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The Video Game History Foundation is “not done fighting” after US Copyright Office refuses exemption to aid preservationCurrent circumstances force researchers “to explore extra-legal methods” say the VGHF
Current circumstances force researchers “to explore extra-legal methods” say the VGHF
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Team17
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Team17
Back in April, I wrote abouta hearing that took placebetween representativesVideo Game History Foundation, theRhizome project, and theSoftware Preservation Network, in which they argued the case for a DMCA exemption that would allow researchers to remotely access out-of-print games in libraries and archives. Representatives from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and theAACSwere in opposition, with ESA legal representative Steve Englund at one point fretting about some sort of hellish “online arcade that (he’d) been warning about for the last several proceedings”.
Checks our editorial policy on commenting on such matters. Tossers! Ah well - the VGHF aren’t too fazed, at least.
“The game industry’s absolutist position—which the ESA’s own members havedeclined to go on the record to support—forces researchers to explore extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable,” they continue. “We’re not done fighting here. We will continue our advocacy for greater access and legal allowances for video game preservation and working with members of the game industry to increase internal awareness around these issues.”
“We might be coming full circle back to piracy being something that we need to be literate in, in order to be able to access the things that we love,” The VGHF’s Frank Cifalditold me in January. “Digital streaming scooped everything up and we all got content with it. We’re already seeing things wiped from existence before our eyes.”
Back in May, Warren Spectorwrote about howhe’d “literally dumpster dived” to help with game preservation.
