• So if I download a pirate copy, I’m in the clear because I purchased a license.

    Doesn’t GOG provide the games without copy protection? Doesn’t that mean you can actually back up your installed games?

    In any case, these services should allow their customers to download a digital copy of an ISO or an installable package of the game so it can be saved as a backup and installed independently.

    • So if I download a pirate copy, I’m in the clear because I purchased a license.

      Nope since the copy of the software was obtained with someone else’s license. That said this would be hypothetically impossible to prove in court so 🤷

      Circumventing DRM is questionable since I think it’s illegal to distribute but not own. So let’s say you have a CD installer for the Sims and download a crack exe to launch it without the CD. You are in the clear but the host for the download is not.

      GOG or backing the game up yourself is the only way around this.