3DS Pirating tool is DMCA'd on github (Freeshop)

[LucidMew]

Please remember the Community Standards (that I hope this post abides by too)

Quote

Talking about piracy in general, broad details, is acceptable however the posting or discussing pirated/hacked/cracked or otherwise nefariously obtained content is not. This includes Windows content, games, hackintosh, etc. Also discussions regarding ways to avoid or block legitimately installed monitoring/tracking software or the like is also not allowed.

Source 1: https://github.com/Cruel/freeShop

Source 2: 

 

Imgur mirror:

Spoiler

Source 3 that is 3 paragraphs too long: https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/29/nintendo-dmca-takedown-freeshop-3ds/

 

And final source 4: the actual DMCA application document thing https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2016-12-27-Nintendo.md

 

So, in order to fully understand this, you'll need some background info on the 3DS homebrew/hacking/CFW scene (skip if you know about it)

 

if you have time, watch the video that a few of the prominent 3DS hacking developers did last year at 32c3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZczf57HSag 1h12m long though, and the current one at 33c3, which is an hour long, and I haven't watched since I'm on vacation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wogNzUypLuI

 

basically, if you have a certain level firmware, you can do some stuffs that make it so you can install custom software/programs like a Save Backup/Injector, FTP server, and Streaming to your PC. These apps are in a ".cia" filename extension. Freeshop was one of these aps.

 

Background on how the eShop works: when you legitimately buy something there, you get a "ticket", a jumble of hex digits, that you tell the server "hey, I have this ticket, one game please" and then you begin downloading it from the server. However, that ticket, ISN'T UNIQUE PER PERSON/TRANSACTION. It's one global ticket per game. 1 ticket, 1 game. So, if there was a way to get unauthroized access to the game files, you might be able to extract the unique key per game. And if you upload it to a website, you might be able to download the key, and download the game directly from Nintendo's servers, just as if you bought the game legally. And perhaps there is a nice GUI application right there on the 3DS that manages it all for you..... That's what FreeShop did/does. To be clear, FreeShop doesn't host the Title Keys themselves, you have to manually input it, or use a separate website that hosts them for you. FreeShop can access that website and download the keys and manage it itself and download the games from the keys.

 

FreeShop has legitimate use, if for some reason the eShop doesn't remember that you purchased a game, then you can download it again.

 

 

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New info here:

 

Nintendo said "stop hosting that program on github, here's a big fat DMCA to shut you up for good" (which, Nintendo has been very liberal with in general over the past couple of years), and Cruel, had to bend over and just take it, not really much recourse

 

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The freeShop application provided at https://github.com/Cruel/freeShop/releases infringes Nintendo's copyrights, because the application circumvents Nintendo's technological protection measures in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Nintendo encrypts the game files available from its eShop servers to prevent users from accessing those files without paying for them. Nintendo believes the freeShop application circumvents Nintendo's protection measures by decrypting the game files accessible from its eShop servers, allowing freeShop users to access and play Nintendo's eShop games for free.

The freeShop application also contains unauthorized copies of the Nintendo 3DS Logo Data file, covered by U.S. Copyright Reg. No. PA0001781880, which further infringes Nintendo's rights.

In addition, the files located at the links below violate the GitHub Terms of Service by facilitating the theft of Nintendo's games from its eShop servers, and the use of these files with a Nintendo 3DS device violates the user's obligations under Nintendo's end-user license agreement.

 

Ninty is totally in the right to do this, but why has it taken so long to do so? It's not a new hack/exploit, and patching the integral part of it would require a rework of the whole ticket system. Maybe this is more heavy handedness after the Permabans of early Pokemon Moon leak, users (which also effected people who got the game early because Amazon shipped it early or something). This doesn't stop any mirros of the .cia file from working, just that specific github release (and all(?) forks of it too) from existing. If so, then everybody that has "FBI" (a commmon 3DS hacking program) on their 'currently playing' thing, then they might be banned too. I don't know. But if this is leading to more harsh punishments on Hackers, then I'll start the popcorn machiene now, and watch /v/, /r/3DSHacks, and other forums burn up in flames and say how it isn't fair that Ninty punish Hackers with CFW (custom firmware)

 

 

[ARikozuM]

I'm sure people will bash Nintendo for doing this. It's not like they LICENSE the games that are being distributed.

[Energycore]

8 minutes ago, LucidMew said:

Also discussions regarding ways to avoid or block legitimately installed monitoring/tracking software or the like is also not allowed.

Does that mean discussing how to disable telemetry on Windows / Nvidia drivers is not allowed?

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Does that mean discussing how to disable telemetry on Windows / Nvidia drivers is not allowed?

It is allowed. I don't think personalizing an OS is piracy. There are a few things that a user can do with their OS, but whether Microsoft will honor/provide service to those users is another matter.

 

The line has to do with school/business computers that monitor and record conversations or interactions between systems. @Energycore

[LionWaffles]

I own a 3DS and I think for the price that I paid, all games should come for free. $60 for a game is not ok.

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, LionWaffles said:

$60 for a game is not ok.

Where are you buying from!?

[LionWaffles]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Where are you buying from!?

Nintendo eShop. Just random mainstream games. Most are $40 but some are $60.

[BuckGup]

It is probably already back up or on many different sites. Pointless, learn from the torrent sites

[Misanthrope]

Homebrewing and Nintendo will never go well, I just don't understand why those talented coders just leave Nintendo behind and make PC games instead: plenty of retro game and indie games on the PC and you can do almost whatever the fuck you want without constantly fighting an uphill battle with the kings of being out of touch.

