Nintendo forces UK ISPs to block hacking sites Switch

Nintendo has obtained an order from the High Court of England and Wales forcing five major Internet service providers in the country to block access to four sites that it says are promoting piracy of Nintendo Switch software.

The sites in question revolve around the sale and promotion of SX OS, a very popular commercial hacking product developed by Team Xecutor. This operating system allows users to easily read illicit copies of the copyrighted Switch software as well as homebrew software created by the fans. Sites discussing a competing Open Source hacking effort developed by Team Atmosphere are not affected by this week's decision.

The court order notes that Switch systems sold since June 2018 can not take advantage of SX OS. "But there remains a very large number of older and vulnerable Nintendo Switch consoles in circulation and there is evidence of active attempts to work around the problem. [technological protection measures] even on Nintendo switches post-June 2018, "the drive continues.

"Nintendo is delighted that the UK High Court has confirmed that it is illegal to sell devices or software that allow hacking on Nintendo Switch systems," said a Nintendo representative to Eurogamer. "This decision will help protect the UK gaming industry and the more than 1,800 developers around the world who are creating games for the Nintendo Switch platform and who rely on the legitimate selling of games to make a living and continue to offer players quality content. "

"These circumvention devices, which allow the use of unauthorized copies of video games, are jeopardizing the activities of those who defend and rely on the sale of legitimate products," the UK group Ukie said in a statement. "As such, Ukie fully supports the decision and wishes to reiterate the firm position of the UK video game industry against illegitimate operators."

Rule of law

Since the 2011 decision against the hacker site Newzbin2, the UK courts have ordered the major ISPs to block more than 1,000 URLs, with hacking prevention at the center of their efforts. Research shows that such blockages have been successful in reducing the number of UK visits to these hacker sites, although specific users and sites may be able to use workarounds to bypass the ISP block.

In the United States, Internet service providers are generally protected from copyright infringement lawsuits by the DMCA's "safe harbor" provision, provided that they comply with a few exceptions. rules (with a few exceptions). Earlier in the decade, the Stop Online Privacy Act and the Protect IP Act would have given the US courts much more power to make orders similar to those in the UK blocking hacker websites at the ISP level. Efforts to enact these laws were halted in 2012 after a violent reaction.

Thus, Nintendo has focused its legal efforts in the United States on individual hacking websites, using letters of cessation and surrender, lawsuits and the mere paralyzing effect of these to close them at the same level. host. But this legal Whac-A-Mole game has not done much to reduce the availability of hacked content on the Web, nor to prevent a handful of sites from trying to use legal loopholes to circumvent Nintendo's efforts.