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SvennoJ on 12 December 2015
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sc94597 said:
SvennoJ said:

Both are free and legal—none of the code in the emulators themselves belongs to Sony

While that is technically true, you have to mod chip / jail break your ps2 to get the bios to be able to use the emulator.
Sony doesn't sell the BIOS nor made it available for use on anything besides the ps2, therefore pscx2 is in a gray area when it comes to legality.

Anyway I'm not going to download the bios from a dodgy site, nor am I going to jailbreak my ps2. So pointless download.

It is legal to use a bios you have extracted, just as it is legal to use a rom/iso you have extracted. That isn't legally grey except in countries that don't follow this policy. In the U.S - at least - it is legal. For this reason, Sony hasn't ordered the emulator to be taken down. That isn't grey at all. It is illegal to use a bios that you have not extracted, just as it is illegal to use a rom you have not extracted. Ethically, however, it doesn't bother me to use a bios that has not been extracted by myself, but it does bother me to pirate games without a justified reason (i.e wasn't localized, not in print/purchasable,etc, etc.) I bought a PS2, I bought all of my games. Sony can't ask for much more than that. 

There are so many non "dodgy" sites where you can get a bios, and it literally takes seconds. If the overwhelming majority of other users can do this with no problem, I really can't see your irrational fear as legitimate. Nevertheless, for most people you must realize this isn't an issue. If it is for you, so be it. Your values are prioritized quite differently.  

It's a slippery slope to me. Is it legal to download movies you have on VHS or Laserdisc? Or to download my pal dvds that won't play here, since I can rip them and convert them using the pc. Just because you can obtain it legally, doesn't mean it's alright to obtain it illegally.

Anyway I still turn on the ps2 now and then out of nostalgia, which is usually satisfied after 15 minutes. I was just curious to see if sticking a ps2 disc in my laptop would work, it might, just not without a few hoops.