[LucidMew]

4 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Homebrewing and Nintendo will never go well, I just don't understand why those talented coders just leave Nintendo behind and make PC games instead: plenty of retro game and indie games on the PC and you can do almost whatever the fuck you want without constantly fighting an uphill battle with the kings of being out of touch.

Because of the "Eff you Nintendo, this is my console, I paid for it". Same reason why there's Jailbreaking/PSVita Hacks/WiiU Hacks/etc. People deciding that they should be able to decide what they do with "their" console, despite the TOS/EULA/legal document telling them otherwise.

 

16 minutes ago, SamStrecker said:

It is probably already back up or on many different sites. Pointless, learn from the torrent sites

Yeah, this only stops ongoing public development of it. Instead of saying "download FreeShop from this github page", the guides will say "download FreeShop from this magnet link/dropbox/mega/discord/random upload site"

[Misanthrope]

5 minutes ago, LucidMew said:

Because of the "Eff you Nintendo, this is my console, I paid for it". Same reason why there's Jailbreaking/PSVita Hacks/WiiU Hacks/etc. People deciding that they should be able to decide what they do with "their" console, despite the TOS/EULA/legal document telling them otherwise.

I understand the sentiment, but I still think is misguided: best way of combating their shitty attitude is to fucking starve them of attention (and henceforth, sales) and interest instead of driving tons of people towards their platform. After all, despite their claims, piracy is a tremendous marketing tool.

[PlayStation 2]

I mean this is kinda Nintendo's fault for making it easy enough to do.

[LucidMew]

6 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

I understand the sentiment, but I still think is misguided: best way of combating their shitty attitude is to fucking starve them of attention (and henceforth, sales) and interest instead of driving tons of people towards their platform. After all, despite their claims, piracy is a tremendous marketing tool.

Any console/handheld sold by the big three video game companes are going to, at the worst, sell decently, with "only a couple million devices sold" in the first little while. And I don't think that many people know about piracy on game consoles/handhelds (since that's always a goto arguement in the PC vs Consoles war, ie, hackers/cheaters/pirates), out of the few big systems, my non tech friends only know about Jailbreeaking, not rooting or unlocking the bootloader on Android, let alone the whole FreeShop thing. Though I will concede that pirating can and does sell systems. It might actually sell me a new3DS sooner rather than later, now that 11.2 is hackable (if I'm understanding SigHax correctly).

[TidaLWaveZ]

12 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

I mean this is kinda Nintendo's fault for making it easy enough to do.

They definitely learned from the Wii.

 

Hackable systems drive sales after the initial sales start to decline and once they sell a ton of systems they can then truly crack down on game piracy and get a lot of system buyers to break down and pay for the games out of fear or convenience.

[AresKrieger]

Wait homebrew was for the 3ds as well, huh, and here I thought it was a only a wii thing

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, AresKrieger said:

Wait homebrew was for the 3ds as well, huh, and here I thought it was a only a wii thing

also the vita, gave new life to mine as the emulator machine that can finally fully replace my psp

[goodtofufriday]

15 hours ago, LucidMew said:

-snip-

The reason that they've taken action is now is because it is now possible to officially sign CFW. Which means you could literally run any firmware you want and the 3ds will take it as an official firmware, no hacking needed. 

 

The communities arent going to be angry with this, at least no one with half a mind. Which to install the CFW is needed, the process is 100x more complex than with psp. And nintendo cant do anything about CFW since such things are legal as its pretty much jail breaking.  

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, AresKrieger said:

Wait homebrew was for the 3ds as well, huh, and here I thought it was a only a wii thing

Homebrew literally stands for "home made beer". It's a term used to reference something home made, in this case the "official" purpose of the homebrew channel on wii and 3ds is being able to run your own games on your system without the need for nintendo's approval. In reality, a lot of people use it to run pirated games.

[elfensky]

All they did is bring attention to it. I might actually get a 3DS now that I know freeshop exists. So will many people.

[AresKrieger]

54 minutes ago, Sauron said:

a lot of people use it to run pirated games.

I'm well aware what it is used for, I just thought the software was specific to the wii/wii u

[AresKrieger]

36 minutes ago, ElfenSky said:

All they did is bring attention to it. I might actually get a 3DS now that I know freeshop exists. So will many people.

That's the Streisand effect for ya, trying to hide something on the internet will likely make it more well known

[Energycore]

Not gonna lie, when I read the title I thought OP meant Autodesk 3DS Max

[apm]

On 30.12.2016 at 2:12 AM, Misanthrope said:

Homebrewing and Nintendo will never go well, I just don't understand why those talented coders just leave Nintendo behind and make PC games instead: plenty of retro game and indie games on the PC and you can do almost whatever the fuck you want without constantly fighting an uphill battle with the kings of being out of touch.

i would argue that its not really about hombrewing, but about freeshop itself.

you can literally download any game you could buy on the normal shop via the freeshop. its just as easy.

 

the 3ds is completely hacked anyway.

[HughMungusCynicalAnarch]

More anti consumer bs.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, HughMungusCynicalAnarch said:

More anti consumer bs.

This isn't anti-consumer. This is pro-business. This is no reason for a company to not be able to make money nor is there a reason for consumers to be able to skirt around and receive games (or any product) for free.