Are cracks illegal?

[noodlesoup]

As far as I know, you are allowed to make a backup copy of physical digital media that you own, and in order for it to actually work at times, you DO need a crack.

Am I wrong? Have things changed?

Genuine question, since I just got censored for bringing it up on a different forum :<

[NorthernKingdom]

Yes. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Go read about it.

[noodlesoup]

Hmmm, gave it a read and the exception turns out to be;

Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully obtained works, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities, if:

The information derived from the security testing is used primarily to promote the security of the owner or operator of a computer, computer system, or computer network; and

The information derived from the security testing is used or maintained in a manner that does not facilitate copyright infringement or a violation of applicable law. (A new exemption in 2010.)


I guess you can claim you were looking for security flaws.... thanks for letting me know about the DMC anyway.

[SavageWolfFrog]

What these officer?.......thats my collection of games that im testing for all the top publishers. All completely legit;)

[Grue12]

It depends on a country.

[stinkytaco]

Crack is a very broad term.

Some games sold on steam require you to use a hex editor to make the games compatible with newer versions of the operating system. I am pretty sure this is OK.

Some "Cracks" are intellectual property that have already been tweaked by someone else. It is not legal to download these for ANY reason.

While other "cracks" are totally legit, they are all self contained code, and do nothing to circumvent the DRM, or copy protection.
Some of thease do things like allow controller support on games that have no joystick support in them.

Binding of Issac even tells you to download a use a crack if you want controller support for the game.

Well...anyway, my point is that "Cracks" mean lots of things, and you need to find out what they actually are before you do them, because you might be breaking the law, or voiding your game licence. Not to mention that they might be MALWARE!

[Seth.Sekhmet]

In my country I'm allowed to make as many backups as I want, but I can not modify the original program. This means cracks are illegal.

However, the publisher of that software is bound by law to offer assistance in restoring any backup in case the original (be it digital package or CD/DVD) fails to work.

I guess local law applies different interpretation on this matter.

[bdmason]

No, but have you ever ridden an inner city bus? Makes me wish they were illegal. Pull those pants up! :mad: hmpf

(I'm not back yet, I'm on public wifi)

[stillmatic07]

Before my steam days, I had a nice CD collection of all my old titles like BF1942, Cod1, GTA3, Sims 1. Since then Ive lost CDs, scratched them up beyond belief...

It shouldn't be illegal to make .iso's of those and run them on something like NERO when you have a legitimate copy.

Would that be considered a crack?

[JimmyMcNulty]

What country do you live in OP?

I'm sure your question would be answered much easier with better knowledge of your country.

[lucifercrow514]

Yes it is but with steam you don't need a crack because the whole point of cracks is to play your game without CD or DVD.

Steam is so awesome that if you buy a steamworks retail game, once you activate it, you can throw away, lose, burn the retail cd and just redownload the game off your steam account :) so no need for crack here

Compact Discs are becoming obsolete.

[Washell]

Here in the Netherlands court rulings have stated that the consumer's right to a working backup copy is paramount. If you need a crack, than that's legal in the Netherlands. All this is assuming your license is still valid.

Actually making the crack, reverse engineering and all that, is a different story.

[stella artois]

Crack is illegal however cocaine is a hell of a drug.

[Nitronumber9]

Technically your buying a license to games, which means you CAN! Download them off those shady websites.
However, most license agreements say you can't MODIFY! The main component, meaning its illegal to crack it.

[KuranesDreamer]

Crack is illegal however cocaine is a hell of a drug.

Protip: Crack is made from Cocaine.

[stella artois]

Protip: Crack is made from Cocaine.

Care to explain why you thought I mentioned both of them without knowing this, I would like to see how this great intellect of yours works.

[chaplain_wu]

Here in the Netherlands court rulings have stated that the consumer's right to a working backup copy is paramount. If you need a crack, than that's legal in the Netherlands. All this is assuming your license is still valid.

Actually making the crack, reverse engineering and all that, is a different story.

In other words, you can own something you can;t create or obtain.

[Ace42]

As far as I know, you are allowed to make a backup copy of physical digital media that you own, and in order for it to actually work at times, you DO need a crack.

Am I wrong? Have things changed?

Genuine question, since I just got censored for bringing it up on a different forum :<

It's contingent on your jurisdiction. Under UK law it is established that you can create a single back-up copy of your own personal use of media you own; however it's a grey-area that is a relic from the days of cassette tape and hasn't been rigorously tested in concern to digital media.

Arguably a crack is modifying the original, so while you may need it to have the benefit of the back-up copy - it isn't the same as having a non-functional back-up copy to which you might be entitled.

However, to come back to the wider topic mentioned rather than your specific case - under UK law making / distributing cracks would typically be a criminal (rather than other file-sharing activities which would merely be a civil) matter, as you'd be able demonstrate the possibility of severe financial losses to the copyright holder through that course of action.

[cakefish]

Short answer - yes.

Long answwer - yes.