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When the original decision was made, it was unclear at that point to what extent the copyright holders were protecting their works, i.e. would they send C&D letters to websites/forums that included any discussion, or links to, illegal ROMs, or would a website only be held accountable if it hosted said ROMs on its servers? That unknown quantity was key; it seemed reasonable to assume that discussion of illegal ROMs was legal, but that did not mean that the copyright holders would attempt to stop it anyway. And that lead to another issue: would our relationship with the copyright holders, and other manufacturers, be damaged by allowing such practices?
So, we played it safe. If a C&D had been received, Chris could have done nothing other than remove all discussion/links, and his relationship with key contacts may well have been irreparably damaged. It was a lose-lose situation.
The landscape in which we made that decision appears to have changed. The copyright holders are not actively seeking to prevent discussion of illegal ROMs on a device that is essentially no longer supported. Relationships remain on good terms. We do not, of course, allow for the hosting of any illegal ROMs, because Chris could be held liable for distributing copyrighted works.
To my mind, at no point in the process have any decisions been taken on the basis of morality. It has been about legality, and business efficacy. Those who point to the contradictory nature of our change in stance are, to my mind, missing the point - Aximsite has never sought to impose some kind of communal morality on its members. As long as it is legal, and it will not potentially affect the future of the site, then we will allow it. Those two requirements have now been satisfied.
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