Nintendo's N64 console went on sale in Japan in June 1996, priced at 25,000 yen (about US$185). By the end of the first day, all 300,000 units had been sold out.
For hardcore gamers in Europe facing a release date eight months from now, importing an N64 was a tempting but expensive option. Adjusted for inflation, imported Japanese N64s changed hands for the equivalent of $1,400 in today's money; a copy of Super Mario 64? A cut to $165.
Months before the console was finally released in Europe, the N64 went on sale in the United States. Imported to the gray market in Europe, the American cartridges were cheaper than their Japanese counterparts. Unfortunately, Japanese console owners soon discovered that while the US cartridges worked in their machines, Nintendo had made sure they didn't physically fit into the slot.
The restrictions could be removed by dismantling the N64, but removing the Nintendo security screws required a special tool that was hard to come by. Jumping through these hoops to play a genuine cartridge in a genuine The console not only felt ridiculous, but probably represented a license/copyright violation. If Nintendo's slot shenanigans had been in digital form today, circumvention would likely constitute an offense under the DMCA.
However, despite Nintendo implementing tactics equivalent to these on many consoles over the decades, some people seemed surprised by the news of Nintendo's latest circumvention campaign. The gaming giant couldn't stop them from removing their special screws in private homes, but since the modern equivalent takes place in public, action was always unavoidable. Only the moment was in doubt.
Nintendo Lockpick_RCM and Lockpick goals
News of Nintendo's decision to target Lockpick_RCM & Lockpick first appeared in a cheep published by Simon Aarons. Like many others, Aarons forked the tool on GitHub, and when Nintendo filed a DMCA notice to remove Lockpick, he got early notice and decided the internet deserved one too.
In simple terms, Lockpick_RCM & lock pick allow Switch owners to extract encryption keys for use in other software, including hactool, hactoolnet/LibHacand choidujour.
At that point, there is a fork in the road. The path to the right leads to homebrew and emulation, which the developers and some parts of the modding community insist is the only path. The path that branches off to the left is somewhat darker, leading to piracy and endangering Lockpick and his dependents.
Nintendo does not mention emulation directly
Some believed that this ambiguity was enough to keep Nintendo at bay but, as this cheep tries to explain with the help of ChatGPT (and pardoning the first Bowser reference), Nintendo now fears the worst.
The DMCA notice sent to GitHub has yet to be officially released, and as of this writing, the repositories have not been taken down either. GitHub often gives developers a short period of time to address complaints filed by rights holders, to prevent entire repositories from being removed unnecessarily. According to Nintendo's version of events, there's not much more to be done than remove all features.
The company explains that the Switch contains multiple technological protection measures, including those that allow the console to interact exclusively with legitimate Nintendo video game files. In short, this prevents users from playing pirated copies of Nintendo games on Switch devices, but it also prevents users from copying and playing games on non-Nintendo Switch devices. A reference to the emulator, presumably.
Nintendo: Circumvention of TPM is illegal
โInformed repository offers and provides access to circumvention software that infringes Nintendo's intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repository provides Lockpick to users,โ the complaint reads.
โThe use of Lockpick with a modified Nintendo Switch console allows users to circumvent Nintendo's technological measures for video games; Specifically, Lockpick bypasses console TPMs to allow unauthorized access, extraction, and decryption of all cryptographic keys, including product keys, contained on Nintendo Switch.
In discussions over the weekend, some users highlighted that the keys in question are extracted from their own devices, devices they paid for, and therefore owned by them. They also point out that hackers are unlikely to extract their own keys, but by stating that emulation/homebrew fans can't extract keys from their own devices, Nintendo will force them to obtain keys in other ways.
While the prediction about key acquisition seems valid, in the unlikely event that Nintendo tackles ownership of the keys, the licensing deals would almost certainly tilt in the game company's favor. In practical terms, citing the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA is more than enough.
โCracked keys facilitate copyright infringement by allowing users to play pirated versions of Nintendo's copyrighted game software on systems without Nintendo console TPMs or systems where the TPMs have been disabled. Nintendo console TPM,โ Nintendo reports to GitHub.
"Trafficking circumvention software, such as Lockpick, violates the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (specifically, 17 USC ยง1201) and infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo."
After several years, why did Nintendo act now?
At this point, it's worth noting that Lockpick was first uploaded to GitHub on December 8, 2018, with Lockpick_RCN uploaded on March 4, 2019. Even though the functionality was clear from the start (and a convention of nomenclature that suggests that bypassing digital locks was always the goal), Nintendo has taken four years to act. So why now?
Without any comment from Nintendo, only speculation remains. However, if one were trying to compile a short list of credible reasons, people who play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on computer almost two weeks before the game's official release on Switchit would be extremely difficult to beat.
This example not only provides motivation to overdo it, but almost needs to be justified beyond the explanation in the takedown notice.
Regardless of the quibbles over the right to maintain emulators or the arguments over legitimate reverse engineering and fair use defenses, this is not a case of Nintendo being grossly unreasonable, this is Nintendo reading the law, enjoying the odds. and then remembering that anti- circumvention prompts can't be countered.
In addition to the repos mentioned above, nintendo notice it also requests the removal of around 80 hairpins. If every last trace of Lockpick is eventually removed from GitHub, that shouldn't come as a surprise. It was always unavoidable; someone had to poke the bear in both eyes at exactly the right moment.
Update: GitHub has just published two DMCA circumvention notices.
He first targeted and killed a total of 54 repos. He second targeted and removed 333 repositories.
