Is Hacking Legal?

I'm not sure why I'm writing this. I think it's because I want to rant about a question I was asked the other day.
I showed a friend of mine my website (he liked it), which contains links to other sites where some hacking programs could be found. There are lots of programs there like, compilers, decompilers, hex editors, emulators, web site designers, etc. Most of the programs are free or shareware.
Anyway, my friend asked a question that most people at one time or another have asked me.

1. Hacking is illegal! Why would you be involved in something like that?

2. Are emulators really legal?

3. Aren't hex editors illegal?

4. Are keygens illegal?

I am sick and tired of answering these questions. So I am going to rant and answer them one by one in this blog.

Is hacking illegal?
No, hacking is not illegal!! Don't believe me?? Get out a dictionary. Better yet, just follow this link to see the definition of hacker. As you can see, hackers are not always in the wrong... The first, and primary definition of "hacker" is "One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff." One that note, I am proud to stand up and say "I AM A HACKER!!!"
The problem with hacking is that you never hear about it unless you're hearing the negative. It's the second definition of hacker that brings shame down on us all. " One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file."
I would compare computer hacking to driving a car. When you drive a car, you have two choices; you can obey the law, or you can ignore the law and possibly hurt yourself and others in the process. Hackers are programmers for whom computing is its own reward; we may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers but only when this does no harm; "true hackers subscribe to a code of ethics and look down upon "crackers". Most of us obey the law...

Are emulators illegal?
No, they are not illegal. The case of SONY V. CONNECTIX found that unauthorized emulation is perfectly legal. It was the decision of the court that CONNECTIX had the right to emulate the SONY Playstation and that reverse engineering of the Playstation BIOS for such a cause fell under fair usage. As a result of this case CONNECTIX was allowed to release it's Virtual Gaming Station for the Mac OS.

Ok, so it's legal, but is it right?
Emulation simply makes one hardware platform act like another. There is nothing wrong with making the hardware you own behave the way you want it to. That is exactly what software is for, it makes the hardware you own behave in a useful manner. Emulation is not used simply for playing console games on a PC. Emulators exist for all kinds of hardware and all types of platforms. Console emulation is only part of a very large emulation community.

Are ROM images legal?
Yes, under very specific circumstances. Section 117 of the US Copyright Law gives the owner of a software package the right to make an additional copy under certain provisions. If you adhere to the provisions then making ROM images is perfectly legal. However, legislation has been passed to prevent software piracy that makes game copying devices illegal. Using such a device to create a ROM image makes the resulting image illegal as well. Also you have to remember that there is a large amount of freeware / public domain roms that you can download from the internet, and only way to play them is to use emulator or a flash card!

Is distributing ROM images legal?
No, not clearly. Individuals and Companies have a right to back up their software. This does not give them the right to distribute that copy to others, even provided they also own a legal copy of the software. So, in short, it is perfectly legal for you to copy a software package you own, but not for you to give that copy away.

Are hex editors illegal?
No. People who think that really don't have a clue what a hex editor is. A hex editor is a program that lets you edit files at a low-level basis. Hex editors are byte oriented, they show you the physical contents of files (i.e. each individual byte).
In contrast, high-level applications (like word processing software) are representing the logical, not the physical contents of files. If you mark a word as bold, you're not interested in the physical coding within the file.
Consider so called "plain text" files like the ubiquitous README.TXT files, created e.g. using notepad (without any layout like bold formatted words etc). They don't contain only the plain text, but also end-of-line marks (and often tabstops). Unfortunately, these end-of-line marks (not visible itself in notepad, you'll see only the breaking line) are coded differently under Windows, Unix, and Macintosh.
A hex editor is mainly a tool to examine the physical (i.e. byte per byte) structure of files. For every programmer (like me) this is an almost daily duty, but for "normal" users this may sound strange.
So you need hex editors for mainly two reasons:

• 1. Examining the physical structure of a file, because you don't see the bytes stored in a file using the regular application to open it (this is true also for so called "plain text" files as explained above). You need this knowledge e.g. to write by yourself an application that will interpret the contents of a file properly.
• 2. Changing the contents of a file deliberately. This also requires to know exactly the file structure. If you don't know how watermarks are stored in JPGs, don't tamper with them - aside from the fact that it would be illegal to delete Copyright information.
  The above example shows that hex editors are legal or illegal. It's what you do with them that is legal or illegal (just like the proverbial car driver).

Are keygens illegal?
For the most part, yes. Keygen websites can be found all over the net, however for the most part, they are illegal. But let me give you an example of when a keygen is not illegal. A beta tester will use a keygen to determine if a program key verification program is working correctly. The beta tester will do this by generating thousands of unique keys from an encryption algorithm that is verified to be correct and test them against the program. Beta testers, like myself, regularly download keys from verified sources and use them in beta testing.
However, getting a keygen and using it to get access to a program to avoid paying the registration fee is completely illegal.

There I've finished my rant now. So now you know better...