Comment on Nintendo Takes Down Switch Emulators and Mod Chip Firmware in Massive GitHub DMCA Sweep
BurgerBaron@quokk.au 8 hours agoI’d assume some useless fork that wasn’t renamed or active. Or a redundant secondary mirror.
The active Switch 1 repos are all self hosted now.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 hours ago
Even if they use the console keys, that shouldn’t be violating anything. You need a legit key and you can dump your own from a legit console just like the games. But DMCA takedowns are notoriously easy to abuse, and Nintendo is one of the biggest abusers of the system, using it to remove things that don’t actually violate any copyrights.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Unfortunately, the settlement with Yuzu set a dangerous precedent. The judge decided that since Yuzu requires the keys to play the games, then Yuzu is clearly “primarily designed to circumvent encryption to directly violate the DMCA” or whatever.
So Switch 2 emulators not using keys at all in any part of the process maybe protects them from that angle. They require decrypted games, so omly the decrypting/dumping tools might be susceptible to takedown in the same way.
klankin@piefed.ca 2 hours ago
Yuzu settled out of court didn’t they?
Plus nintendo only swooped in after yuzu released an update optimising for an game not yet released - destroying any kind of clean room argument.
BurgerBaron@quokk.au 7 hours ago
I see Github takedowns in a similar light to Google YouTube strikes. There’s no humanity or any attempt at defending creators, just spineless or bot corporate actions. Usually bots.
A fool uses Github for spicy code now. Like a 14 year old recompiling OOT with Claude from what I hear.
Carl@anarchist.nexus 3 hours ago
The issue is the whole “circumventing encryption” thing, which is what led to the infamous win for Nintendo. The judge ruled that by using an official Switch’s encryption keys, the emulator was primarily designed to circumvent encryption and sided with Nintendo.
I agree that it shouldn’t be violating anything. But clearly, Nintendo managed to convince that judge. And since courts look at precedent and case law when issuing rulings, any future rulings will likely go the same way unless a higher court overturns it.
klankin@piefed.ca 2 hours ago
Have a link to that case? I can’t seem to find anything related