YES! but most data comes back... thing is, long term backups don't exist or the immediately important data is recent not old. So you may corrupt 6 months of backups and they have last years offline backups but those end up not being that valuable.

Say you have a cloud backup service... if they gain account access, they can go into that account and trash it all.

What I don't get is why people will buy stable coins that do not get paid interest like a bank does. I've had some for a while as part of a larger transaction but I was given interest at a good rate for the time.

Blind tests show people can't tell the difference. As far as muzac, that crap predates music software... and phony boy bands manufactured by experts too; but people get so into those... The Monkey's had fans and they were fake.

The AI didn't invent something ...

What I'd like is some clever additive... such as carbonated water makes it better and greener concrete... and how it could be used for structural footings then a way to fill the rest with limecrete and foam blocks.

I have not heard about Nintendo stealing away purchased items; I would assume refunds would happen and in some places (like my state) it's unlikely they'd go against the law.

Reusing a game key doesn't prove anything more is going on; however, it doesn't prove otherwise. We simply do not know if they have 100s of these things hammering their servers in various ways - they wouldn't report that. We also don't know if they've done really stupid things that makes it a possible risk or if they unjustifiably view it as a risk. Well, knowing security, you assume the server is not secure - you can't prove it is secure but you can prove it is not secure with 1 breach. We have mitigating policies built upon theoretical failures that may never happen. This could be such a policy - do I agree with it? no. I'm just arguing it's not "clearly an act of evil."

evil---
Overly broad definitions ruin the purpose of the word and in this case, actually help real evil by conflating it with lesser instances, accidents, mentally ill acts, thoughtlessness, etc. The serious problem is how situations get humans to do horrible acts; when humans often do not act like they have free will...

don't care. I just looked and it's a cheap yearly cost that doesn't matter. not worth fussing about.

I wasn't looking for a full debate just bringing up ideas but ok:

I think it's NICE Nintendo allowed counterfeit games to be used; they only bricked online. They could brick games but decided not to do so. I'd like to know why because they obviously thought about the matter for a long time.

The PAID game remained (although not legit) and the PAID system remains; only the PAID online service agreement ended and likely a prorated refund would happen. They don't even have to provide free updates (you show me any law that requires support.) Purchased online games you can't download would get a refund since the law is pretty easy on that.

I am not in support of a total online ban; however, I can understand the policy behind doing so. I can see updates/downloads being allowed but online play for that game being banned... although Nintendo suffered a massive hack to their store that allows free game download (update/restore) which still works AFTER they shutdown those old system's online stores.

I don't know their new system; however, my guess would be digitally signed code with a unique ID integrated in that. If somebody modifies and exploits the scheme it could be made quite difficult to generate valid signature for code that has been hacked and if/when they do this they'd be using the same unique ID for each copy of the exploit. Assuming the whole thing doesn't break and they can sign anything or the signature isn't made irrelevant. This would then make any duplicates a possible threat which maybe you only worry about after X copies show up. Maybe this online store has already been hacked and patched?

I would hope their online system is immune from anything client software does. Don't just assume competent security from a locked down tiny proprietary ecosystem with static hardware and possibly a secured client only server. They had two really pathetic encryption passwords for the gamecube and wii.

It's true piracy doesn't kill off everything but it always depended upon difficulty to minimize the harm. SEGA got out of the console business. they had a huge piracy problem that contributed to other problems at the time. The lost income is quantified and amortized which likely goes into pricing or at least impacts profits which influences capital investment (where appearance matters.) This is not the past either, everybody is competing for our TIME - the impact of too much content is already here without piracy.

US law: "guilty until proven innocent" is an illogical precept for the legal system with cogent backing but it does not apply to private parties and even less when you have legal print in the user agreement. You may get some common sense relief if you can afford to go to court and they allow you to win without just breaking you in the system; which could also rule in their favor. They can just screw you over without providing you anything to grasp at for legal footing. If you pay, it doesn't make much difference other than some kind of partial refund may come your way.

Nintendo didn't brick the system. They didn't brick the game. They banned online access; download server access for purchased items opens them to possible lawsuit. I can see how given their download servers were massively hacked for years why they would be paranoid about allowing compromised systems access to it. I think their download/update servers can still be used on the WiiU to pirate software - provided by Nintendo! They are not yet bricking updates etc for past customers of old old products.

heretically... ha.
I derived my definition of evil from an old psychologist who was also religious and studied the nature of evil for years from the two different perspectives. He believed there was a supernatural force influencing people but he somehow also believed mental illness along with lapses in judgment are behind just about everything people do. It's hard to have an evil monster of a person in the science... the worse they are, the easier it is to find a severe illness to classify them under. SICK not evil and many are not even doing anything evil; just individual sick acts.

