[Discussion] Private Server's

[2coolforu2]

Okay i been looking around and everyone and i mean everyone is talking about private servers and if its illegal or legal. Well i found information, and ALL Games not just TQ is taking action in private servers and trying to destroy them.

Information that i have found:

It doesn't matter what game it is; it doesn't matter what the justifications is; the bottom line is that all private servers are illegal. The content that appears on a Game Company website and in its games are protected intellectual property. Intellectual property rights are defined as legal property rights, both artistic and commercial, in tangible form (as opposed to ideas). It is recognized by the laws of all the countries in the world and there are severe penalties for those who violate those rights, whether through expensive statutory fines or criminal jail time. The use of intellectual material such as a Games Company requires the permission and authorization from its owner. Using unauthorized intellectual property for personal gain without permission is both illegal and actionable.

The major issue with private servers is that they bypass the creative process of designers and developers. They make copies of the original game by using the creative assets of which they have no legal right to use. Please know that intellectual property has more than a monetary value; private server creators violate the intellectual property rights on games by using it for their own personal interest.

Another danger private servers pose concerns the security of information. When you register to play on a private server, you are blindly surrendering your personal information to non-professionals who have no legal obligation to keep your personal information secure. There is no telling what they can do with your personal information.

You may have criticism towards some games that you feel are addressed in private servers. Keep in mind that they are continuing to try to improve their games on a daily basis, which is challenging since they are on a large scale in regards to a player base. It may not be too difficult keeping 5, 20 or maybe even a 100 players happy, but they cater to the thousands that log onto their servers daily, and the millions that play their games worldwide.

#Remmber only make a private server if your willing to even take the risk.

[BloofyGirl]

Do you Mean the Intellectual property rights imposed on all States?

[tao4229]

Looks like you copy+pasted that.

[BloofyGirl]

Originally Posted by tao4229

Looks like you copy+pasted that.

lol why he would copy paste?

[2coolforu2]

Originally Posted by tao4229

Looks like you copy+pasted that.

Well by what i had said by the information that i found was kinda obvious that i did but still im just warning people here that they dont know the full risk of making a private server.

[unknownone]

Originally Posted by 2coolforu2

It doesn't matter what game it is; it doesn't matter what the justifications is; the bottom line is that all private servers are illegal. The content that appears on a Game Company website and in its games are protected intellectual property. Intellectual property rights are defined as legal property rights, both artistic and commercial, in tangible form (as opposed to ideas). It is recognized by the laws of all the countries in the world and there are severe penalties for those who violate those rights, whether through expensive statutory fines or criminal jail time.

It isn't illegal to make or host a private server, provided the server doesn't infringe on the copyright of official one. The usual method is, what's known as a 'clean room' design. The intial piece of software is reverse engineered by somebody, who creates a specification for what needs to be done. This spec is reviewed by a lawyer who checks it doesn't infringe on any copyrights. The spec is then taken by another programmer who was not involved in the reverse engineering, and following a spec as such, they can create an emulator that doesn't imfringe on the copyrights.

Patents, however, are a different issue, but since a patent only protects an idea, rather than an implementation, it's usually simple to work way around these in the case of private servers, by omitting or modifying content.

Of course, redistributing clients is quite illegal, but it isn't necessarily the responsibility of the private server hoster to do this. It's not illegal to post guides on how to edit a client to connect to another server for example, but doing it is. The private server developer doesn't care, since he isn't the one doing the modding.

The fact that a private server is code alone makes it quite legal. There is no copyrightable content that is copied from the official source server/client, since you're esentially working with text and numbers, and you can't copyright a number.

If you think that every country in the world recognises intellectual property, you're very much mistaken. The definition of intellectual property isn't well defined either, so what might be illegal in the US would be of no problem in the EU.

Originally Posted by 2coolforu2

Another danger private servers pose concerns the security of information. When you register to play on a private server, you are blindly surrendering your personal information to non-professionals who have no legal obligation to keep your personal information secure. There is no telling what they can do with your personal information.

