Taken from the site itself, via Slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/23/139228&from=rss):

Abandonware - software titles that are no longer being sold or supported by the copyright holder. Should you wish to play a title that has fallen into this category then you'll either need to search eBay relentlessly - or download a copy of the game from one of the darker corners of the internet, entirely illegal, but what other option do you have?

We've put together a campaign in an attempt to provoke a response from game publishers regarding this issue, maybe they could re-release the title at a budget price in a downloadable form (no instructions, box or technical support) - or perhaps they could release the title as 'freeware', and let the gaming community find a copy and distribute it through sites such as Liberated Games (http://liberatedgames.org/). In no way do we want the Company to relinquish their copyrights – the game, characters, artwork, music and anything else related, will still be entirely theirs – all we want is a chance to play the games again.

You can view a sample of some of the 'abandoned' games (http://www.exiled-gamers.co.uk/articles/abandonware/abandoned.php) that we'd like the chance to play again.

Then maybe read through our entire Abandonware Campaign (http://www.exiled-gamers.co.uk/articles/abandonware/) article, and then, if you should happen to agree with what we're trying to achieve you could sign the online petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/oldgame/petition.html) we've set up.

Certainly would be nice to be able to play Freespace 2 again...

How long has the campaign been going on I signing up like 8 years ago, still want to see X-com series released from copyright

Maybe I'm being cynical, but I think it's far more likely that the publishers, if convinced to do anything, will either:

re-release the most sought after games on a budget label, or

release a new sequel to them, requiring the latest graphics card to run & having the playability of a brick. :p

I thought that too - after the original excitement of the campaign (and the petition signatures that went up so very quickly) it seemed to die down somewhat - however, there's been a bit of activity on the original thread from the site (I ended up subscribing to the thread after they got a positive answer from the Bitmap Brothers) which suggests that it might not be finished yet.

Does seem like they want other people to get involved and do stuff though :rolleyes:

I think they wouldn't mind the games being re-released as a budget title, the campaign seems to be about the fact that they can't get their hands on any of the games to begin with...

(Not legally anyhow)

Abandonware is an entirely real thing and you can legally copy and distribute files that are no longer available retail without any problems as long as you are not doing so for profit. They state that this is illegal, but it's not.

They state that this is illegal, but it's not.
Depends on the copyright laws in your country.

I think most places it is illegal, just the company who owns the rights to the game either doesn't exist anymore, or doesn't care anymore, so is unlikely to take action (though they could if they chose to).

Certainly would be nice to be able to play Freespace 2 again...
You did read the bit where Freespace 2's license agreement allows for copying to "friends and acquaintances"?
I'm sure you're the "acquaintance" of someone hosting the disc images for download ;)

(I heard a theory that they put the EULA from the demo on the full version by mistake... silly them...)

Abandonware is techically illegal clicky (http://www.abandonwarering.com/?Page=FAQ) ? but hey isn't the law an (_._) :p

However Freeware isn't - these are commercially released games that have now been released as freeware clicky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_games_released_as_freeware). Or have been originally released as freeware clicky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freeware_games).
There are of course Open source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_games) games.
Did you also know that some modern games (or versions of them) are also released free, FEAR Multiplayer, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for example Free FPS games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_first-person_shooters)

BTW I've got America's Army and for a free game it's awesome but tbh it took too long to get into so I played BF2 instead :D - instant FTP action is what I want.