https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1762576284817768457/
"NEW: Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo’s software encryption and facilitates piracy. Seeks damages for alleged violations and a shutdown of the emulator.
Notes 1 million copies of Tears of the Kingdom downloaded prior to game’s release; says Yuzu’s Patreon support doubled during that time. Basically arguing that that is proof that Yuzu’s business model helps piracy flourish."
It is not illegal to make copies of games you own and play them on an emulator. That is what was decided by the courts. Nintendo is trying to make that illegal.
They’re using the DMCA to say that because Yuzu lets someone circumvent their encryption (which is illegal, but shouldn’t be), that’s the same as Yuzu circumventing their encryption.
That’s basically like saying VLC should be illegal because it has the capability of copying a DVD.
Yes, yes they are. That’s how the DMCA works. It’s mental.
That’s not how the DMCA works, or tons of other software would be illegal. It’s illegal to circumvent copy protection under the DMCA (something I wholeheartedly disagree with), but it’s not illegal to make something that can be used to circumvent copy protection.
In fact, there are exemptions to that provision and one of them states that circumventing copy protection in order to play a video game using assistive technologies is legal.
It is explicitly illegal to produce any thing whose purpose it is to circumvent DRM:
I’m telling you, that law is mental.
Could you point that specific exception in the law? I can’t find it.
Link for convenience: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ304/pdf/PLAW-105publ304.pdf
The exceptions are handled by the Library of Congress and go through a renewal process every three years. Here’s the one from 2021:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-10-28/pdf/2021-23311.pdf
The accessibility use exception is on the last page, middle of the page, paragraph labeled 21.
It’s illegal to make something that’s sole purpose is to circumvent copyright. Yuzu does not have that sole purpose, and doesn’t include the code necessary (prod.keys) to even accomplish it.
The actual text for reference:
That explicitly only applies to physically disabled people. Yuzu is not specifically targetted at providing a different input method (at all) and certainly not solely for the physically disabled.
That exception is not relevant to this case.
I didn’t say it was. I used it as an example of when circumventing copy protection is allowed under the DMCA.
I love YUZU and it’s wonderful…
…but if they didn’t have a Patreon they’d have a better stance
Yes. That’s what I’m saying. That’s what I said.
Yuzu is not infringing on their copyright, some of the users are. Sue the users.
unfortunately, that isn’t how the DMCA works
Can you point me to the provision you’re talking about?
Yes, so distributing the code necessary to perform the decryption is illegal. That’s why you have to hack an actual switch to get the code necessary to perform the decryption (prod.keys). All Yuzu is doing is running that code through an AES library to get the game and emulating a Switch to play it. You can’t make AES libraries illegal just because they can be used to decrypt copy protection.
It’s the same with DVD decryption. VLC is not illegal because it doesn’t include the codes used to decrypt DVDs. Once you have those codes, VLC can copy a DVD for you.
No, it’s broader than that. Providing a mechanism is enough. Yes, this is functionally making maths illegal, and yes, this is a complaint we’ve had with the dmca for 20 years.
Providing the keys is against dmca, as is Providing the tooling that specifically breaks the rights management. This is just the shitty way Americans made the copyright system.
I disagree that the DMCA makes AES libraries illegal.