This argument is irrelevant. Giving your information to anyone on the internet is a danger, particularly if you don't read the smallprints. Would you consider it fine, say, for Google to take your information if they didn't have a privacy policy? Nobody has an obligation to keep your information unles they state it. If someone did something with your information that didn't suit you though, it would be within your rights to sue them, whether they are a multi billion dollor 'professional' company, or a single hacker nerd at his desk (you need to track him first, is the problem).
Also not that, professional means - on a salary. (Yes, this is the definition, from the Oxford English Dictionary). Which means nothing about a person's intent to use your information. Actually, you'll probably find that companies like Google are the largest invaders of privacy in the world, they record your every search, even every page you visit that contains google ads.
A private server developer is usually just asking for an email address to work with your account. If they ask for your name, address, telephone number and bank details, then yeah, the only person at fault here would be the idiot who inputs them.

Anyway, aside from the "Shrink-wrap" policies, there are no other laws dictating the legality of private servers anywhere in the world. Infact, there hasn't been any significant lawsuit to set precedence. Thus, it is legal until found guilty, which doesn't look to change soon because the game companies don't have the legal grounds to file a lawsuit.

Of course, most private servers for many other games, and CO too, are using some kind of leaked/hacked code, or are using code directly ripped from the client. All it takes in these is for the company to issue a C&D, and if the offendor doesn't take it down as told, they can be sued under the laws of the country it's being hosted in.

Keep reading.

[BloofyGirl]

Originally Posted by unknownone

It isn't illegal to make or host a private server, provided the server doesn't infringe on the copyright of official one. The usual method is, what's known as a 'clean room' design. The intial piece of software is reverse engineered by somebody, who creates a specification for what needs to be done. This spec is reviewed by a lawyer who checks it doesn't infringe on any copyrights. The spec is then taken by another programmer who was not involved in the reverse engineering, and following a spec as such, they can create an emulator that doesn't imfringe on the copyrights.

Patents, however, are a different issue, but since a patent only protects an idea, rather than an implementation, it's usually simple to work way around these in the case of private servers, by omitting or modifying content.

Of course, redistributing clients is quite illegal, but it isn't necessarily the responsibility of the private server hoster to do this. It's not illegal to post guides on how to edit a client to connect to another server for example, but doing it is. The private server developer doesn't care, since he isn't the one doing the modding.

The fact that a private server is code alone makes it quite legal. There is no copyrightable content that is copied from the official source server/client, since you're esentially working with text and numbers, and you can't copyright a number.

If you think that every country in the world recognises intellectual property, you're very much mistaken. The definition of intellectual property isn't well defined either, so what might be illegal in the US would be of no problem in the EU.



This argument is irrelevant. Giving your information to anyone on the internet is a danger, particularly if you don't read the smallprints. Would you consider it fine, say, for Google to take your information if they didn't have a privacy policy? Nobody has an obligation to keep your information unles they state it. If someone did something with your information that didn't suit you though, it would be within your rights to sue them, whether they are a multi billion dollor 'professional' company, or a single hacker nerd at his desk (you need to track him first, is the problem).
Also not that, professional means - on a salary. (Yes, this is the definition, from the Oxford English Dictionary). Which means nothing about a person's intent to use your information. Actually, you'll probably find that companies like Google are the largest invaders of privacy in the world, they record your every search, even every page you visit that contains google ads.
A private server developer is usually just asking for an email address to work with your account. If they ask for your name, address, telephone number and bank details, then yeah, the only person at fault here would be the idiot who inputs them.

Anyway, aside from the "Shrink-wrap" policies, there are no other laws dictating the legality of private servers anywhere in the world. Infact, there hasn't been any significant lawsuit to set precedence. Thus, it is legal until found guilty, which doesn't look to change soon because the game companies don't have the legal grounds to file a lawsuit.

Of course, most private servers for many other games, and CO too, are using some kind of leaked/hacked code, or are using code directly ripped from the client. All it takes in these is for the company to issue a C&D, and if the offendor doesn't take it down as told, they can be sued under the laws of the country it's being hosted in.

Keep reading.

but how they shutdown elite co private server?
is that mean TQ Have the property rights of their own Clients and sources?
i dont see any copyrights there , or thats mean elite-co OWNER/Hoster Idiots or kids Tq told them close server within 10 days or we will Raise the issue in court
Regards,