Hey, just wondering about private servers

[Caprice]

Yo, Im not asking how to connect to a private server, but asking WHY exactly is a private server HACKING. All I can get out of Dhylec (A MOD)is "Private servers are hacking" or "Private servers=hacking" but I never actually get the answer to my question, WHY are they hacking, WHAT exactly makes them hacking. So if you can give me an answer that's better than a dumbfounded "private servers=hacking" then PLEASE post. And if you're just going to lecture me, then you=loser.

[Skorpius]

It's against Sonic Team's terms of service and is actually illegal.

[Solstis]

On 2005-04-13 09:50, Skorpius wrote:
It's against Sonic Team's terms of service and is actually illegal.



One step away from charging people to play another's property.

[Caprice]

okay, so it isn't quite hacking, it's just illegal. Why didnt that MOD just say so... Well, in that case, it sucks for sega, trying to gouge us anyways, sonic team wanted to make it free play anyways.

[Mixfortune]

On 2005-04-17 15:58, Caprice wrote:
okay, so it isn't quite hacking, it's just illegal. Why didnt that MOD just say so... Well, in that case, it sucks for sega, trying to gouge us anyways, sonic team wanted to make it free play anyways.



That last line in particular makes next to no sense.
And how else do you think someone can set up their own entire server without some sort of hacking knowledge or actions?

[Caprice]

it makes sense, Sonic team originally was going to make PSO free, but Sega wanted some Cash so they made it have a monthly fee. And I know it would take hacking knowledge (except for this one. ONE private server has permission from sega) but why would CONNECTING, that's what I was asking, holy crap.

[Saiffy]

Servers cost money to keep up, making it free would just be dumb.


No private server has permission.


Asking about them is against the rules here. Whether you like it or not.

[Solstis]

On 2005-04-20 21:33, Saiffwin wrote:
Servers cost money to keep up, making it free would just be dumb.


Not a great business practice.

Then again, whoever Blizzard hired to do Battle Net did a spiff job.

[Ryna]

To clarify things a little bit, creating a private server would be a violation of the Digital Millineum Copyright Act (DMCA).

There is a provision in the DMCA that says it is illegal to bypass anti-piracy features. Since the network traffic is encrypted, you would have to bypass that security safe-guard in order to be able to gain the knowledge necessary to make your own server. That encryption can be reasonably viewed as being an "anti-piracy" feature.

Connecting to a private server could be viewed as aiding and abetting a criminal activity.

You can read more about the DMCA here:
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm

Also, there is a provision in the Terms of Service that says you are prohibited from reverse-engineering the game. While ToS agreements have not been fully tested by the courts yet, they are generally accepted to be contracts. As such, Sonic Team can take you to court for violating a contract.

As for the hacking part of the question, you would have to capture packets and reverse-engineer the protocol that the client/server uses. This would be classified as classical "hacking".

In addition, I believe JP V1 was pay-to-play and that the US version was free because Sega did not believe players would not initially pay to play the game in the United States. You do have to keep in mind that there was a great uproar when the initial payment details for US V2 were released.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ryna on 2005-04-21 08:10 ]</font>

[Superguppie]

On 2005-04-21 08:00, Ryna wrote:
There is a provision in the DMCA that says it is illegal to bypass anti-piracy features. Since the network traffic is encrypted, you would have to bypass that security safe-guard in order to be able to gain the knowledge necessary to make your own server. That encryption can be reasonably viewed as being an "anti-piracy" feature.

To add to this: If there was a legal way to gain that knowledge, having a homemade server with all original code would be legal. However, until ST starts publishing the information (and they won't) getting it is against that DMCA thing.
Although I have no idea how far that one goes. I'm under the impression it is a US law. And since I am not in the US, it would not apply to me. Ofcourse it is very well possible that there is a similar law in the Netherlands. Not sure about it.


Also, there is a provision in the Terms of Service that says you are prohibited from reverse-engineering the game. While ToS agreements have not been fully tested by the courts yet, they are generally accepted to be contracts. As such, Sonic Team can take you to court for violating a contract.

As far as I know the ToS can't be taken to court. They only give ST the right to deny access to the service if they have reason to believe someone has violated the terms. If I remember correctly, the ToS does not speak of legal action, just of banning from the service.

[Caprice]

Well, doesn't matter anyways, I found a sweet canadian private server. (Shtack's Server) So whatever. The server supports V1, V2, and PC. It also has a DOWNLOADABLE PC version, and shared serial and access numbers for it. Te shared numbers are numbers that can be used multiple times on the private server. So this will be the last you hear of me talking about private servers, at least on here anyways.

[Mixfortune]

On 2005-04-22 16:15, Caprice wrote:
So this will be the last you hear of me talking about private servers, at least on here anyways.



How true...

[Solstis]

Yay for piracy!

[Corey]

On 2005-04-22 17:24, Solstis wrote:
Yay for piracy!




(I actually think that)