Nintendo Files Lawsuits In Crackdown Against Switch Hackers (polygon.com) 61
Nintendo of America filed two lawsuits on Friday against Nintendo Switch hack resellers that sell software to play pirated video games, according to court documents obtained by Polygon. From the report: The first lawsuit was filed Friday in an Ohio court against Tom Dilts Jr., the alleged operator of the website UberChips. The second lawsuit was filed in a Seattle court that same day, against a number of anonymous defendants from a selection of websites. All defendants reportedly sell products from a group of anonymous hackers called "Team Xecuter." Nintendo's lawyers described the products as "an unauthorized operating system ... and accompanying piracy tools that install it." These products allow users to get around Nintendo's "technological protection measures" designed to protect its products from "unauthorized access and copying." Once it's disabled, players can download the unauthorized operating system and play pirated video games, lawyers said.
At the time of writing, the UberChips website appears to be offline -- under "scheduled maintenance." Other websites listed in the second lawsuit are still operating. A kit used for hacking the Nintendo Switch is listed for $47.99. The site also sells products for the SNES Classic, PlayStation Mini, Nintendo 3DS, and Game Boy Advance. The websites are also offering pre-orders for devices that will circumvent protection measures for the previously unhackable Nintendo Switch Lite and newer Nintendo Switch models. Nintendo said this is causing "tremendous harm" to the company; Nintendo lawyers said hundreds of the devices have already been sold. Nintendo is seeking $2,500 per trafficking violation in each of these cases, as well as a permanent injunction to stop operations of these websites.
At the time of writing, the UberChips website appears to be offline -- under "scheduled maintenance." Other websites listed in the second lawsuit are still operating. A kit used for hacking the Nintendo Switch is listed for $47.99. The site also sells products for the SNES Classic, PlayStation Mini, Nintendo 3DS, and Game Boy Advance. The websites are also offering pre-orders for devices that will circumvent protection measures for the previously unhackable Nintendo Switch Lite and newer Nintendo Switch models. Nintendo said this is causing "tremendous harm" to the company; Nintendo lawyers said hundreds of the devices have already been sold. Nintendo is seeking $2,500 per trafficking violation in each of these cases, as well as a permanent injunction to stop operations of these websites.
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Google translate: So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Reality re-imposed; Nintendo sues. (Score:3, Insightful)
Demands damages for imaginary property. Upset that hackers refuse to acknowledge their delusions as reality, and keep re-imposing the basic rule that no platform is hackproof if physical hardware is in the user's hands, instead.
Waste fucktonnes of money trying to fight a battle they cannot win.
Film at 11.
Also, Streisand effect in full force. Be sure to preorder yours today.
Re:Reality re-imposed; Nintendo sues. (Score:4, Interesting)
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One small problem with that:
These modchips do not contain any code to enable such circumvention, aside from a completely open and unfettered boot loader.
Nintendo is going after retailers selling such modchips.
Now, I can see winning against the sale of SX OS, the piracy-in-mind alternative OS that is often (BUT NOT ALWAYS!) bundled with the modchip. *THAT* actively contains circumvention software, and is clearly intended for that function.
The modchip itself though? Just skips loading Nintendo's Boot0 partiti
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I don't think it's so straightforward in this case, this is clearly a case of criminal piracy.
I'm fully supportive of the idea of abolishing civil offences around piracy - i.e. where it's victimless because people aren't trying to profit off of it, but that's not the case here. This is a company that profits off of others IP - both by taking open source code and pretending it's their own, and by profiting off piracy of Nintendo's IPs.
In this case, there clearly are damages. $47.99 spent on a product that al
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If you want an open system then why the fuck did you buy a console in the first place? That's what a PC is for. Buying a console and complaining it's not open is like buying scuba diving fins and claiming they're shit for walking up mountains with. It's just a full retard type argument.
Wow, what full retard analogy. If I buy diving fins and expect them to work well climbing up a mountain, I am an idiot. However, if I decide to MODIFY them, and turn them into great mountain shoes, no one can stop me. The same if I want to SELL such a mod.
