Comment by weinzierl
2 years ago
This is a good question. In addition to an answer, if someone could give a high level but technical overview about how the Nintendo Switch encryption works and how the emulators work around it I'd be grateful.
2 years ago
This is a good question. In addition to an answer, if someone could give a high level but technical overview about how the Nintendo Switch encryption works and how the emulators work around it I'd be grateful.
DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent DRM. Whether or not it's good DRM is irrelevant. The classic example would be DVDs that are encrypted with CSS and 40-bit keys. Because you need to be able to decrypt the DVD to be able to play the video, if your software doesn't have permission to playback (encrypted) DVDs, you're circumventing DRM. A DVD ripping software maker has lost this in court: https://w.wiki/9yNu
So like how DVDs are encrypted, all Switch games are encrypted. Except with good AES encryption and proper key sizes. This started with games in the Wii/PS3 generation, so emulators for systems before that would be fine.
Also I've now learned that wikipedia has a URL shortener. Because Hacker News eats the period at the end of the wikipedia article title.
Yes, but how does that apply to the Nintendo Switch and Yuzu. Did they actually extract the AES key from real hardware and include it in the emulator?
It applies to Yuzu because it breaks the encryption on Switch games without the copyright holder's permissions. And it's simple to argue that the encryption is for DRM purposes, like CSS for DVDs.
Nintendo's argument in the filing was that it effectively did, as the website instructed people on how to extract the keys, and that the software did real time decryption for which there was no legitimate source of keys.
That didn't get tested in court, but I suspect it would have succeeded (this is not legal advice).
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