Anti-DRM Group Aims Bricks At Nintendo

[Earnest Cavalli]

Anti-DRM Group Aims Bricks At Nintendo

The Free Software Foundation believes the Nintendo 3DS' Terms of Service are too restrictive. Solution? Mail Nintendo a ton of bricks.

The seemingly non sequitur protest is in response to the TOS that all 3DS owners implicitly agree to when purchasing the handheld. Key among the Free Software Foundation's complaints is that the agreement gives Nintendo the right to collect user data at will and forbids modifications to the machine.

Of particular interest to the group is a line in the 3DS TOS warning against unauthorized alteration of the handheld or the use of unapproved software. In layman's terms, this would be the warning against modifying the 3DS so that you can play pirated games.

FSF campaign manager Joshua Gay however, sees it as slightly more sinister."This combination of legal and technological restrictions make the Nintendo 3DS dubious, devious, and defective," Gay claims.

Additionally, in a recent blog post Gay characterizes the TOS as "unbelievable," says the agreement "should not be accepted," and calls on his supporters to protest the gaming giant. How? By donating cash to the FSF, who will then mail cardboard bricks to Nintendo. The goal is to send 200 of these faux bricks to the firm by May 18.

Still wondering what in the name of Samus Aran do imitation bricks have to do with the Nintendo 3DS, its TOS agreement or digital rights management? The gesture is presumably a tongue-in-cheek play on the idea that the agreement gives Nintendo the right to "brick" (ie, disable) a 3DS for essentially any reason it might see fit.

It's a bit of a stretch, but I suppose it makes as much sense as fans of the TV show Jericho mailing 20 tons of peanuts to CBS [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=3214156&page=1].

Source: PC World [http://www.defectivebydesign.org/nintendo3ds]
(Image: Free Software Foundation [https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=7])

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[squid5580]

The Jericho nuts thing did make sense. It was a reference to a story in the show. And it worked since they gave us the ending the series needed

 

[Danpascooch]

Oh man, Nintendo is fucked guess they'll have no choice but to totally revamp the ToS. I mean, it's not like they could just throw out these bricks!

.....oh wait

 

[Wicky_42]

Why not, you know, mail real bricks? And don't pay shipping? Wouldn't that be a more effective protest?

 

[Arehexes]

Wow a group who is against DRM isn't hacking a site or bringing a service down. I can respect these guys way more then any other "we want freedom with our hardware" group.

 

[rickynumber24]

Why not, you know, mail real bricks? And don't pay shipping? Wouldn't that be a more effective protest?

I have a feeling they want the bricks to actually be delivered... in which case, well, lighter is better.

I read that EULA and ended up accepting it because I'm a consumer w**** (and how!), but I could get behind mailing them bricks. It's a really insidious EULA, and I spotted that part, along with several other parts that try to blur the line between hardware and subscription service.

Edit: Oh, and it's the EFF, who are definitely a worthy cause, in my book.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

3DS dubious, devious, and defective

I get it. 3-D's. Nothing gets past me.

And real bricks would have been better and funnier.

 

[UnmotivatedSlacker]

Wait, so they want us to give them money so they can mail nintendo garbage?

Spoiler

 

[viranimus]

It does make sense. Its a reference to the modder community, when a handheld has been rendered inusable it is refered to as being "bricked". From the protest standpoint it is completely logical because sending out a handheld with a ToS conditions that renders it basically unagreeable, it in effect leaves the system as useless as a brick.

 

[Snotnarok]

Mail them bricks? So they can ...what? Expand their building? I don't see the purpose.

Though I agree that all this "no modifying your system" is bs. Call me an evil bastard but modifying my original Xbox into a media center that is still better than the 360's media stuff was awesome. Region free? Heck yeah got to watch Ong Bak before anyone knew about it. Yes I have a legitimate Thailand DVD.

But also, you bought it,you should be able to do what you want with the stupid thing. It's like buying a car but you're only allowed to buy Toyo tires, but if you buy goodyear oooh man you're going to court!

 

[mad825]

Why not, you know, mail real bricks? And don't pay shipping? Wouldn't that be a more effective protest?

Here's the address:

Reginald Fils-Aime
President and COO
Nintendo of America
4820 150th Ave. Northeast
Redmond, WA 98052


Make sure to add your own custom letter as well to them.

 

[Mr Shrike]

Oh dear, I bet the guys at Nintendo are just mortarfied by this campaign

OT: It's nice that people, at last, are not hacking into services, but taking more reasonable measures. Still probably won't work, though.

 

[yourbeliefs]

The best way to get back at Nintendo is to not buy their overpriced and battery sucking 3DS

 

[OtherSideofSky]

I'm in favor of this because I'm against anything that might stop me from doing something to get around the bloody region lock. I'm about to spend a year living in Japan, and I'll be doing a lot of living abroad in the future as well, so I basically can't ever buy a 3DS unless I somehow end up so rolling in money that I wouldn't mind buying two or three of the things. Stopping piracy is fine, trying to make better parental controls is fine, but when they start making it so that not only can I buy a 3DS game and then the 3DS won't play the thing, but I also run freeware that has been written and distributed for free (this is what the people who comprise actual modding communities, as opposed to the pirates who are an actual problem, really do), then it's a problem. If they want to treat the thing as a service I'm renting from them and over which they have full control, then they better start adjusting the price accordingly.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Really guys? Bricks? And that will do what exactly?

What do you wanna guess that they just pitch them and ignore them.

 

[BrunDeign]

These people are unbelievable.

"Waah I can't modify my 3DS with illegal software, waah. Baby wants his bottle!"

Nintendo is in full right to brick your 3DS if you do something you shouldn't. It's the law.

And Nintendo... is... THE LAW.

 

[bomblord]

Your missing something major you can do what you want with it as long as you do not agree to the terms and conditions and do not use Nintendo WFC

This is just in the service agreement when you get the 1st update

 

[DEAD34345]

A better way to protest the 3DS is to not buy it. Homebrew was the greatest thing about the regular DS, I'm not switching to a system where Nintendo can break my console just because I dare to play a game that isn't shovel-ware.