If I buy a car that has a rev limiter that prevents me from doing 200mph / 322kph, and I put a mod chip in to allow it to do so, no one is going to stop me. The same if I want to SELL such device.
Now, if I use my new diving fins to climb a mountain and rob
Are they selling USB keyboards for PS Classic? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Are they selling USB keyboards for PS Classic? (Score:5, Informative)
*IF ONLY* the switch were that easy to open.
Nintendo really has gone out of their way to make the Tegra based Switch difficult for the user to own. (In the true sense.)
Fusee-geelie is an exploit of the nVidia firmware, not nintendo's software. It is unpatchable, because the write fuse has been blown, preventing that firmware from being changed. It is basically a stack overflow vulnerability in the RCM mode's USB implementation, which consistently provides a landing zone within the memory space that gets use to receive a device setup packet. A very very large device setup packet.
In later versions of the firmware, this exploit is patched-- The large setup packet gets trimmed, and then rejected by the console. (Sad panda face.)
Unsure what trickery Xecutor is doing here to bypass the secure startup routine; Regardless of the how's of it, the simple truth that it is possible because Nintendo cannot stop physical hardware modification of the console (and likely never will be able to in a sane and just world). INSISTENCE that people comply with their delusion, instead of living in reality, is bad for humanity in general.
I dislike team Xecutor because of their shameless rebranding of open source code, (Pirating is one thing, claiming authorship is totally another, just to shut down the idiocy in advance regarding that topic), but acknowledge that they do in fact provide a useful service by producing devices like this one.
I know it will NEVER happen, but I would very much like for this notion of "Perfect Security!" be doused in water just a tiny fraction above freezing-- Or perhaps, with water in a thermally unstable state that freezes instantly after being poured-- because it is pure premium bullshit, and is bad for humankind.
Re: Are they selling USB keyboards for PS Classic? (Score:1)
I would argue perfect security, even for a device where you give the user the hardware and software, is eminently possible. Private keys work. Key servers where the keys can't be stolen work. What doesn't work is the low level code all modern systems use is written in archaic languages where these errors are just inherent. Obvious if that USB code were written in rust, or using an interpreted language this bug - and 50 similar - would not have been present in the first place.
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Incorrect;
The behavior of ASICs change when conditions are altered via hardware modification. See for instance, some of the more clever modchips used on the original XBOX, which basically slow the CPU down to a sub-megahertz crawl, in order to alter the "restart on triple exception" behavior of the CPU itself, in order to inject a payload into RAM, and have the CPU execute it.
Hardware access can never be permitted.
If you enable hardware access, you have lost. End of story. You cannot guarantee function wit
Re: Are they selling USB keyboards for PS Classic (Score:1)
Depends on what you mean by "access". More modern chips - like the socs in the raspberry pi - solder the ram above the soc. You could take this a step further and package the flash and pmics in this way, and then dip the whole assembly in solder of a similar melting point to the bga pin solder. (Maybe chill the chip first before you do this). Make it really, really difficult to access the hardware, such that it is cheaper to just pay for a license.
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The goals of pirates are always two things:
a) Never pay for anything
b) Make others pay for their treachery.
Or in other words, if someone figures out how to lift entire games from the store without paying (such as PS3/PS4 emulators do) and repackage them (so emulators or tampered devices) so they are playable without the store authorizing them, then it stops looking like the pirate is actively stealing the game, and instead tricking the console into downloading the game without paying for it instead. It's no
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
"an unauthorized operating system"
No such thing.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
Somebody does not remember the forced windows 10 deployments I see...
However, you are quite correct. An action directly undertaken by the end user to change the OS cannot, by definition, be "Unauthorized." The owner of the hardware is simply exercising choice-- admittedly, a concept that corporations like Nintendo have difficulty comprehending,
Re: Really? (Score:1)
Re: Really? (Score:5, Informative)
Here is how the Switch does boot security:
When the CPU first powers on, it executes its baked-in firmware routine. This routine does the following:
1) Verify hardware health, if unhealthy, enter recovery (RCM) mode, wait for device with qualifying security code to connect on USB port for diagnostic process. If healthy, move to step 2.