Adjective? word play. sometimes just add "ing." way too often we turn words into tools to over emphasize. We literally use evil so much it has little meaning anymore... today literally means figuratively way too often.

An act of evil would be facilitating the corruption. The acts carried out as a result, like say...murder, are an anti-social behavior and in itself not evil (We often support and praise murder.) If the murder is to create the conditions for another target to be driven to do something anti-social in response then the murder is an evil act; but it's a tool, like using propaganda.

A person can create conditions which influence themselves to act badly; not just others. A group of people can unknowingly do this as well. This is why primitive peoples thought supernatural forces were pulling the strings -- because humans have a bias to attributing intelligence to emergent patterns. Such as thinking geese plan, lead, or breed themselves into flying in a V pattern. It's just another behavioral fractal.

This is as fair use for the company as fair use is for the consumer.

You buy shady stuff from a shady place you are taking a RISK. Neither the company or the customer are to blame but they have to deal with the mess the middleman created; however, the company doesn't know about it while the customer took the risky action.

Let us not attack everything involving a global corporation as being equivalent. Nuance...

Nintendo resolved this problem much better than anybody else I've heard about and they didn't brick the system or the game; just cut off online. maybe it should just be that game that blocked; although, attacks happen from such things sneaking past security. Nintendo's own servers were providing pirates easy to click and install copies at one point. Should people get upset? sure, maybe policies will improve. But unless it is a huge number of people, they do not have to do anything. They could have acted like Sony and been far worse - and Sony has been just fine; they know they could get away with so much more and yet they choose to be far more reasonable.

1) The unique ID and encryption scheme also exist for SECURITY. Not just merely lip-service security as is often the excuse. Signed software access is greatly enhanced by unique access; allowing breaches to be contained while a shared key can only be revoked for everybody after just 1 breach.

2) Online cheating ruins gaming for everybody. There are difficult, expensive, complex ideas to counter this, some of which might work before online collaboration helps people circumvent everything; even good things.

3) You MUST block risky code. Legit copies will be banned when observed to be a threat. If you buy shady goods, it's you who take the risk. They can not allow every compromised system without putting them at eventual risk. Obviously they also of copy protection motivations; have you seen what has been done with the 3DS? It's nicer to use a hacked system than the real thing and it pulled games down from Nintendo's own servers (at least when I saw it.)

4) There is no business if everybody just copies it. Yes, they are a publicly traded company and could run lower costs by becoming a non-profit if they could maintain a large savings for capital investments (but after a series of failures they'd be unable to raise funds... quickly or as large as getting loans and being able to pay back those loans. The problem always is the minor loan sharks who end up running the operation; and the addiction to continual credit... which is kind of forced by your competition leveraging theirs against you. it's a dark pattern. )

5) Nintendo tried to create virtual game sharing with a serious effort to mimic the usage behavior of the past with about as much freedom as existed. They still sell physical games. They could be going the path of the other companies and taking away as many rights as possible. Google is free to shutdown your whole life and delete everything permanently; Apple likely also has the small print. Just because they do not (unless you are a falsely accused pedophile) does not mean it will not happen (like after Trump finds out what he could force them to do.)

You have the right to not purchase most things if their cost is objectionable to you. If enough people disagree, then your opinion doesn't matter. You are not the center of the universe; but are acting like an entitled teenager who feels that nothing should be done about their shoplifting.

Something is not evil simply because a spoiled child says so. Does nobody learn what evil actually is? Or actually study it? I've noticed even religious people have not done any formal study of the topic.

Evil is the condition by which a human is motivated to do an anti-social act. This can appear like a supernatural force at play or even just as an intentional act. Most often, it is actually neither!

You promote evil by ignorant over application of the word; true evil incarnate, such as Trump gets empowered and he actively undermines the meaning of words like a marketing person learns to do; but coincidentally, is the major theme and warning from the book 1984.

no but don't great minds think alike? ;-)

I think it's telling you forgot the U in your username, DMB. That is amazingly DUMB.

The American Way died with the USA, which is now gone. It's Trumpistan. It's certainly not united anymore. The culture changed. The greatest generation won the day but the Fascists won in the end.

Sorry life sucks but stop living in a dream. If you want things to revert back, it's going to be a long fight and only after enough people realize...

Adopted? how? Even back in the 40s they had adoption paperwork. birth certificate? social security numbers are need papers! even back in "those days." You can't just birth a kid... besides superman wasn't a newborn so doing a birth at the farm and reporting it later was not so simple. Not impossible but tricky given nobody would see a pregnancy etc. Less likely to investigate back then - today a sudden baby showing up would instigate something since we have a known market for trafficking. How did he go to school without the mandatory vaccinations? How do you give him a shot without the needle breaking?

Today, he'd have to commit a major fraud. Try getting paid without a SS number or opening a bank account. A Real ID would keep him from driving.