[NTLK] ROM for Einstein

[Forrest]

Pawel, I think her argument is what we used to do here: “back in the day” if you wanted a ROM image you had to prove that you owned said machine. It’s a copyright issue, similar to being allowed —again, Back In The Day—to make a cassette or CD copy of a vinyl record you owned, for safekeeping, in case the record got scratched or otherwise damaged...or a duplicate cassette or CD, for your own use. This was known as the “fair use” clause or provision.

Being in the possession of such a copy if you DID NOT actually own that original recording was considered to be a Very Bad Thing, and meant that certainly giant clouds of locusts would descend upon you, your skin would erupt in nasty boils, and all the personal cheques that you have recently written would be returned, dishonored, by your banking institution.

Ahem.

Such were the Dark Days of the copyright laws. This was of course mostly all the result of that Evil Creation from Satan Himself—file sharing, bit torrents, Napster and the like.

Uh, ahem again.

I think Marisa—if I might be so bold as to speak for her—is merely protecting any involved individuals from possible prosecution, should Apple choose to seek legal action. By providing some sort of proof that you already own a device with that ROM, you qualify under the Fair Use clause, as you already own a copy of that copyrighted ROM.

The above is of course a great simplification of thousands of pages of copyright law.

In the earlier days of NTLK, you had to prove you legally owned software (or a ROM) in order to receive an activation code for that software (or ROM image). I recall many “colorful discussions” about this very topic here.

While it is illegal, it seems highly unlikely that Apple is interested in chasing after individuals distributing ROM images, especially for a discontinued 20+ year old device. As another respondent has mentioned, there are sites that offer Apple II and related hardware ROMs for emulation (as well as Atari, Commodore, etc.), with no retribution.

Hopefully this will be of some help.

Mahalo,
Forrest

Sent from my T-Mobile iPhone 11

> On Mar 17, 2021, at 1:33 PM, Pawel Piotrowski <newton at indigi.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 17 Mar 2021, at 06:10, Marisa Giancarla via NewtonTalk <newtontalk at newtontalk.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Do people think my requiring the screen shot is no longer needed? I just set that up 5 years or so ago to try and stay legit. I would have no problem with just making it available if you think it would be OK...
> 
> 
> Hi Marisa,
> 
> I guess that in some way you do refer to my email. Can you explain how to make and deliver a Newton photo to you causes ROM file downloading more legit? I’m asking because I do not know something or I do not understand something. I will be grateful for brightening this issue.
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> Pawel
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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