2) Validate the contents of stage 1 boot loader with an SHA256 checksum. If bootloader does not match checksum, enter recovery mode as per 1-- Otherwise, move to step 3.
3) Execute contents of the bootloader. Bootloader checks the status of various e-fuses to determine if a software downgrade has been attempted or not-- refuses to boot if a downgrade has been performed and efuses blown. Otherwise, move to step 4.
4) Switch OS kernel gets loaded, which sets up the secure key mechanism, and other security services, then starts the OS proper.
Fusee-Geelie lives in stage 1, or stage 2. Initial deployment lives in stage 1. A temporary hardware fault is induced by shorting some pins on the right joycon rail, which causes a hardware fault on power on, initiating RCM mode. Once in RCM mode, a stack overflow vulnerability in the RCM USB stack is utilized to send an Initial Program Load routine to the switch, and execute it-- effectively bypassing the secure boot process. Once run the first time, "AutoRCM" can be enabled in most custom firmwares. This uses the unfettered system access to write a singe byte to the nintendo boot loader, causing it to fail the SHA256 check, and automatically enter RCM, waiting for IPL payload injection.
This device clearly lives somewhere in the same neighborhood, at stage 1 or 2, but must use a different exploit.
Fundementally, all it does is enable the user to use a different boot loader, chainloaded from an alternative IPL. (Typically loaded from the SDCard.)
As such, fundamentally, all this modchip does is allow arbitrary code to be run on the switch hardware.
To run a pirated game, you must:
1) Boot into a compromised version of the switch's OS
2) Runtime patch the OS to ignore digital signature enforcement, by modifying the contents of the secure zone key management subsystem of the OS's kernel
3) Install a switch software title after disabling that key enforcement mechanism
4) Use the compromised keystore system to allow the software to be run.
NONE of those functions are baked into the modchip.
ALL of those functions are components of "SX OS".
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Thank you for the write up weird_w.
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Wow, at first I thought this was another case of team xecuter, as the mod chip maker, being blamed for whoever made this sx os.
I was very surprised to see team xecuter is the one selling sx os along with their chips!
They always used to go out of their way to stay legal in the past.
I guess they are a different type of group these days, which is really sad to see.
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I feel the line is drown in the fact that they are selling the Hacked Devices vs DYI hacking.
On modern devices a lot more components are software controlled, and often coded to balance performance and reliability.
Lets just use the simple fan for example. Not using fans can improve battery life and make the product quieter, but also could damage more expensive parts in the device, or devices will auto slow down. If you use fans all the time at full speed. Your batteries will not last long, the device will
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Smallest violin in the world.... (Score:2)
Sorry Nintendo, but that's just a side effect of the "Switch Tax" on games.....
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If you take a drug that has a bad side effect, you will often take another drug with less of a side effect to counteract it.
Hence why if you drink alcohol you probably should also drink some water to counteract the side effects you don't want to have.
Yes this is a side effect of the "Switch Tax" however suing companies selling hacks dampens it.
The poor billion dollar corporation (Score:1)
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Running a small business is difficult. It is a fine line of competing against and partnering with companies (sometime the same company) that orders of magnitude larger than you. The more money you have, oddly enough the cheaper things are for you to get. So small businesses run on paper thin margins. However one thing that doesn't help is what the Parent stated "Deplorable" small businesses. Who bend the laws and sell bad products, or scams its customers or business partners.
These companies are the r
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So glad to know you're on the side of the billionaires, and against the little guy. How's that saying go, comfort the comfortable, afflict the afflicted? Oh wait it's exactly the opposite.
The only reason this is even "illegal" in the first place is because the billionaires bought the laws to favor themselves. Surely you know that.
Tough. (Score:3)
I bought it, I can do what I want with it. Especially if you don't like it.
