sixteen-bit
Member
Despicable shit.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Kotaku: Child Predators Accused Of Using Nintendo's SwapNote Service
- Thread starter StreetsAhead
- Start date
Nintendo said kids were trading codes willy-nilly outside their network (and, as was pointed out elsewhere in this thread but left unsaid, probably also through Animal Crossing.) Pokémon's Friend Safari feature seemed a likely reason why for the former case, since more friends = rare Pokémons, as I understand it.
I've yet to come across a situation where StreetPass creates a two-way communication channel. Yes, there are plenty of situations where someone's a little crass, but even Swapnote itself would only StreetPass notes with your 3DS friends (making it effectively a useless feature, heh.)
Phew, I dunno. I mean, it's all there, but there are so many knobs that a non-3DS-using parent likely has no idea about. I knew for my kids, so I could tailor them pretty nicely, but I can imagine even a well-meaning parent may not know which things to flip off and may also flip things back on if a kid complains it's getting in the way of their game.
Indeed.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I assume the real problem here from Nintendo's perspective is that Swapnote didn't have the kind of monitoring and filtering in place that Miiverse does. (As far as I know.)
Though this incident does make me think Nintendo may want to be even more aggressive with informing parents on making their children use the back-up add friends function on Wii U and to make sure Miiverse is locked down. (I.e. adding friends through Miiverse can be turned off, requiring children manually exchange ID codes found in the actual friends' list.)
Though this incident does make me think Nintendo may want to be even more aggressive with informing parents on making their children use the back-up add friends function on Wii U and to make sure Miiverse is locked down. (I.e. adding friends through Miiverse can be turned off, requiring children manually exchange ID codes found in the actual friends' list.)
Starwolf_UK
Member
Not only that but when you traded with randoms after the trade there was an option along the lines of "let's be friends" and if they accepted they became friends on your system. I traded with randoms a few days ago (for the above reason) and the option did not appear.
chickdigger802
Banned
i'm confused... how do you get a swapnote from strangers without friendcodes?
You can exchange streetpass notes with strangers after meeting them twice... but thats about it i thought?
never ever got a swapnote from a stranger before.
You can exchange streetpass notes with strangers after meeting them twice... but thats about it i thought?
never ever got a swapnote from a stranger before.
Maybe they gave friend codes out during the street pass? I don't know how it works since I don't have a 3DS yet
El Pescado
Member
You can't.
That's the real question, isn't it? Should Nintendo, who makes toys for kids (let's not mince words here, and this is coming from a mid-30's guy who has carried a 3DS since launch), consider the fact that their device was used as a conduit for this as unfortunate collateral damage, or as a reason to discontinue the service entirely so it never happens again? Is it going to happen anyway, or can they stop it?
I'm not sure what the answer is. I might have pulled the plug myself if it had been my call and I was convinced there was little I could do to stop it from happening again.
I started to reply that Miiverse was a different case because public messages are seen by lots of people and flagged for moderation, but I did forget about the private messages function, so now I'm left wondering what may happen to MiiverseI don't think you can rely on kids reporting messages that make them uncomfortable (if they even do in the first place.) It seems very implausible that Nintendo would employ moderators to vet private messages.
The same way GAFers get friendcodes from other GAFers they don't know. The web.
To do it through a streetpass would require roughly the following steps.
- Both parties streetpass each other.
- The next time they pass they can choose to give a personal message. One of them makes their's their friendcode (note I have never tested if this is possible to enter).
- They would then streetpass again to pass on the personal message. Then other party will know what they want and reply with a personal message containing their friendcode.
- Then they'd have to streetpass again.
So it would take quite a few passes to trade codes via this method and that doesn't take into account that the only time you see the message is at the entrance gate. Once they are in the plaza you can't refer to it. Of course the 3DS does have the ability to take down notes if you remember that feature.
FreedomFighter
Member
And here I was thinking it was just pics of boobs. Wow.
Wow, fuckin sickos ruining it for a majority. I understand why Nintendo shut it down, but thats not a 100% solution either. You still see FB, Twitter and Myspace up, even though teens have been cyber bullied, etc. i think Nintendo has a high level of control checks, but there's always cracks in a system
Yeah, come to think of it, a few other games may have had that option too.
There probably really needs to be two lists, one that permits communication and one that doesn't. I thought they were going down that road waaay back when Metroid Prime Hunters came out with its Rivals feature.
axisofweevils
Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Welp. This sucks, but it makes sense why they removed it.
Nintendo's system being associated with pedophilia and rape would put many prospective buyers off this holiday season.
Nintendo's system being associated with pedophilia and rape would put many prospective buyers off this holiday season.
I think the common thread here is that this is happening on a screen that, by design, only the kids can see. If it was happening on the living room PC or TV then it's far more likely a parent can see something is wrong. Even if a parent makes a serious effort to keep tabs, it's very easy for a kid to hide something they think they shouldn't be doing. I'm not sure what, as a society, we can do about this.
twisteddeeds
Member
Yeah here in the UK, pretty much every online service has seen this kind of stuff..
All the social media stuff be it facebook, twitter, etc etc.. its not just isolated to swapnote.. nearly every week something crops up in our media about shit like this... and that's no exaggeration..
All the social media stuff be it facebook, twitter, etc etc.. its not just isolated to swapnote.. nearly every week something crops up in our media about shit like this... and that's no exaggeration..
chickdigger802
Banned
Is there no terms of service you gotta agree to for 3ds online bits that protects nintendo?
