Members at SimHQ agree to follow our rules. They can post whatever they want within the boundaries those rules provide. When someone advocates illegal methods to solve what they perceive to be a problem they have just crossed one of the boundaries and we will take the appropriate action. Our Terms of Service (ToS) are not open to negotiation, and will be enforced. The continued viability of this web site demands it.

In that spirit, readers need to remember that although we will bend over backwards to accommodate the desire for free speech and free expression of ideas, that freedom is not without limits. This is private space, staffed and funded entirely by private means. SimHQ is not subscriber-funded; nor is it funded by the U.S. or any other government. Frequently, readers cite the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as justification to write anything they wish to on the Internet. Regrettably, the First Amendment applies to the government, and not to private actors. Even if the Constitution did apply to private actors, there is no First Amendment right to advocate criminal conduct, online or anywhere else.

SimHQ is not driven by the needs of our advertisers. Rather, we are focused on our readers and our community. We have provided a forum to discuss Digital Rights Management (DRM) in that spirit. Very few Internet forums would do that. However, we will not allow advocacy of conduct violative of the law in our forums. This violates the ToS and will be dealt with appropriately. When readers post that they will pursue "any" means necessary to access the intellectual property of others, bypassing their copy protection or disabling it, this appears to us to be thinly-veiled advocacy of piracy as an end that justifies the means. Advocating piracy is not okay.

DRM is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. It is absolutely legal and has been upheld in courts of law, as have post-purchase end-user licensing agreements (EULAs). Readers, if you are not an attorney, you should not render legal advice and you should take great care in interpreting legal decisions of courts of law.

Below are some background reference links on the topics. They should assist you in defining terminology and provide a better understanding of the topics, and what the differences are between CP and DRM.

http://www.eff.org/issues/drm
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=drm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD/DVD_copy_protection


Wisdom is knowing what's enough