Hacking Flashme is against the law.

[golden]

Is this true? Is flashme really illegal? I highly doubt it but I have been getting modded at other sites because I have talked about flashme. They say I have been modded for "illegal activities" but we are still allowed to talk about flash carts. I know flash carts aren't illegal but neither is flashme right?

So is flashme really illegal? Or are they just making up BS?

 

[kellyan95]

Have you been reading The Times?

 

[golden]

Not really why?

 

[xcalibur]

Is this true? Is flashme really illegal? I highly doubt it but I have been getting modded at other sites because I have talked about flashme. They say I have been modded for "illegal activities" but we are still allowed to talk about flash carts. I know flash carts aren't illegal but neither is flashme right?

So is flashme really illegal? Or are they just making up BS?

its the modification of the firmware on your ds console
im pretty sure it says somewhere in the legal jumble that its illigal to do so

 

[golden]

That's odd. The bullet points under the "illegal activities" had nothing to do with firmware and that mumbo jumbo. It just said stuff about MP3s, ROMs, modchips, and media.

 

[spinal_cord]

As far as I know, bypassing the copy protection of ANY games console is illegal in most countries, not matter the reason you do it.

I think (but am not sure) that the flashme file replaces your firmware with a hacked version, rather than hacking the firmware you already have, meaning that not only is it a case of circumventing copy protection it is also piracy (distributing copyrighted software without permission).

But so far it seems that Nintendo have not legally challenged anyone for having flashed their DS.

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Maybe flashme falls under a type of "modchip" thing despite the fact you're not really installing hardware itself.

Lemme guess, you're a GBADEV refugee?

 

[T-hug]

Sounds like the gamefaqs ruleset to me.
If flashme isn't illegal it's very boarderline. Hax at it's best.

 

[FAST6191]

EULA issues aside (which if anything would come under civil law and then more likely to be aimed at someone who provides a service) and maybe DMCA copy protection measures avoidance/evasion nonsense.

Anyhow while I am no legal expert Noflashme (which is supposed to contain some of the original firmware) is about as close as you would get.

Personally I would say it is overzealous moderation probably stemming from a desire not to get trouble (many companies fire DMCA, C&D, copyright notices..... like the rest of us breathe. These normally appear at a sites host (which have all the backbone of a worm for the most part)) and ignorance of flashme.

 

[Little]

I'm under the impression that flashme is just a copy of the real firmware with some modifications, that'd make it illegal.

 

[golden]

Sounds like the gamefaqs ruleset to me.
If flashme isn't illegal it's very boarderline. Hax at it's best.

You nailed it on the head. GFAQs kept deleting like every post I made.

I have to say, this site is like paradise to me. It has EVERYTHING concerning the DS I could want and need. Great site guys.

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Sounds like the gamefaqs ruleset to me.

Yet people outright talk about the R4 and having X game on it, yet nothing happens. Oh, double standards, where would we be without you?

Seriously though. I'm not sure where the legality lies in terms of firmware, but all the same, I have the modded DS and the PassKey thing that I used before making the jump myself. Oops.

 

[golden]

Sounds like the gamefaqs ruleset to me.

Yet people outright talk about the R4 and having X game on it, yet nothing happens. Oh, double standards, where would we be without you?

Seriously though. I'm not sure where the legality lies in terms of firmware, but all the same, I have the modded DS and the PassKey thing that I used before making the jump myself. Oops.

You have a GFAQs account too? It is freaking ridiculous. The boards are littered with R4 topics and I even made a thread called "who buys games and who don't". In it I asked to say if you are a pirate or not. I was expected to get modded instantly but the thread is still their today.

and I got modded for making a flashme topic and some karma taken.

 

[Doomsday Forte]

You have a GFAQs account too? It is freaking ridiculous. The boards are littered with R4 topics and I even made a thread called "who buys games and who don't". In it I asked to say if you are a pirate or not. I was expected to get modded instantly but the thread is still their today.Â

 and I got modded for making a flashme topic and some karma taken.

Yeah, been there since...God, maybe Feb 2003? Yeah. Too freaking long for a place like that.

To be honest, there's no point in going to the boards, but that's neither here nor there. It's a cesspool, let's treat it like one.

I asked if you were from GBADEV since I made a topic there asking why Download Play doesn't work with a ROM I had, and I got warned for it, so I never came back--and I found myself here (first post!). How handy. It feels nice to freely talk about stuff like this, just so as long as you don't advertise or give links to downloading ROMs since that'd break the legality of this place. Stupid grey areas.

 

[roflmywaffle]

Technically, you're talking about borderline illegality. It skips the check for signed code for Slot 2 and RSA, so techinically it is circumventing encryption. Under US law, this violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but it's more intended to go after people that somehow encourage that activity AND provide the means (files) to do so.

If they copied any part of the Nintendo FW, it would be illegal due to copyright infringement. I don't know if FlashMe has any original code or if it is completely reverse engineered.

 

[L1G3RZ]

I got modded on GameFAQs for posting a link to RealHotStuff. 3KL

 

[arctic_flame]

To answer everyone's question, FlashMe is illegal, as it contains (albeit a slightly modified version of) copies of the Nintendo DS Firmware which is copyrighted by Nintendo.

 

[paul1991]

Incorrect!
The DS encryption for firmware was never cracked. The Cards were, but not firmware.
Loopy simply coded a firmware that looks like the official firmware. If you check, you an see simple problems in early development that would not have occured if it had been a copy of the official.
It my bypass the copyprotection of the DS, but it does not violate copy right laws.
Err.

EDIT: Just emailed Nintendo about it. It may come to nothing, but might as well.

 

[arctic_flame]

You're silly. loopy, even admitted it was illegal. He states it many times on gbadev.

And the firmware's been decrypted for donkeys. It runs in no$gba too.

EDIT: In the same place, it's also re-iterated that it is impossible very difficult to fit anything like the official firmware fit on the firmware chip, keeping it in the 256KiB boundary without losing the graphical interface. See FWNitro

EDIT2: Also, no one has ever worked out how to re-create DS download play. Why is it in Flashme then?

 

[paul1991]

First, how do I make NO$GBA display that menu? Thats cool.
FWNitro has Dl Play, and many other features(MKDS track patch,ROM dumping) makeing a GUI a waste of precious space.