The missing word from this inflammatory headline is extremely important: "remotely".
You can certainly access the physical game media in person, and check it out, no problem. The DMCA controversy is over remote access.
You can certainly access the physical game media in person, and check it out, no problem. The DMCA controversy is over remote access.
Not saying they made the wrong call here or anything, but there is clearly a gap here between old games being made available and legal options to access them, libraries tried to own a physical copy and distribute a digital copy, which was an attempt at a fair compromise, but if that isn't allowed either then I guess piracy is the only options now.
A ripped ROM image in an emulator is not equivalent to an Atari or Nintendo cartridge.
We do acknowledge that these artifacts are discontinued, and extremely valuable, but under DMCA, you literally can't have your cake and eat it too: the cake is a lie.