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Which hosts are more lenient in their TOS?

Venoman

New Member
I run a Nintendo emulation site, and I am getting really tired of my site's host. The popups are intrusive, and the server is extremely erratic.

As you may or may not know, emulation is technically illegal, or can be. Since my site offers games copywrighted by Nintendo in file form, in order for a visitor to my site to download one of these files, they must already own the console version of the game they want to download, or they are violating copywright law. All this and more are covered in my site's disclaimer, before access to the files is given.

So basically I am looking for a host that either is pretty much indifferent to your page's content (they have a disclaimer of their own, something like "we are not responsible for the content of our member's pages"), or are known to be ok with emulation. The last thing I want is to get everything set up, and then one day find out my site has been yanked from the system.


Most of the files on my site are hosted on a remote server, but I am hoping to find a host that allows at least 85 megs. Also because of the frames on my site, among other things, I am looking for a host that has their banner, button, text link, or whatever, in the footer of the HTML pages. I really don't want a site with popups if I can help it, but I'll take what I can get. Also it must have FTP access.


Any suggestions? I would really appreciate some input on this one.

Thanks

-Venoman
 
Be wary

Emulation is technically legal.
To the best of my knowledge, use of copyrighted material for back-up purposes is not legal. No matter how well you write your site's discalimer It's still illegal if you're holding other people's copyrighted material for free download on your site, against their will. In Nintendo's case they threaten legal action for copyright infringement.

I would be very wary.

Now, if you're interested in running a legal emulation site many hosts will still decline you. I'd reccomend any that you explain to them why it is legal. Or find one that supports you.

If you still want an illegal website I reccomend shooting yourself in the foot and chucking yourself in a cage filled with hungry lions ;).

No, if you really must do it (there are some people out there) I think that http://www.sub-net.com/ offers hosting for 'underground' sites.

Then Nintendo, the justice department and countless SWAT teams can come and raid your house and shoot you in the foot. ;)
 
Originally posted by Venoman
As you may or may not know, emulation is technically illegal

We know

Since my site offers games copywrighted by Nintendo in file form, in order for a visitor to my site to download one of these files, they must already own the console version of the game they want to download, or they are violating copywright law. All this and more are covered in my site's disclaimer, before access to the files is given.

You do realize that your site's 'disclaimer' isn't worth the paper it's printed on?

So basically I am looking for a host that either is pretty much indifferent to your page's content (they have a disclaimer of their own, something like "we are not responsible for the content of our member's pages")

So basically you're looking for a warez host. Your host can have a disclaimer that 'they aren't responsible for the content of their member's pages', but that is also not worth the paper it's printed on. They are responsible, and this is why it is so hard to find places that you can legally host illegal content.

The last thing I want is to get everything set up, and then one day find out my site has been yanked from the system.

Funny how legitimate sites don't have to worry about this. Seriously, you run this risk with the content you're serving. You must realize this.

...at least 85 megs...has their banner, button, text link, or whatever, in the footer of the HTML pages...don't want a site with popups...Also it must have FTP access.

You'll be lucky to find hosts that will serve the site at all (good luck with special conditions).
 
if u have 8 bit nes games then i dont think they care because nintendo no longer makes these games do not qoute me on that kus i dunno
however i know for a fact if u emulate fuckin n64 games ur in some shit bro
or gameboy and snes
 
Originally posted by Chicken
Your host can have a disclaimer that 'they aren't responsible for the content of their member's pages', but that is also not worth the paper it's printed on. They are responsible.


Actually, according to the Digital Millineum Copyright Act of 1998, a host is only responsible for the content of a Member's site if it knows about it. If a Copyright holder tries to sue a host without notifying the host of the illegal content prior to filing the suit....guess what, the host is immune to your lawsuit and is protected by the Federal DMCA. YOU however, are NOT protected and they can countersue. The host however, DOES have to take the site down once notified. If they do not, THEN they are liable. Of course, the site owner can do a counter notification to get his site back up, at that point the host can allow the site back up and is no longer legally involved and the battle has to be settled in court between the site owner and the copyright owner.

I have both the 18 page U.S. Copyright Office Summary of the DMCA and a copy of the actual 57 page DMCA from Congress. This is how I know (-:
 
Thanks for your, uh, input.

First of all, I don't think emulation and warez are really synonymous. I suppose in the case of N64 games, yeah, because they are still on the shelves. (Doesn't really matter, because most games aren't even playable on an emulator).

But as far as the older systems, what if there was this old game I rented 10 years ago and really liked, but never bothered to buy? even if I can find the actual console, say on ebay, Nintendo isn't going to get a dime for it. Any money they were going to get out of that game was made a long time ago.


There are a lot of reputable Nintendo emulation sites out there, that simply play for the nostalgia and want to share the wealth with everyone else. For example:
http://www.tobbeo.com/


My site is not out there to help people find ways to get stuff without paying for it. Its purpose is to make people aware of some of the great Nintendo games they may have missed. I am currently gathering a team of reviewers to give my site's visitors an overview of the games before they download.



I'll check out sub-net and see what they offer.

