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Question
Some people have said that downloading roms is illegal, while others have said that spreading roms is illegal, but downloading them isn't.
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From personal experience, I can tell you that downloading from the wrong site can result in your ISP being contacted by the publisher (probably Nintendo). It happened to me a couple years back. I was sent a warning letter and told my internet was going to be in some kind of probationary period. If I did it again, there would be consequences.
That being said, I haven't had this issue since I stopped getting roms from my old sources. My guess is that the site itself (an older rom site) had been flagged or blacklisted by my ISP.
IIRC, it is completely legal to download roms IF you own a physical copy of the game. This caveat creates a super exploitable loophole where enforcement is almost impossible. Thus, sources (sites) of roms are targeted legally, while the users are simply threatened by their ISPs (who have been incentivized in some way to monitor activity on the scrutinized websites.)
Another way to put this is to say that the publishers can only attack a couple heads of the hydra at once, so your only concern is to beware which head you stand on.
As far as I'm aware, this is false. It is illegal to download roms whether you own a physical copy or not, however, if you have the right hardware, it is completely legal to RIP your own roms as long as you do not share them. I'm not sure if it is illegal to download roms of a game that is not offered digitally anymore, like some xbla exclusives or wiiware games, but i do know that if it is offered in any easily accessible way (Even earthbound) it is still illegal.
is vimms lair safe?
Redacte due to Reddit AI/LLM policy
I have no idea.
I can't imagine what you'd be looking for that is not in the megathread of this sub. It's got everything outside of romhacks. It's also on GitHub, which is definitely not possible to blacklist and probably impossible to even monitor.
Copy wright infringement
i think its illegal, buts its not enforced whatsoever. its like going 50.1 mph in a 50 mph zone.
Its illegal to own a rom of a game that you do not own. If you own the game no one can stop you. The act of downloading a rom is ofc not illegal.
If I download a game that is decade old will I get arrested?
Probably
No, you won't be arrested.
if its abandonware then no