Sorry, but I have to disagree on this one. It may have the same source (the DMCA), but chrisrlink's thread is about one aspect of it (maintaining the availability of defunct games which require online service) whereas TSK's source seem to go about the whole stuff. The latter is certainly more confusing, but just pasting it in the same thread as the first mentioned one carries the risk that the news gets boiled down to just one of aspect of it.
From my understanding, there are different aspects of this exemption. According to the gizmodo article I linked to, it allows both museums to break copy protection (and even pirate) games that have been long discontinued, provided that the libraries/museums do not distribute the games outside of their physical locations. In other words, people can go to the library/museum physically and play/view the games, but they can't take/make a copy of it and leave the building with it.
However it also states that individuals can break copy protection and even go as far as pirating games that have also been discontinued, as long as they aren't redistributed. From my understanding if a game is not available commercially through any official means (ie Virtual Console, XBLA or any other digital marketplace or w/e) then you are free to copy it and use it to your hearts content within your own home.
As far as breaking abandoned online games for the purpose of using them on unofficial/private servers, I know that there was a huge push for that, but from what I got from reading that article, that's not exactly what happened. That being said, technically however, if you're allowed to reverse engineer as well as pirate games that are no longer "in print" per se, then this exemption "should" also cover that. I'm no lawyer, but this is my take on it.
So in short, can you legally download roms/isos of games that are long abandoned, technically yes. Can you run your own rom/iso site in the US, heck no lol. You can't share any of them with others, even under this exemption, its for personal use only (not to mention museums/libraries). Can you reverse engineer a long abandoned online game to get it working on an unofficial server, most likely.
Again I'm no lawyer/legal expert, but this is my personal interpretation of this exemption. My thoughts are that the Library of Congress decided if a game is no longer published in any way shape or form, then there's simply no harm in people pirating it. Now I'm not going to get into the morals behind piracy and its economic effects (or lack thereof) and what not as it will just start flame war back and forth. Just stating what I think are the reasonings for them creating this exemption.
UPDATE: After digging deeper into the exemptions regarding gaming, this is straight from the horse's mouth, it looks as though copying for personal use (if the game is abandoned of course) is allowed, libraries/museums can do it as well within the walls of their own institutions and reverse engineering games to get them back up and running (online) unofficially is also legal.
"Accordingly, based on the Register’s recommendation, the Librarian adopts the following exemption: (i) Video games in the form of computer programs embodied in physical or downloaded formats that have been lawfully acquired as complete games, when the copyright owner or its authorized representative has ceased to provide access to an external 55 computer server necessary to facilitate an authentication process to enable local gameplay, solely for the purpose of: (A) Permitting access to the video game to allow copying and modification of the computer program to restore access to the game for personal gameplay on a personal computer or video game console; or (B) Permitting access to the video game to allow copying and modification of the computer program to restore access to the game on a personal computer or video game console when necessary to allow preservation of the game in a playable form by an eligible library, archives or museum, where such activities are carried out without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage and the video game is not distributed or made available outside of the physical premises of the eligible library, archives or museum. (ii) Computer programs used to operate video game consoles solely to the extent necessary for an eligible library, archives or museum to engage in the preservation activities described in paragraph (i)(B). (iii) For purposes of the exemptions in paragraphs (i) and (ii), the following definitions shall apply: (A) “Complete games” means video games that can be played by users without accessing or reproducing copyrightable content stored or previously stored on an external computer server. (B) “Ceased to provide access” means that the copyright owner or its authorized representative has either issued an affirmative statement indicating that external server support for the video game has ended and such support is in fact no longer available or, alternatively, server support has been discontinued for a period of at least six months; provided, however, that server support has not since been restored. (C) “Local gameplay” means gameplay conducted on a personal computer or video game console, or locally connected personal computers or consoles, and not through an online service or facility. (D) A library, archives or museum is considered “eligible” when the collections of the library, archives or museum are open to the public and/or are routinely made available to 56 researchers who are not affiliated with the library, archives or museum." (copyright.gov, pg. 54-55) (
http://copyright.gov/1201/2015/fedreg-publicinspectionFR.pdf)
Of course under no circumstances can anything be distributed, but still this is pretty awesome.
