Nintendo is going after the developers of the open source switch emulator Yuzu

PropaGandalf@lemmy.world to Open Source@lemmy.ml – 636 points –
How strong is Nintendo’s legal case against Switch-emulator Yuzu?
arstechnica.com

Seriously what is this? Nintendo argues that by instructing users how to extract the prod.keys from their own switch the yuzu developers are essencially infringing on the DMCA.

So what? Now you can't even freely use your own property anymore because it goes against the design intentions of some big company that just want's to milk their users?

Nintendo goes directly after this argument in its lawsuit, arguing that buying a Switch game only means you "have Nintendo's authorization to play that single copy on an unmodified Nintendo Switch console."

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instructing users how to extract the prod.keys from their own switch

Yuzu's quick start guide links to the old download link for Lockpick RCM from the same repo that is still inaccessible ever since Nintendo's DMCA takedown last year (source: arstechnica). They never updated the page to link to any mirrors of Lockpick RCM or any other options to extract the keys; the guide doesn't even work right now. You can see in Yuzu site's changelog on github that the only changes made to that page in the last year are to minimum/recommended hardware requirements.

It seems even more absurd to argue that instructions are somehow infringing when the allegedly infringing part of them has already been broken for almost a year. Even the standing for taking down Lockpick RCM in the first place seems questionable, and telling users to use it with a broken link seems several layers further detached from that.

Just owning lockpicks does noy make you a thief.

Ethically, I agree with you. More than that, using a lockpick on a lock you bought shouldn't make you a thief. Unfortunately, DMCA has abysmal anti-circumvention measures that make the legality of using a device you own in ways you should be able to become questionable under US law, in the digital equivalent of Master Lock suing you for picking a lock you bought from them.

Who said that I would use them? Maybe I just want them laying around and collecting dust? /s

Unfortunately, a lot of places have insanely draconian laws regarding "criminal tools".