Just curious how is it that when certain people 'believe' that certain items are considered illegal then they are deemed illegal on this site?
Does this mean that if i consider that any deal that could be used to hurt or kill somebody eg hammers knives etc then I should as a PC web person report it and demand that it be pulled down?
If this is the case then we really are a nanny country..
Why Are Deals That Some People Believe to Be Illegal (R4 Cards) Pulled down?
macfanboy on 06/04/2010 - 08:06
Comments
He's referring to the recent R4 deal.
yes exactly, these like most things can be used for legal and illegal purposes.
I guess if the legality of a deal is questionable in any way, they will pull it down. I doubt they want discussions on modchips and flashcarts here.
I don't know much about r4 cards and it doesn't look like the mods have had any discussion on it. I'll check with the other mods and see.
Was your thread specifically targeting R4 cards or was there anything else that was removed?
Not sure if you have access to unpublished deals. It was this one. http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/24015
I agree with macfanboy (well not about macs) but at least about consumers being given a choice here and not for some other user to deem what is allowed on the site and what is not. Do we not allow Dual layer discs here? Are they not bought 90% of the time to burn 360 games on? (Yes they are, people even ask whether they are ok for that purpose) R4 Carts can be used for homebrew purposes as well as piracy. DVD's can be used for legal and illegal uses as well. As can DVD burners, PC's etc. Where does one draw the line? I say allow this stuff, if users don't like it then they don't + vote it or ignore it altogether.
MOD: removed last line as it is offensive.
Unfortunately, R4 lost a court case recently where they were ruled illegal.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/167490,nintendo-wins-lawsuit-o…I guess this is why it was pulled.
Read the update at the bottom of your article. It is not illegal and none of the other online retailers (at least that I know of) have pulled it from their stores….. not that I'm advocating their use.
illegal in Japan. not here.
Mods are discussing this atm. Does anyone know if its illegal in aus, or whether its just using them for copyright infringement is illegal
Just their use to circumvent copy protection mechanisms of games you don't legally own.
A bit old but still relevant. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Australia%27s_High_Court_rules_m…
Sort of the same as using an MFD to copy a copyright book
Yeah they are legal as long as they are used for homebrew
This might be more pertinent:
http://www.cnet.com.au/nintendo-looks-to-sue-more-aussie-fir…
It's often less about whether it's legal than whether you're increasing your risk of having your life turned upside-down by a brawl with a 600-pound gorilla. It's a grey area but Aussie legal experts have opined that webmasters may be exposed if they fail to remove material posted by others that may be infringing, defamatory, etc.
Just some suggestion, perhaps it is better if an item is considered illegal then a link to the prove must be provided?
We have now re-publishing the R4 Card offer that was unpublished.
I hear you that R4 card or mod chips themselves are legal (or at least in the grey area), but pirating games is definitely not legal which appears to be the main use of those mod chips.
We will pay more attention on how the law suites developed. Please use this thread to inform us moderators if you have come across new development, so we can act appropriately.
aye aye Captain! errr Scotty
Just a response to this thread as someone asked a similar question here.
- 3 May 2010 — "Business Affairs Manager" from Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd wrote to me to
- Advise that the sale of this product is not legal in Australia, as it "breaches the Anti-Circumvention provisions of the Copyright Act".
- Request to take down "advertisements" of R4 on OzBargain.
- They will reserve rights regarding "the commencing of civil proceedings with the federal Court of Australia for the infringement of Nintendo's copyrights and trademarks and breaches of the Copyright Act"
And, IANAL but I did note that in December 2006 Australian Copyright Law has been amended to strengthen anti-circumvention law to make it more like US DMCA. The Wikinews link above was dated back in 2005 so would predate the changes.
I am not too sure whether owning an R4 or any similar device is illegal, but I think selling them would be. Since OzBargain is about posting latest offers for sale, I do not think posting offers on R4 and related devices is acceptable.
Scotty, I was looking at the banned items list https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/help:banned_items and noticed that they all seem to be illegal items (or items that contravene copyright laws), or prescription items, with one exception. Why are sex toys banned? They're completely legal. That seems so strange to me.
P.S. My god, IANAL is the worst acronym I've ever seen.
Basically I think it's just to keep the site safe for all ages and for work. There's no way to verify ages of users and Scotty probably doesn't want (or need) to deal with legal issues or complaints about 'advertising' adult products on a site that caters to so many people.
P.S. Scotty's post is like 4.5 years old…
Lingerie
I see Victoria Secret deals all the time :)
PS. your post is like 4.5 years old… too
- 3 May 2010 — "Business Affairs Manager" from Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd wrote to me to
the website doesnt want any trouble, just accept it and continue enjoying the free service
R4 cards and similar devices mostly intend to give extra functionality to people's devices. For instance with the R4 card it lets you use homebrew applications on the DS. Where the game piracy comes into it is that some enterprising folks out there remove the copy protection and possibly do some other programming stuff on them so that they are executable in a homebrew environment.
The ability to run homebrew applications (of which there are legitimate ones) is not a copyright circumvention technology. It's a tool that copyright infringers can then use. There's a difference.
I'm not naive, I know why people mainly want these things but from a legal standpoint, they are not illegal, nor is selling them, provided you are not selling them for the purposes of infringing copyright. This boils down to semantics but ultimately OzBargains could allow these deals to be published without exposure.
I'm not a lawyer but have looked into this in depth and discussed it with some lawyer friends.
As Scotty discussed,
They will reserve rights regarding "the commencing of civil proceedings with the federal Court of Australia for the infringement of Nintendo's copyrights and trademarks and breaches of the Copyright Act"
Given that legal action would be rather costly, and as you point out in another thread, some tech companies are rather protective of their intellectual property. A thread requesting donations for legal funds would be probably the first step to having these restored to Ozbargain. Or maybe some of your legal friends are prepared to offer their services pro-bono.
And for what benefit? there are plenty of other places on the internet that offer discussion on these devices, with people who are more knowledgeable. And here we tend to emphasise price, so is a massive amount of time relevant to finding a knock off of a knock off.
Give us an example of a recently pulled deal.