Now Nintendo is seeking the court’s approval to actually subpoena Reddit for user records. These records, if shared, could identify additional moderators or users tied to the r/SwitchPirates subreddits. Nintendo argues that these records are critical to building their case against others in the alleged piracy
…
In addition to requesting records from Reddit, Nintendo’s filing also makes appeals for information from other companies, including domain registrars such as Namecheap and GoDaddy, along with firms such as Cloudflare, Github, Google, and Discord.
On the other hand, r/switchpirates is transparently a community for the express purpose of pirating Nintendo games for their current system. It’s one of the rare cases where I think they probably can make a slam-dunk legal case to shut it down.
Nintendo is definitely overstepping with that request, but I can’t say I feel bad for the subset of Redditors shitting their pants because they admitted to distributing* ROMs. Trusting a corporation to protect you from the consequences of your actions is a level of stupidity beyond deserving sympathy.
*Specifically distributing. Not downloading. Not discussing. Distributing.
Talking is irrelevant. It’s debatable whether they’re actually entitled to even compel the sub to be closed, as they didn’t allow links to anything infringing, and discussion is protected. I just ignored that because I don’t care.
Nothing there says anything that indicates there is any effort to restrict the information gathering to people actively distributing anything on the relevant platforms. Trying to demand the personal information of participants in discussions without direct, explicit proof that that account actually distributed pirated content makes them bad people. It is not excusable behavior.
Talking is irrelevant. It’s debatable whether they’re actually entitled to even compel the sub to be closed, as they didn’t allow links to anything infringing, and discussion is protected. I just ignored that because I don’t care.
There’s a distinction between talking about piracy and admitting to committing copyright infringement on a public forum: the former is discussion, and the latter is self-incrimination. It’s not going to actually matter unless that person makes themselves worthwhile to go after, but that doesn’t make it any less stupid of an idea to admit to it in the first place.
Trying to demand the personal information of participants in discussions without direct, explicit proof that that account actually distributed pirated content makes them bad people. It is not excusable behavior.
I’m not sure where you got the idea that I’m excusing Nintendo’s overreaching demands from. Nowhere in my comment did I claim that Nintendo is entitled to any of the requested information.
No, there isn’t. Admission is unconditionally not grounds to gain information.
The literally only way there’s any grounds to give them a single bit of information is in response to a direct, clear, action facilitating distribution of specific content Nintendo owns. They could provide direct evidence that they have pirated every piece of content Nintendo has ever made and it would not be excusable for Nintendo to even ask for their information.
They used to be pretty strict about posting links. If that’s still the case, it’s literally just a discussion forum discussing and promoting something illegal and not necessarily doing anything illegal. I’ll wager that the judge would only sign off on information from users that Nintendo already has enough evidence against. But I guess we’ll see.
The big ones:
Kinda weird that I’m rooting for reddit, a company I hate, against Nintendo, a company that usually brings me joy.
But here we are.
Any time Nintendo is involved in a legal case, you can pretty safely assume they’re probably wrong.
Except that time like 50 years ago when Universal sued because Donkey Kong was too close to King Kong.
On the other hand, r/switchpirates is transparently a community for the express purpose of pirating Nintendo games for their current system. It’s one of the rare cases where I think they probably can make a slam-dunk legal case to shut it down.
To shut it down, sure. To get information on accounts simply for posting there? They can fuck off.
Nintendo is definitely overstepping with that request, but I can’t say I feel bad for the subset of Redditors shitting their pants because they admitted to distributing* ROMs. Trusting a corporation to protect you from the consequences of your actions is a level of stupidity beyond deserving sympathy.
*Specifically distributing. Not downloading. Not discussing. Distributing.
Talking is irrelevant. It’s debatable whether they’re actually entitled to even compel the sub to be closed, as they didn’t allow links to anything infringing, and discussion is protected. I just ignored that because I don’t care.
Nothing there says anything that indicates there is any effort to restrict the information gathering to people actively distributing anything on the relevant platforms. Trying to demand the personal information of participants in discussions without direct, explicit proof that that account actually distributed pirated content makes them bad people. It is not excusable behavior.
There’s a distinction between talking about piracy and admitting to committing copyright infringement on a public forum: the former is discussion, and the latter is self-incrimination. It’s not going to actually matter unless that person makes themselves worthwhile to go after, but that doesn’t make it any less stupid of an idea to admit to it in the first place.
I’m not sure where you got the idea that I’m excusing Nintendo’s overreaching demands from. Nowhere in my comment did I claim that Nintendo is entitled to any of the requested information.
No, there isn’t. Admission is unconditionally not grounds to gain information.
The literally only way there’s any grounds to give them a single bit of information is in response to a direct, clear, action facilitating distribution of specific content Nintendo owns. They could provide direct evidence that they have pirated every piece of content Nintendo has ever made and it would not be excusable for Nintendo to even ask for their information.
They used to be pretty strict about posting links. If that’s still the case, it’s literally just a discussion forum discussing and promoting something illegal and not necessarily doing anything illegal. I’ll wager that the judge would only sign off on information from users that Nintendo already has enough evidence against. But I guess we’ll see.
As a lifelong Nintendo fan, I’ve been rooting against them in pretty much everything for close to a decade at this point.
Subpoenaing Reddit for user records because some guy emulated a videogame made for your crappy handheld console.