[csense]

> EFF also won an exemption for users who want to play video games after the publisher cuts off support. For example, some players may need to modify an old video game so it doesn’t perform a check with an authentication server that has since been shut down

I think this is the real story for many HN readers.

[VonGuard]

Yep. I can answer questions on this if you'd like. I also clarified what's legal in a comment below.

[MichaelGG]

Snarky, but, does "shut down" include when big launch games are overwhelmed or said systems suffer other availability events?

[Natanael_L]

For legal purposes, I think it would apply when the official servers are shut down and there are reason to believe they will not be restarted.

For example if the company is out of business, or they announced they'll close it permanently, it got effectively abandoned and there's been a very long time without any official statement on if/when they'll bring it back up, etc...

[chrismcb]

No. Either the company has to announce the shutdown and actually shutdown the servers or the servers have been down for six months