Mmm.. Well then according to Sei, bad news for importers or translators.
According to his beliefs, owning games or programs that will NEVER see a US release is bad. Very bad!
I suppose this US law doesn't matter either?
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/23/us-co ... re-rights/
Ahem, quote exactly when I said it's prohibited to import things? I said that from a the perspective of the international law (nearly all countries in the world have signed the Bern Convention that rules over this aspect), having programs that you
didn't paid for and acquired by illegally downloading is a violation of copyright. But I guess Zentradis can't catch basic concepts as they're not familiar with human customs, right?
*in-joke with your avatar and robotech*. It does mean also that romhacking, sprite editing, etc is a violation of international copyright law, though everyone rarely care for it.
This US law also only applies to those copies are made for security and archiving purposes, not distribution, so it's still illegal to 'share' those files by internet. The archive of software made with them also don't make them available to download.
IDSA sent a cease and desist order in 1997 to all sites distributing 'abandonware', and most where shut by the time, others have risen since them, but they can be sued anytime if developers wanted. LucasArts and Corel have been prosecuting people by years for distributing their games and programs illegally. Some like id Software have released their games in public domain, but with developers who didn't is still illegal to distribute without a written permission by them.
People care for it? No, because they believe everything is alright behind the anonymity of internet, but they do it on their own risk. I'm not a saint either, I've done my share of wrong things and due to my young age, I believe I'll still do wrong things during my lifetime, but I fully understand why Missagh or Benoit have disallowed posting the links here and why its not
'Perfectly Legal' to quote your words, and even if they didn't cared the host ToS probably forbids it.
"This seemingly minor event sets an epic adventure in motion...." ~ Phantasy Star III