W]hile addressing
   copyright infringement is one important objective of Section 1201, it is
   not its only objective,' Genetski said. '[A] prohibition on the hacking of
   technological protection measures controlling *access* to protected
   works (even if the hacking does not result in any copyright infringement)
   [is] necessary in order to encourage innovation in the online distribution
   of copyrighted works.'"

 *Articles from Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Changes in Section 1201 of DMCA urged.
   <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a7967725-e211-4347-aece-2d4c0a35661c%40sessionmgr110&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253dbuh%2526AN%253d102026602%2526site%253dehost-live&hid=118&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=102026602>
   (*Telecommunications Reports*, 7/1/2014, p.30)
   - DMCA update would shift burden for exemptions.
   <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=0c64d158-f3fb-4a14-8757-71bb2aecbd25%40sessionmgr4002&vid=18&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=102697942>
   (*Telecommunications Reports*, 5/1/2015, p.25-26)
   - DMCA reform bill introduced.
   <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehpl/detail/detail?sid=31c49756-7652-4f9c-9458-de2ea79fb7f2%40sessionmgr111&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526db%253dlfh%2526AN%253d102836277%2526site%253dehost-live&hid=118&vid=0&bdata=#db=lfh&AN=102836277>
   (*Library Journal*, 6/1/2015, p.22-24 | Matt Enis)

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