The politics of games.

[TinCow]

As I have understood it (as the nutcase behind said tight arena rules) we cannot further open up discussion of matters like piracy, no CD cracks etc without leaving the org itself vulnerable to claims that we support it. That could leave us with no org. In the time I have been here we have had a few instances where an official stick has been shaken at us because of such discussions. We cannot loosen the rules and we cannot give such discussion any sort of official sanction.

Well, from a legal perspective I don't think that's quite right. I am not aware of any US or EU laws which criminalize the discussion of copyright and DRM issues. Certainly if a website contains instructions on how to commit a copyright violation or actually materially aids in doing so, that would be cause for concern. I admit my knowledge of EU IP law is far below my knowledge of US IP law, but I would highly doubt that a simple discussion on the benefits and harms of copyright piracy is criminal in any manner, even in the most severe EU jurisdiction. Under current Org policy, I am barred from posting a paper I wrote on the benefits and detriments of copyright/patent law based on a theoretical technological innovation, yet I wrote this paper in law school.

When it comes down to it, whoever owns the Org (Tosa?) has the final say in something like this because any legal consequences would rest mainly on his shoulders. However, I honestly do not see how simply discussing piracy (without instructions on how to commit it) can be considered a criminal action in any relevant jurisdiction.

On a personal level, the problem with moving these discussions to the Backroom is that they become... er... part of the Backroom. That place scares me, and I only tend to post there when doing so in a neutral manner. I am not likely to post in any game/DRM related threads in there simply because they are going to be swarmed by the vicious hordes of the Backroom.