Is this total BS, or am I just being overly sensitive? Piracy issue?

Question

I've been known to be overly sensitive about things like this, and again I feel as if I've been wronged somewhat. I'm not looking for a solution, or a "what I should do" answer, I just want to know what your opinion is on this situation.

I am away from my home, and will be for a while. I have a certin game installed on my computer at home, however here I don't have it. Here, basically I am sitting around, and surfing the internet. It has been firmly established that I do indeed own the game. I requested on the forum a small part of the code which I was planning on modding for my game, and the staff accused me of piracy. The code is completely exposed, there is no de-encryption needed to be done to access the code, I just want files that anyone who owns the game can access. Without other files, like other parts of the code, or the art/sound files, I can't do anything with that code alone, which doesn't actually matter, since it has been established that I do indeed own the game. Anyway, they gave me an infraction for piracy, do you think this was justified, or was it unreasonable?

Answer 1

First, who gave you the infraction? If not the vendor of the game, by what authority are they monitoring you? Were you working with the game code on a personal resource or a company/agency owned piece of equipment?

While I agree from your description of the situation that you weren't committing piracy (no intent to copy or copy & distribute), you may have violated the license agreement of the software. If the game vendor allows for modifications as a normal part of the game though, they probably have some legal requirements that it is done on the single system where the software is installed. I can't believe that the vendor would pursue any legal actions against you in this case but if using a company/agency owned device, they could be very protective to avoid that risk, no matter how low.

FYI - My employer has software deployed onto the desktops to inventory the systems and report to a central system. If any unlicensed applications are found, they verify if the software is indeed licensed (i.e. department purchased rather than corporate) and if needed uninstall and reprimand the employee. Corporations/agencies are just protecting their assets and they have the right to do that.

Now if you are doing this on a personal resource, I'd have to wonder why they are monitoring it. If you are military, then maybe that has something to do with it as you are using their networks.

Answer 2

You are fine, they are being stupid. They are so afraid of being sued for copyright infringement that they lose common sense.