Whose responsibility do you think it should be to make sure a product (I’m thinking specifically eroge) is legal in your country?
I haven’t left in a ‘both’ option because I want people to pick one or the other- if you think both should share some responsibility, choose the one who should bear the MOST responsibility.
i say it is up to the buyer
I think the question is incorrectly asked and should rather be “Regardless of whether you think the legality of a game up to the creator/distributor of the game or up to you, the consumer, if you were prosecuted for owning a game that is illegal in regard to your local laws and had the possibility to blame it on the creator/distributor, would you?”
If the product is being specifically released in your country, it’s the creator’s responsibility to follow the laws of the country they’re releasing it into.
If you’re importing it into your own country, it’s your responsibility to know your own laws.
Both of these seem thoroughly obvious to me…
I’d say it is 90% personal responsibility and 10% on the distributor. Nothing illegal in a country should be distributed in that country, but it still is up to the individuals to be responsible. If you’re importing something legal out of your country and it may be illegal in your country, then I’d say it is 100% personal responsibility.
I’m with papillon. Both answers are correct.
If you live in Iran, you shouldn’t import one of these games unless you really really want to go to jail.
Likewise, if Jast USA were ever stupid enough to officially release one of their products in Iran, they’d immediately land in some very hot water.
That said, one answer is clearly more correct than the other, as I see it. if the products are only officially released in areas where they’re legal (which is likely) … and you don’t live in said area … Why should the company have to release games that comply with laws of jurisdictions they aren’t subject to? That would mean they’d have to release games complying with EVERY censorship regime across the whole world, including that of North Korea and Iran.
Although, while I stand by my original statement, I then start wondering about how businesses currently deal with varying laws. I know of some things that are legal in one country and not another and the producers actively refuse to ship to the other jurisdiction… I’m not entirely sure why. It’s possible that companies can get in some level of trouble just for mailing certain things across borders, in which case refusing to officially send them and forcing you to rely on weird reshipping services if you REALLY want to try the import is ass-covering.
I agree. To apply this to the present market:
I live in the US. I expect JAST’s releases to be perfectly safe for my consumption–they’re a bigger target than me. If anyone’s getting busted, it’ll be them.
Regarding Mangagamer, all bets are off. Because they’re based in the Netherlands and also use a digital distribution model, if anyone gets prosecuted, it’ll be the consumer. While I don’t expect they’d release anything that would get me arrested, I would never download anything of their’s that’s potentially suspect on a public connection (e.g., at a library). To be more specific, I wouldn’t download Koihime Musou at a library. I’d consider that painting a target on your back, regardless of whether you think the obscenity charge would hold up in court. Then again, downloading ANYTHING pornographic at a library probably isn’t a good idea…
Fuck the laws I need my eroge.
Sounds like a great idea – lawyer eroge. Dokidoki moemoe law school harem life!
Why am I suddenly thinking of Phoenix Wright? :lol:
Edit: Or in the case of fujifruit’s two cents, this:
Lmao great acting!
Well there is always the possibility of getting your laws changed if you live in a country with a representative government. Might not be easy, but it is a possibility.
You are responsible for researching the content of games before you buy them. You, the end user. Thankfully, when things get removed, we can normally put them back in via a “hot coffee” style mod. This places the blame on us, the users, for modifying the product and technically violating the end-user agreement. However, at least that way we can enjoy the games properly.
That’s like saying drug men selling illegal things here aren’t responsible at all and only the abusers should be punished. I do agree it is mainly on each person to have personal responsibility, but to not mind people selling illegal things in a region is wrong.
You’ll notice there’s no “should” in my statements. I’m not arguing that’s how it should be. I’m saying that’s how it is (whereas you’re clearly trying to make an ideological argument). If any national law is invoked, JAST WILL be the main target. There’s thousands of users, but only 1 of them. You could argue that differences in state law could get someone busted in Virginia, for example, without it going to JAST. But realistically, if someone got prosecuted under Virginia’s state law, they’d cast a wide net and try to hit JAST with national law as well. Not that I think JAST is in any particular danger–but that’s the natural order of things if such a thing were to come to pass.