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Re:Tough. (Score:4, Informative)
That's a bad analogy. Here is a better one IMHO:
Owning a Switch is like buying a car from Nintendo only to find out that it only takes Nintendo gas, there is a lock + gas detector on the gas-cap to prevent non-Nintendo gas from being used, and the hood has been welded shut. You used bolt cutters to remove the lock, wire cutters to disable the gas detector, and a plasma cutter to get access to the engine to increase fuel efficiency. Nintendo is suing that you aren't planning to buy their over-priced gas in the future.
The fundamental question is: Do you own the hardware?
The shenanigans of DMCA and Imaginary Property says you don't because it is illegal to break encryption. This is bullshit as they have effectively made certain numbers illegal. WTF.
Another analogy:
The Switch prevents pirated software from being run with via 3 numbers: two prime numbers and their product. For sake of argument let's say 5 * 7 = 35.
* The hardware has 5 and 35 burnt into ROM.
* When you run a game it provides the missing third one the 7.
The hardware (using its firmware) checks that everything matches up. If a game provides a wrong number then the firmware knows that the game was pirated as there is no way someone could "guess" the two prime numbers or their product.
The reason this is bullshit is that DMCA effectively making certain numbers illegal [wikipedia.org] by the fact that certain people can "own" imaginary concepts. This is fucking retarded.
All because of greed.
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By your brilliant logic you don't own a hammer because the shenanigans of the law say it is illegal for you to bash in someone's head with it.
And I guess you have no problem with someone obtaining and using your passwords, account numbers, etc, because you certainly wouldn't want to make certain numbers illegal.
And if you are really stupid enough to buy a game system 'only to find out' that it only runs licensed stuff, you are a moron.
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Are you really that dense? You aren't allowed to abuse your freedom to restrict other people's freedom and right to life and liberty.
i.e.
The start of your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.
No one is getting "harmed" when you mod your console.
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No one is getting "harmed" when you mod your console.
No but when you do it solely to get stuff for free that is normally paid, you do.
I know I know software is like totally free man, all those people work hours for no reason and because the corporation makes billions that means its evenly dispersed to every employee and also said billions come from ???? idk it's not me so who cares! let other people pay for my free stuff, but also socialism is bad!.
Or it could be that copyright laws were written in criminally underhanded ways to deny the basic rights and the freedom to own their own software because they've lobbied away the basic rights and freedoms every human beings should have to own what they pay their hard earned money for.
This BS idea that you never own what you buy needs to go into the dustbin of history. That's how we ended up with all ths bs laws bribed into being by corproate lobbyists.
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Swing a hammer at someone and stopping an inch from their nose, call me from the prison or hospital bed.
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Incorrect;
More, "I bought it, I can open the hood, and alter the vehicle's ignition control computer to give it different fuel/air mix ratios if I want to."
"But that would violate the EPA emissions guidelines! That would be illegal!!"
*THAT* my friend, is a more accurate analogy.
Comments so far: (Score:1)
GIMME GIMME GIMME
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Not exactly.
Mine so far have been:
You created a business model that only works if a false premise is accepted; That premise is false, and any subsequent argument that is based on that premise is likewise false.
Team Executor has simply demonstrated the falseness of that premise. Nintendo does not like that, because they have created a business model that is based on that premise being true. They are suing in court, because they do not like reality, want to try to enforce their delusion artificially using a l
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"The only way to run software on this console is to pay the licensing fee to *US*, Nintendo Corporation, in exchange for a software developer's kit, after signing a contract and NDA."
This isn't about people hacking their Nintendo Switch to run some code they personally wrote. It's solely to run software other people wrote, but without paying for it, because they're acting like entitled children.
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The restrictions baked into the switch to prevent piracy, are explicitly to prevent unsigned (eg, arbitrary) code from executing.
It does that by using SHA256 checksum of the nintendo boot loader, then using a rigidly enforced keystore mechanism, to prevent that execution.
This is because if you can execute arbitrary code on the console, there is no reason to buy a nintendo license to target the platform; Nintendo is claiming lost business in its damages, resulting from the failure to secure such licensing.
