legal concerns

[pwny]

Is there anything to be worried about with having something like a r4 or acekard with illegal roms on it? How discrete does one need to be when having something like this? I am considering getting my sister a ds and card as a birthday gift. I know she was wanting a ds to play during breaks at work (she has no idea that cards like r4 exist). Lets just assume the worst case senario - that someone reported it to the cops that she had illegal roms on her ds. They wouldn't do anything right? I am just really cloudy on this whole issue. I mean, I know the roms are illegal, but is it ever prosecuted? Thanks for your insight.

 

[da_head]

well think of it this way. your listening to your ipod, and someone reports that the songs your listening to are downloaded. will u be prosecuted? no. will you even be arrested? no. don't worry about it. besides, who would be snake enough to report that? just don't go flashing it around, and you'll be perfectly fine.

i have an example when someone MITE care though. my friend used to work for eb games, and during his lunch break, he would play with his ds (which had an r4). the manager saw him one time, and fired him. my friend wasn't charged in any way, even though the pirated games would sorta be considered "stealing" from eb. like i said, keep your head down, and u'll be perfectly fine.

 

[Westside]

well think of it this way. your listening to your ipod, and someone reports that the songs your listening to are downloaded. will u be prosecuted? no. will you even be arrested? no. don't worry about it. besides, who would be snake enough to report that? just don't go flashing it around, and you'll be perfectly fine.

What he said, don't go up to a police and say "Officer, if I pirated on the internets, will there be trouble?"

 

[Awdofgum]

What he said, don't go up to a police and say "Officer, if I pirated on the internets, will there be trouble?"

What's wrong with that? You should always be honest to da po-po.

 

[pwny]

hey thanks for the replies. I guess no one is really too worried about it. Of course with mp3 players they are made for you to rip your cds that you own and put the music on them. They would have to go through a lot of trouble to prove you didn't own the cds. Its not like you have to keep them handy as proof. As far as I know, you aren't allowed to have ds roms even if you do own the game. It helps that a lot of people woudn't be able to tell that it was illegal. I mean, if someone turned on your DS and saw the list of games and stuff as far as they know that is how its supposed to be. Its not like finding a bag of weed. But I can't help but wonder about the worst case senario. If they knew, would they prosecute?

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

Man you are paranoid ain'tcha

Context, always context. Say you work at a theater, are you going to bring in your portable dvd player and watch your movies on burned dvds?

Say you work in a game store, of course playing pirated games is not brilliant.

Would you install an illegal copy of Windows on you company computer?

How old is your sister? Can she be relied upon to not tell all her friends "my brother gets me pirated games".
Where does she work, can her coworkers even be said to be interested in her playing a DS at all?

I've gotten a friend of mine a few things in the past. He's aware "you didn't get this from me".

 

[Gian]

They would have to go through a lot of trouble to prove you didn't own the cds.

Don't they have to go through a lot of trouble to prove you didn't own the games, too?
Yeah, just tell her not to flash it around. How old's your sister?

 

[juggernaut911]

asl!! jk


I play mine in front of a cop and he thought it was cool! lol

 

[Dylan]

yeah dude. seriously doubt cops would care at all about your roms.

 

[Bob Evil]

Worse case scenario : They get confiscated ... and that would be the absolute worse case.

 

[Sonicslasher]

Worse case scenario : They get confiscated ... and that would be the absolute worse case.

OH NOES!!!! THEY BE TAKIN MAH ROMZZZZ!!!!!

 

[gratefulbuddy]

There is no copyright-enforcement division of US Law enforcement. The company whose copyrights you are infringing reports you to the FBI. The FBI gathers evidence so the copyright holder can sue you. Unless you are running a huge piracy ring (usually including sales and/or mass distribution) the big N is not gonna wanna put out all the money for a legal battle. I think your sister would be safe.
People spewing their moral beliefs regarding piracy at her would be more of a risk.