News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by tevlon on Saturday November 07, 2026 @06:35AM (#50403642)
serious question: how is this legal?
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by hobofan on Saturday November 07, 2026 @06:38AM (#50403659)
It's not
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by Ampersander on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:13AM (#50403870)
It could become legal in the future. I don't see how we can have machine god and copyright, and it's clearly copyright that has to budge.
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by serf on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:17AM (#50403889)
>It could become legal in the future. I don't see how we can have machine god and copyright, and it's clearly copyright that has to budge.

one could say it seems to already have budged.

Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by rvz on Saturday November 07, 2026 @08:50AM (#50404515)
As long as lawyers love money, that will not change.
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by jon-wood on Saturday November 07, 2026 @09:02AM (#50404605)
What a bleak future. People can’t have any protection for things they pour thousands of hours of work into because the needs of Anthropic have to take precedence.

In the case of NFSU2, a game which EA refuse to make available anywhere, I’m fine with people throwing a free version on the internet but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Copyright is a part of what allows small indie studios making fun things possible because it means it’s viable to sell those things and pay people’s salaries. Maybe if along with the machine god and death of copyright we also get some form of wealth distribution which means people don’t need to fund food and shelter via their work I’ll get on board but I’m not holding my breath here.

Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by xpct on Saturday November 07, 2026 @09:30AM (#50404856)
I think it's already very disappointing how badly the systems held against web-wide theft, and how they continue to fail as the tools get better. We built license laundering machines, and the internet is becoming a digital looting playground, where theft is being normalized.

Then why should I trust that systems will be built that will protect my future needs?

Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by thrownawaysz on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:19AM (#50403908)
It's not but who cares at this point when regular people see that the big tech companies commiting the biggest robbery of the century and nothing happens.

Steal a game and you are a pirate.

Steal 1000 games and you are OpenAI/Anthropic/Google/[insert big tech company name here]

Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by m00dy on Saturday November 07, 2026 @07:50AM (#50404120)
I think we've abandoned rule-based world order.
Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by DANmode on Saturday November 07, 2026 @08:31AM (#50404407)
What, on the Internet?

Bits have been “fair game” for decades.

Re:Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser by DANmode on Saturday November 07, 2026 @08:29AM (#50404395)
A young person asked me about the demo the private jet company put out a few months ago showing the satellite view from the “seat” of any flight path in the world…

It honestly made me really sad.

I’m especially confused in the context of technology (are you familiar with the historical context of the term “hacker”? serious question!).

Yes: people do things all day every day not explicitly allowed or protected by law.