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Comment by kevingadd | Hacker News Reader

Are you sure those are Nintendo AES keys? The comments above suggest they're not:

  // Dolphin does not use the same "default" values as IOS does, as we do not emulate unblown 
  // scenario.

If they're Nintendo's keys, why would they DMCA a Steam page but not a GitHub repository that's distributing the keys?

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Yes, they are Nintendo's private keys. I believe the comment is referring to the early factory programming stage of the console, though I'm not 100% sure. PCGamer.com also confirmed the DMCA notice says it's about encryption keys [0]

> The DCMA letter sent to Valve cites the anti-circumvention language of the DMCA and specifically claims that "the Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime. Thus, use of the Dolphin emulator unlawfully 'circumvent[s] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under' the Copyright Act."

> If they're Nintendo's keys, why would they DMCA a Steam page but not a GitHub repository that's distributing the keys?

Because Nintendo's legal department is not dumb and makes very specific takedown requests that they know they can win, as opposed to taking down more gray-area things like source code.

Grabbing an emulator from dolphin-emu.org or GitHub is not the same thing as grabbing an emulator from a well-moderated public storefront where a good number of your third-party partners also publish their games.

Nintendo does not publish their games on Steam as of right now, but for an analogy, imagine how happy Sony would be if a PS4 emulator showed up on Steam recommended right next to their other PC games.

This was always playing with fire.

[0] https://www.pcgamer.com/nintendo-sends-valve-dmca-notice-to-...

Doesn't the DMCA's interoperability exception cover this?

(1)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(1)(A), a person who has lawfully obtained the right to use a copy of a computer program may circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a particular portion of that program for the sole purpose of identifying and analyzing those elements of the program that are necessary to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs, and that have not previously been readily available to the person engaging in the circumvention, to the extent any such acts of identification and analysis do not constitute infringement under this title.

(2)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a)(2) and (b), a person may develop and employ technological means to circumvent a technological measure, or to circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure, in order to enable the identification and analysis under paragraph (1), or for the purpose of enabling interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs, if such means are necessary to achieve such interoperability, to the extent that doing so does not constitute infringement under this title.

(3)The information acquired through the acts permitted under paragraph (1), and the means permitted under paragraph (2), may be made available to others if the person referred to in paragraph (1) or (2), as the case may be, provides such information or means solely for the purpose of enabling interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs, and to the extent that doing so does not constitute infringement under this title or violate applicable law other than this section.

Aside from that, there's also the problem that a DMCA notice as defined in 17 U.S.C. §512 is a procedure for handling copyright infringement. Nintendo is apparently alleging a violation of 17 U.S.C. §1201, which defines a separate class of offense that is not the same thing as copyright infringement. So what Nintendo sent probably isn't a proper DMCA notice, but rather a cease-and-desist letter that pretends to be a DMCA notice or has been misinterpreted by the target and the press as being a DMCA notice because it mentions the DMCA (albeit a different part of the DMCA).

>Because Nintendo's legal department is not dumb and makes very specific takedown requests that they know they can win, as opposed to taking down more gray-area things like source code.

But you couldn't even grab the emulator from Steam! There is zero indication that the Steam version of emulator would even include those keys (it's trivial to make the user to type them in/point to a file with them). So DMCA is a total bs and typical example of the abuse that is never punished in our legal system.

It's like copyright striking a channel with the announcement that they'll be streaming a parody of Morbius with the reason that it contains copyright material (perhaps some previous parody included shots from the trailer), without actually seeing the final product.

> imagine how happy Sony would be if a PS4 emulator showed up on Steam recommended right next to their other PC games

You don't have to imagine, Bleem! was sold in boxes in game stores. Sadly, Sony lost that battle and emulators were deemed legal.

you can extract that exact key from a real Wii using a pair of tweezers

> If they're Nintendo's keys, why would they DMCA a Steam page but not a GitHub repository that's distributing the keys?

I don't know

So remove it and have people copy it in when they set up Dolphin. You can find the keys easily and you can get them for your own wii.

Yeah it feels like republishing with the keys removed will mean this DMCA request is moot

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