Been ages since i setup the 3ds.
Been ages since i setup the 3ds.
LegendofLex
Member
And THIS is why Nintendo is slow to adopt anything related to the Internet.
That's more or less how I see it at this point. Banning the offenders obviously isn't a solution. The only thing they could do (short-term) outside of killing the service is moderating every single message. A tall order when the messages are 100% images, photographs, and audio. And they had to do something, else they would come under fire for sure -- as you said, these are devices sold to parents as things they feel they can entrust to their children. Over the long term hopefully a greater emphasis will somehow be placed on using parental controls more effectively, but that will take time.
Setting up a pin takes seconds and a 4-digit pin has a 1 in 10000 chance of being broken, and there's a pin tries limit. This is not about Nintendo having to implement stricter controls. This is about parents not doing their job.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
I hope Nintendo realize that regardless of them shutting down the online service, people they feared would scapegoat Swapnote are still going to scapegoat Swapnote.
Gormless Noodle
Member
I think so too, yeah. On that note, I always thought that the console bound account system they have, is purely due to them being able to safeguard it this way from hackers and other sorts. I mean, I've see how often it happens on Xbox Live, so doing it like this seems like the most child friendly way to go. Not that this makes me like it any more, but it seems like the best way to prevent a lot of kids from losing their accounts.
At any rate, these guys are disgusting people and I hope they rot in jail for as long as possible.
There's also the responsibility of handling people's data too, I'd think their nightmare scenario would be to lose control and have their network hacked, though with the increasing importance of connected gaming they may need to figure out how to handle that before it happens.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
I'm actually impressed with the parental controls on the Wii u, 3ds and the 360. They've all had stellar implementation. Now, you have to use it and fine up with a decent password. But none of these things are effort less.
On the Nintendo consoles, I can shut down every feature and program. I don't think I can ask for better. Now, the kindle is a piece of shit in this regard. They don't givea fuck and want your kids with your credit card buying all types of shit.
On the Nintendo consoles, I can shut down every feature and program. I don't think I can ask for better. Now, the kindle is a piece of shit in this regard. They don't givea fuck and want your kids with your credit card buying all types of shit.
On my daughter's Fire, we do have a parental control password for purchases, and it works.
But I also created her an account with a test credit card number anyway so that it validated but can never be charged to.
Padawan of Windu
Member
And does Xbox shut off off xbox live when people meet up inappropriately from that, which has happened? No. I love Nintendo hardcore more than nearly anything else in life, but fuck them for this. Parental controls, people.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
I very well could be at old man programming a remote status but I have no idea why they force you to put a credit card on an account when they have plenty of free apps. That's just phenomenally stupid if you consider a kid being the primary user.
And considering how I've seen some implementations of that plan for parental restrictions (I phone user getting emails for downloads on kids account), it's discouraging. I didn't look for more than an hour because I was so disappointed in their implementation. I'll try looking again.
IHaveCandy
Banned
I didn't say they don't have a right to shut it down....
Femmeworth
Banned
Nintendo's system doesn't connect to a greater ecosystem of communication, for one. It's more specialized and thus has a more predictable audience. My main point is that those services are all not equally suitable for exploiting minors. To clarify my own stance, I don't know if Nintendo made the right move.
You're right, I was mistaken. You can swap friend codes wirelessly in close proximity, though.
That's frightening. I still don't think Nintendo were totally justified in shutting Swapnote down because if they had the system in place they could simply ban the offending 3DS' (and I'm sure they do since they can remotely remove games from 3DS'). That said, I can see why they did it since they don't even want to risk it happening again. I still hope that Swapnote isn't gone forever and that they bring it back along with more prominent parental controls.
GoodCoffeeJoey
Banned
This is why we can never have nice things.
That's actually a good question =/
I clearly wasn't a genius as a kid but if 2 adults wanted me to go in an hotel room with them, I would have found that to be shady as fuck.
you can't really prevent something like this.
group a sends a friend code to group b and vice versa. exchange a few messages of polite flirting. exchange pictures. and boom.
you would need an active parent who cares about what their child is doing. giving them all the trust because you think your little angel is the most mature pre-teen in the world is the worst thing you can do. but it happens a lot.
One way I think of preventing something like this a full ID of every profile incl phone number, emails and all sorts of things... so that if someone does something gross such as this it'll be easier to hunt these people down and lock them away. if a child under the age of 16 buys a gaming device, register it to the parent and send them a monthly receipt of all their interactions with a detailed transcript of the profiles they are communicating with. allow the parent to block or report any activity.
But such a thing won't happen. Grown up gamers will feel threatened that their trash talking might get them in trouble if it's linked to their real life profile. Some parents will find excuses to blame everyone else but their own neglect. But it would deter predators who'd have to give in their real name/address/phone number to use a service which sees most of its use in the hands of children.
Boy, If I had a kid and I found this out. I would demand nintendo to bring back the network just so I could see if and what my child was exposed to. Make sure my precious little offspring wasn't vandalized in any way shape or form and then if any of that happened, find a quickest way to figure out who that person was and bash their face in repeatedly and then spam their bruised up face all over swapnote.
I do hope nintendo has a record of all the messages / transcripts and are now working with authorities.
I liked drawing pictures to my friends. I did it regularly.
There was an active GAF community. It was a fun little thing to use.