Anti-DRM Group Sends Nintendo 200 Bricks

[allistairp]

Anti-DRM Group Sends Nintendo 200 Bricks

In response to the 3DS' Terms of Service, the Free Software Foundation sent Nintendo a box full of bricks this week.

Since Nintendo's user agreement allows the company to brick, or permanently disable, a user's 3DS, the foundation got the clever idea to "brick" Nintendo. Well, sort of. On May 9, the group posted [a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110137-Anti-DRM-Group-Aims-Bricks-At-Nintendo"]a call to action[/a], on its site, to send a letter and 200 cardboard bricks to Nintendo of America President [a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99278-Reggie-Nintendo-Doesnt-Enjoy-Making-Mature-Games"]Reggie Fils-Aime[/a].

"The Nintendo 3DS is Defective by Design and your Terms of Service are dubious, devious, and defective for the following reasons," the letter's opening reads.

The "Defective by Design" campaign is a response to the handheld's user agreement, which includes clauses that the group feels are unfair to the consumer. Along with Nintendo owning rights to video or pictures captured with the device, tracking user activity, and forcing non-optional updates, Nintendo has the right to "render the system permanently unplayable" if an unauthorized device or mod is applied to the system.

The end of the letter details the requests being made by the group: "Change your terms of service. Tracking a user's activity; claiming a copyright license on a user's data and their creative works; and bricking a user's device if she chooses to modify or use it an in "unapproved" way are intrusive and completely unacceptable, to say the least."

Nintendo responded to the group in [a href="http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44417/US-Gamers-angry-over-3DS-terms"]an interview[/a] with MCV UK. The Nintendo spokesperson pointed out that the European 3DS doesn't have the same terms and is "in compliance with European requirements."

A recent Defective by Design [a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/200-bricks-Nintendo-response "]blog post[/a] responded: "Wow. Nintendo is admitting that the Terms they are attempting to enforce elsewhere are so awful, they are illegal in the European Union!"

Source: [a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/"] Defective by Design[/a], via [a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/news/nintendo-owns-your-soul-what-that-complicated-legal-language-you-dont-read-actually-means/3264/"]Giant Bomb[/a]


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[Aeshi]

Nice, now if we just count the number of people who sent bricks we'll know how many butthurt pirates there are!

 

[Scrythe]

Nice, now if we just count the number of people who sent bricks we'll know how many butthurt pirates this affects!

Then we could erect a brick monument to them.

I think some people are jumping the gun here. How is this any different than what most smartphones do? The pirates are going to find a way around this feature anyways. The legacy of the PSP proved that. I have yet to read about a single unfair bricking yet, so who's really being affected here?

 

[vxicepickxv]

Nice, now if we just count the number of people who sent bricks we'll know how many butthurt pirates this affects!

Well, I can say Thanks Escapist, I guess I know I'm NOT going to get a 3DS. I wonder if any of this information is available on the box before you buy the 3DS.

 

[Mr. Omega]

That last line sounded like such troll logic I just........ UGH!

And I might be arguing semantics here, but "defective" implies the product does not work. This is an issue with the Terms of Service for online use and modding. Not the 3DS itself. They just wanted to make a catchy-sounding name.

 

[PoweD]

Thats pure win, if only it was real bricks

 

[Panzervaughn]

Tracking locations i can understand, Bricking it if you screw around with it, annoying but still understandable.

Owning rights to any picture you take? That seems like buying a camera and not owning the film.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Awww, is someone feeling offended that a company can prevent unauthorized modding? Show me a case of an unfair bricking, and I'll consider that you might have a point. Show me cases where you were trying to pirate, and I'll find you a perfect fit for my schadenfreude.

 

[RootBrewski]

Tracking locations i can understand, Bricking it if you screw around with it, annoying but still understandable.

Owning rights to any picture you take? That seems like buying a camera and not owning the film.

Agreed the bricking issue is because, let's face it, people modding the system are doing so to play pirated games, so without condoning or condemning, I understand. The fact that Nintendo own any pictures or videos though seems far too invasive.

 

[Paragon Fury]

They should make the punishment even harsher. Admit-tingly, that'd be hard to do with a portable system, but Nintendo is inventive. They can think of a way.

 

[V8 Ninja]

The "Defective by Design" campaign is a response to the handheld's user agreement, which includes clauses that the group feels are unfair to the consumer. Along with Nintendo owning rights to video or pictures captured with the device, tracking user activity, and forcing non-optional updates, Nintendo has the right to "render the system permanently unplayable" if an unauthorized device or mod is applied to the system.

Who would have thought that Nintendo has the right to limit your use of their device when you mess with it? =P

God, I wish life didn't overstock on the idiots when it did.

 

[Avaholic03]

Tracking locations i can understand, Bricking it if you screw around with it, annoying but still understandable.

Owning rights to any picture you take? That seems like buying a camera and not owning the film.

Agreed the bricking issue is because, let's face it, people modding the system are doing so to play pirated games, so without condoning or condemning, I understand. The fact that Nintendo own any pictures or videos though seems far too invasive.

Not necessarily. There are a number of people who modify things for reasons other than piracy. Look at all the projects done with modified Wiimotes or Kinects. I think it's arrogant to sell someone a product and then tell them what they can and can't do with it. It would be like a car company killing your engine if you ever exceeded the speed limit.

 

[Wolfram23]

A recent Defective by Design blog post responded: "Wow. Nintendo is admitting that the Terms they are attempting to enforce elsewhere are so awful, they are illegal in the European Union!"

Owned.

Of course, Nintendo isn't the only company with these crazy ToS.

 

[icame]

And then ninty went back to counting their money. This will change nothing.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

whoop-dee-doo, these self-entitled brats can cry me a fuckin' river. God my generation is worthless

 

[Lionsfan]

Who would have thought that Nintendo has the right to limit your use of their device when you mess with it? =P

God, I wish life didn't overstock on the idiots when it did.

Well just think of it this way. What if car companies said that they had the right to destroy any cars that were modded against Factory Specs?

Yes this is only gonna affect Pirates for the most part, but the notion that a company still has the rights to do something to a machine that I've bought and paid for is just unsettling. It eliminates purchasing power and turns it more or less into an extended lease

 

[RootBrewski]

snip.

Agreed the bricking issue is because, let's face it, people modding the system are doing so to play pirated games, so without condoning or condemning, I understand. The fact that Nintendo own any pictures or videos though seems far too invasive.

Not necessarily. There are a number of people who modify things for reasons other than piracy. Look at all the projects done with modified Wiimotes or Kinects. I think it's arrogant to sell someone a product and then tell them what they can and can't do with it. It would be like a car company killing your engine if you ever exceeded the speed limit.

Ok, I'll give you that I should have said most modders, as the Wiimote and Kinect prove, however I would say that they are in the minority. And I would disagree about arrogance, as it doesn't seem to be a power trip that they're on but, more trying to mitigate financial losses due to piracy, with arguably heavy handed tactics.

 

[CrystalShadow]

The "Defective by Design" campaign is a response to the handheld's user agreement, which includes clauses that the group feels are unfair to the consumer. Along with Nintendo owning rights to video or pictures captured with the device, tracking user activity, and forcing non-optional updates, Nintendo has the right to "render the system permanently unplayable" if an unauthorized device or mod is applied to the system.

Who would have thought that Nintendo has the right to limit your use of their device when you mess with it? =P

God, I wish life didn't overstock on the idiots when it did.

Who would have thought so many people blindly accept that a device you paid for is owned by the person that sold it to you?

 

[Jakub324]

How ironic. Seriously, though. What kind of revenge is that?