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ESA lawyer frets about some sort of terrifying ‘online arcade’ if preservation is made easierESA oppose allowing libraries to offer scholars remote access in recent hearing
ESA oppose allowing libraries to offer scholars remote access in recent hearing
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Team17
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Team17
“The preceding three years ago, the proponents of this exemption sought to maintain complete discretion over how they would provide remote access to preserve games,” began Englund. “[Now] they’re trying to reservealmostcomplete discretion.” What Englund referred to as “not much movement,” Band described as his fellow proponents “bending over backwards to meet any concern - however far fetched - that’s been raised.”
The proposed exemption, according to Englund, “doesn’t prevent users from lying, or libraries from providing a simple checkbox, where users could confirm they have a purpose of scholarship or research.” Nor did Englund believe it would curtail use for what he calls, horror of horrors, “recreational play.”
Englund used school libraries and sites like the Internet Archive as examples of “beneficiaries of the exemption” that exist outside of the “good faith” scholarly organisations represented in the hearings proponents, suggesting that the ESA don’t believe these institutions will uphold the same standards, or at least believe this line of argument is a good excuse. Englund then continued to - what’s the legal term? - fill his diaper about the prospect of naughty users playing games for fun, calling human review an “incomplete” procedure.
Last year, the VGHF put outa study revealingthat 87% of games made before 2010 are out of print.Speaking toRPS earlier in the year, VGHF founder Frank Cifaldi said that “No one is against the idea of video game preservation, but companies and their shareholders are against the idea of not making a profit.”