And if you just think I'm trying to find a way to break the law and get away with it, then fine, you're entitled to your opinion, but please keep it to yourself. If anyone else has some constructive feedback then I'm all ears.

thanks

-Venoman
 
And if you just think I'm trying to find a way to break the law and get away with it, then fine, you're entitled to your opinion, but please keep it to yourself. If anyone else has some constructive feedback then I'm all ears.

I'm not going to bother to share my opinion about the legalities of it all. Chicken did a rather nice job of that (although I will mention that it doesn't matter if a game is still available or not - if it's still covered by the copyright then you have no right to make it available as a ROM - PERIOD!)

What gives you the right to say what someone can and can't post here? Sorry if you don't want people to post their beliefs but that's what you're going to get here. I'll be damned if you or anyone else is going to tell me to keep my opinions to myself. You must be pretty weak if you can't handle criticism.
 
I thought da.ru only did URL redirection? I'll have another look and see what they offer.

Ron:

I've noticed from browsing through this forum a little bit that you get off on trying to piss people off. I don't feel like I have to defend myself here; all I am saying is that the motivation behind my site has nothing to do with trying to cheat Nintendo, or help out people who are too lazy to go out and buy a game themselves. That post wasn't directed toward you; it had nothing to do with you. You just dropped in and decided to whine about something that had nothing to do with you. So lay off, and go bother someone else. I'm not about to sit and exchange meaningless comebacks, and any replies will be ignored, so save your breath. I posted here hoping to get some help, so anything non-constructive will be ignored.


If anyone reads this and knows of a reliable host that doesn't heavily monitor their member's content (won't remove sites of their own accord without someone objecting, etc.) I would appreciate hearing what you have to say.

thanks

-Venoman
 
You found me out. I have absolutely nothing better to do than to try to piss you off. My secret's out. [/sarcasm]

Bottom line here pal is that you don't have any control whatsoever over what I or anyone else posts. Thank God you're not a moderator here. Imagine a board where the moderator nuked every post he/she didn't agree with.

I think you're nuts for trying to run an emulation site. It would serve you right if Nintendo decided to make an example of you and nailed your ass to the wall. Who do you think would win that fight? They spend more money on toilet paper in a year than you'll make in your lifetime. I think they have the funds to bury you in court. Is it really worth going bankrupt just so you can have your little emulation site? The choice is your of course (as the choice is MINE to make this post). Just don't expect any sympathy from anyone here or anywhere else if you get burned. You'll have done it to yourself and will deserve every bit of it.

Addon: I just realized that you were kind enough to leave a link to your illegal site. I think I'll email the URL to Nintendo's legal department just to speed the ass-nailing process along. Hope you don't mind.
 
da.ru

Yep. I checked da.ru to make sure, and I was right. It's a redirect URL. They put a small ad frame at the bottom of your screen with a link to their homepage; your URL is you.da.ru. Not bad, but obviously doesn't help me much :)

Oh well. I'll just have to keep my eyes open.

-Venoman
 
Originally posted by Venoman
I thought da.ru only did URL redirection? I'll have another look and see what they offer.

Ron:

I've noticed from browsing through this forum a little bit that you get off on trying to piss people off. I don't feel like I have to defend myself here; all I am saying is that the motivation behind my site has nothing to do with trying to cheat Nintendo, or help out people who are too lazy to go out and buy a game themselves. That post wasn't directed toward you; it had nothing to do with you. You just dropped in and decided to whine about something that had nothing to do with you. So lay off, and go bother someone else. I'm not about to sit and exchange meaningless comebacks, and any replies will be ignored, so save your breath. I posted here hoping to get some help, so anything non-constructive will be ignored.


If anyone reads this and knows of a reliable host that doesn't heavily monitor their member's content (won't remove sites of their own accord without someone objecting, etc.) I would appreciate hearing what you have to say.

thanks

-Venoman

First off, I'm not saying I agree with Ron on everything. Infact, I disagreed with the way he handled some of the post for webhosting (not that its not true, though), etc...

But... I have to agree with Ron on this one. Do you honestly think anyone in their right mind is gonna allow you to host illegal content like that? If they see it they'll more than likely remove it, cause if they don't they know they are legally liable for it. WHY should they allow you to host material that can get them in legal trouble?

Next off, EVERYONE has the right to freedom of speech. Agree or disagree with one another is fine, but you can't say someone don't have the right to post it. There are some exceptions which shouldn't be permitted (such as flaming, etc...), but I see nothing wrong with Ron (or anyone else for that matter) giving his opinion.

Next off, if you post on a public messageboard, you're asking to be criticized.

I'm not trying to insult you and/or piss you off, but the reality is you're not likely to find a host that allows you to do what you want. If you're really determined to make your ROMS available for download, then i'd recommend setting up an fileserver, and serve your roms in a roms/warez channel on IRC (DalNet is a good network for that).
 
*sigh*...

Fine. On you go with the whole Freedom of Speech routine. I wasn't implying anything like that, and I think it's rediculous for you all to keep whining about it. Nobody's stopping you from speaking your mind, least of all me. All I meant was that I didn't appreciate people giving me crap about it when I was only looking for help. But you're right, I had it coming. I posted in a free country, after all. Let me rephrase, and then can we drop this crap?

