this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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Booo! Nintendo sucks! This was decided 30 years ago. Emulation is not illegal.
Yeah and none of the switch emulator stuff I've seen comes bundled with the firmware. You have to track that down separately or dump your own from your Switch.
This sure looks like like a slapp suit to me.
It's good we are all clear, nintendo isn't arguing that. They are arguing a case about copyright infringement and being in violation of the dmca
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.
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.
Okay, well, that's your opinion based on nothing, so it doesn't mean much.
At the very least, read the prior art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_City_Studios%2C_Inc._v._Corley?wprov=sfla1
I don’t know if the two cases are equivalent, DeCSS included all code necessary to decrypt a copy protected DVD.
Yuzu does not include the necessary code to decrypt a Switch game. Users have to either “hack” their own Switch, or pirate the codes. What the users are doing is the illegal part here.
You're conflating the idea of code and keys. The keys are explicitly illegal as they directly fall under nintendo copyright.
The code is also falling under breach of dmca, as its entire use and focus is to break drm. This is the sticking point here.
Again, to labor the point, it's nothing about the keys, we don't need to talk about the keys.
I’m using code in the sense of the word pass codes. Like, encryption codes. The codes you input to an encryption algorithm, along with the cyphertext, to get the plaintext.
But yes, Nintendo and you are saying that distributing Yuzu is illegal because it can only be used to violate the DMCA.
I disagree.
It can also be used in compliance with the DMCA, and nothing it includes are the intellectual property of Nintendo. There are exceptions to the rule about circumventing copy protection, and as long as you use Yuzu with an intent (such as security research) that falls in one of these exceptions, you can use Yuzu legally.
As long as Yuzu is never distributed by its authors with the encryption codes, it shouldn’t be illegal, even according to the DMCA. Otherwise, there would be no way to circumvent copy protection for legal purposes with regard to Switch games.
You can disagree if you like, nintendos lawyers, prior art, and everyone who understands the dmca isn't going to agree with your stance at all.
Your stance is a moral one. The dmca is not moral. It exists to limit your freedoms in favor of companies' profits. Enjoy your blinkered outlook.
Also, never use the word code like that, it's incorrect and everyone will misunderstand you. It's wrong. Use encryption key.
I love YUZU and it’s wonderful…
…but if they didn’t have a Patreon they’d have a better stance
You are being downvoted but reminder to everyone that the public Yuzu is way behind on updates and compatibility, they sell access to their most recent version via their patreon. Something that Ryujinx does not do, it purely is a donation and nothing more.
You can download and view the latest Yuzu source code for free and do practically whatever you want with it (GPLv3), including building and running it.
What paying via Patreon provides you is access to early access builds of the software. You're paying for the convenience of them compiling the latest version of the software for you.
You can even get all the latest EA builds as .exe files on the Yuzu PineappleEA GitHub!
You can get all the latest Yuzu EA builds for free on their GitHub
But the fact that they’re kinda “selling” access… wait, why exactly DO they “sell” access even? They might not have as much legal trouble if they didn’t do that.