My
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It's solely to run software other people wrote, but without paying for it, because they're acting like entitled children.
Citation needed? Since you use the term "solely," which is a pretty absolute quantifier.
If even a small group of people are using it for homebrew, or other arguably ethically or legally sound purposes, even if they are dwarfed by the number of people using them illegally, then your argument falls apart IMO.
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You can apply that same specious 'reasoning' to absolutely ANY illegal act.
Banks are built on the 'false premise' that only authorized people can take money out. Robbers simply the demostrate the falseness of that premise. The banks don't like that, so they use the law to enforce their delusion.
Reality says that people can and do kill, rape, pollute, drive on the wrong side of the road, build unsafe structures, steal, and any number of other things. Laws are how society says those things are not acceptib
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Re: Comments so far: (Score:2)
I have a really hard time seeing how they're not DMCA violations. They look like clear cases of circumvention of access controls.
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I do;
The secure boot process is all that gets interrupted by the modchip. Key enforcement circumvention is not a component of the mod chip; that is contained in the SX OS CFW that Team Executor is peddling along with it-- but the modchips themselves are available separate.
SX OS is not only DMCA violation, but also infringes on Nintendo intellectual property directly in a number of capacities. Halting sale of SX OS I would have no qualms about. That is not what nintendo is doing though, because halting pi
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So to be clear, the modchips are being sold with SX OS preloaded. The primary reason you would likely aquire a modchip with SX OS preloaded would almost certainly be to gain access to games you have not paid for.
I totally see and agree with your argument that the hardware is yours and do as you like with it. You still aren't allowed to alter hardware to bypass software security to gain access to software you didn't purchase.
If the modchips were being sold with no software and you had to go aquire that on yo
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No, it comes with a license for using SX OS. It is not possible to put SX OS onto the modchip. That has to be loaded from the SDCard, which means it has to be downloaded from the team Xecuter website.
Really, this is just a very tiny programmable microcontroller, designed to send some pulses out of its PWM leads, which are connected to certain spots on the switch motherboard. Space inside the micrcontroller is very limited; it only contains the IPL code needed to initialize the tegra hardware platform, turn
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Ahh I see. So the modchip just gets you around the security but doesn't contain any other software. You get that for free from the people essentially selling the modchips.
Still seems like the whole point of making the modchip was to make the software loadable in the first place. They can claim otherwise, and I'm sure there are other use cases but ultimately it's tampering with hardware to gain access to free software you shouldn't have without paying.
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The intention of the offering does not always coincide with the intention of the purchaser.
Nintendo themselves are obliquely acknowledging this, as people who modify their console, specifically are doing this very activity. Nintendo is selling a locked-down platform, with a strongly enforced walled garden experience. The end user is buying this console, modifying it, and then running software obtained outside that walled garden.
Much like nintendo would not be at fault (logically) if somebody purchased a sw
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That latter has already happened.
These include:
SX OS
ReiNX
Atmosphere (with ReiNX signature patch set)
SX OS is based very heavily on code stolen from the latter two, with copyright notices changed, and other unscrupulous shit, like adding logic bombs and other nasty. It is what Team Executor, the creator of this modchip solution, peddles.
However, the modchip itself only does ONE THING-- and you are quite correct, that this is not a copyright violating activity.
That one thing?
It intercept's the Tegra's boot pr
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Tremendous? From how many kits sold? (Score:3)
(5.57 * 10^7)/(x * 10^2) 0.002% = Someone is full of sh-t.
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As we know, those hundreds of people would've bought all current and future titles, and damages are $10,000 per game.
Clear multi-billion dollar loss, obviously.
I have an idea (Score:2)
Here we go again... (Score:1)
"Oh nohze, we can't have users have unfettered access to the hardware they bought and paid for because of p1R4c11!"
Of course, people who want to run homebrew or other legit applications can just go fuck themselves because Nintendo is lord of the realm, and Nintendo knows best (like all big corporations)