Emulators - The "Grey Area?"

[steve999]

I know most people have just been gawking about kh3 theories for months, but I wanted to start a discussion about something else - emulators. For most forums, it's apparently against the rules to talk about emulators, but really, is talking about it that bad? I am not asking for links to anything, I just want to know, exactly what is and isn't legal about emulators? I've read around, and people have a million different comments about the legality, like "It's only illegal if you do this" or "There's a 24-Hour Rule" etc. So I'd just like some clarification about the following:

When it comes to emulators, I've heard that it's perfectly legal to download an emulator as long as you own a machine with the same BIOS. Ironically, though, it's apparently illegal to download a BIOS under any circumstances?
I've also heard that it's legal to have an emulator because they are classified as freeware. However, emulators are the product of reverse engineering, and isn't reverse engineering illegal?

When it comes to games, I've read that it's okay to download roms and rom hacks if you have an original copy of the game that you purchased at an authorized retailer. If you don't have a copy, there's supposedly a rule stating the the rom must be deleted within twenty-four hours.
It's also fine to play homebrew games because those are classified as freeware.

Now, some people say that "emulation is flat-out illegal" and others say "the cops aren't going to show up at your door, so just do it" but it can't be that simple. It's never that simple.

P.S. Don't flame me if I happen to be breaking the rules. I don't think I am, but nobody's perfect.

[Skye]

your legal when you actually have the game, sorta like a back-up....

[Dogenzaka]

Not really allowed to discuss it because it's illegal anyway.
The only people allowed to use OFFICIAL licensed emulators are game developers and publishers themselves.
ROMs, regardless of whether you own it or not, are illegal to keep or own, even if you make them yourself, because it's creating an "unauthorized copy" of a copyrighted material. You are not authorized to back-up or copy your games, or have ownership of said copy. You are not allowed to distribute unauthorized back-ups or copies of your games, either.

So it's all illegal, period.

Though, to be honest, if it's some old GBA game like Mother or a game I plan on buying anyway, I just wanna try it, then I have no problem downloading the game to try it out.

Now, some people say that "emulation is flat-out illegal" and others say "the cops aren't going to show up at your door, so just do it" but it can't be that simple. It's never that simple.

Unless you badger your nearest police station with confessions that you pirate (which they probably wouldn't care about anyway, considering they have more important matters to take care of), or unless you actually distribute pirated content via torrents or own a big, flashy illegal site like ThePirateBay or BitTorrent, then you won't get much to any attention from legal authorities.

What's the point of putting millions of people in jail? Not much. So they won't.

They go after the ones that are distributing the content...that's why your favorite download sites sometimes shut down after a while; the authorities make them and sue them.
If they can get everyone to stop distributing, no one will be able to really pirate, at least that's their logic. So that's why they go after them over people who download a Michael Jackson album or something.

But they'll never be able to get rid of all the distributors, so it's a losing battle for justice anyway.

[Victor]

Let me make this clear one more time:
WE NOW ALLOW EMULATOR TALK. ROM LINKING IS OK, BUT BEST TAKEN TO PM.

k?

[Dogenzaka]

okays.

[RTP49]

haha comic sans

[Stavvy]

Was going to say: Emulators are probably legal, but roms are not.

But yeah.

M3's are nice. Let me do so much for so little money.