"Say whatever you want, but if you are only posting to tell me I'm wasting my time, I'm basicly going to ignore it. Those of you with something helpful to say, I'm all ears"


Seriously, speak your mind if you'll feel better. I just wrote that sentance that got everyone's panties in a twist because I was trying to keep this thread going in a more helpful direction. And the truth is, I think this could turn out to be helpful.

I'm dropping this, and I'm not going to say anything else about it. I'd appreciate you doing the same. Or not; it's a free country.
 
Originally posted by Venoman
*sigh*...

Fine. On you go with the whole Freedom of Speech routine. I wasn't implying anything like that, and I think it's rediculous for you all to keep whining about it. Nobody's stopping you from speaking your mind, least of all me. All I meant was that I didn't appreciate people giving me crap about it when I was only looking for help. But you're right, I had it coming. I posted in a free country, after all. Let me rephrase, and then can we drop this crap?

"Say whatever you want, but if you are only posting to tell me I'm wasting my time, I'm basicly going to ignore it. Those of you with something helpful to say, I'm all ears"


Seriously, speak your mind if you'll feel better. I just wrote that sentance that got everyone's panties in a twist because I was trying to keep this thread going in a more helpful direction. And the truth is, I think this could turn out to be helpful.

I'm dropping this, and I'm not going to say anything else about it. I'd appreciate you doing the same. Or not; it's a free country.

I really am not trying to offend you, i'm just speaking from experience. I've been through thousands of free hosts out there and haven't seen one yet that will allow you to host this type of stuff. I'm not saying you should give up, if you wanna look for one, more power to you. All I meant was, that to the best of my knowledge, theres none around and I honestly doubt there ever will be due to it being illegal.

Second, I didn't mean for the freedom of speech thing to sound like that, I more less meant that you'll almost always end up getting alot of comments like that. I know you don't want alot of people to criticize you, nobody does, but the reality of the matter is that they will and theres not much you can say or do to stop it. Like what they have to say or not, its everyones right to speak their minds. I agree with you though, if someone gives a comment you don't like, you can and should just ignore it. :)

I don't speak for all the others out there, and therefore can't say what they mean or don't mean by their replies, but i'll say thats honestly what I meant by mine. I'm sorry if it came out wrong or you misinterpreted what I said, but I honestly meant no offense meant by what I said.
 
Venoman,

Why dont you sign up with xdrive.com or freedrive.com etc. I've heard that they dont mind what you put on there, because its all confidential.

So there are 2 ways people can access your files:

-You can link to the file (may be hard to do..).
-or you could give them access for read only (I think you can do this for some of them, that way they can only download the files and not add/delete the files).

I hope you found this info helpful.
 
Re: da.ru

Originally posted by Venoman
Yep. I checked da.ru to make sure, and I was right. It's a redirect URL. They put a small ad frame at the bottom of your screen with a link to their homepage; your URL is you.da.ru. Not bad, but obviously doesn't help me much :)

Oh well. I'll just have to keep my eyes open.

-Venoman

It's about the smallest ad frame I've seen so far... Too bad NameZero's isn't similar. :)
 
Ice:

Okay, I understand where you are coming from. And you're right; if it's illegal, I can't expect them to get themselves into trouble for me, especially when it's a free service and they are getting next to nothing in return.

I already knew this, but to quote Webdude, and back it more precisely:
Actually, according to the Digital Millineum Copyright Act of 1998, a host is only responsible for the content of a Member's site if it knows about it. If a Copyright holder tries to sue a host without notifying the host of the illegal content prior to filing the suit....guess what, the host is immune to your lawsuit and is protected by the Federal DMCA. YOU however, are NOT protected and they can countersue. The host however, DOES have to take the site down once notified. If they do not, THEN they are liable. Of course, the site owner can do a counter notification to get his site back up, at that point the host can allow the site back up and is no longer legally involved and the battle has to be settled in court between the site owner and the copyright owner.

So basicly I wasn't expecting anyone who would support something that would get them in trouble. Basicly I was looking for someone that would be okay with hosting my site and files, as long as they weren't going to get in trouble. In other words, would look the other way unless someone specifically brought it to their attention and/or threatened legal action.

I have my entire site backed up, and could have my page up and running on a new server in a day or two, but it gets kind of old. I just thought I would see what I could find here.


RusselG:

Yeah; file hosting is another story. I've gotten good at that. And you're right; remotely linking to your files is what's hard about sites like freedrive. But there are some that let you, or there are ways around it.

I have considered hosting my HTML pages on http://juston.com. They have a very reliable server, and you have the option of "publishing your files to the web". Once you do that, they give you the URL you can use to access your files from any website you want. The problem is, they only allow a limited amount of data transfer in a day, which basically means limited bandwidth; no good.

Mandrake:

Yeah, smallest ad frame, but you can always use cjb.net and get an ad-free direct. But you already knew that, right? :)

thanks everyone!

-Venoman
 
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