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Swapnote

You may recall that, in December, Nintendo released a new “Remastered” update for Swapnote. The whole situation was rather confusing. Not only was there any indication of what was new or changed, but it seemed random to issue an update for an application that hadn’t been touched in quite some time.

Now it’s been made clear what the situation was about. As pointed out by OatmealDome, Nintendo only put out the patch to address a vulnerability in which an attacker could potentially run any sort of code they created over StreetPass. MrNbaYoh earned nearly $1,700 by reporting the exploit to Nintendo.

Swapnote

If you’re ready to be confused, let’s have a brief chat about Swapnote. Out of nowhere, the app has received a new update… and it doesn’t seem to do much.

Swapnote was originally made for the 3DS at the end of 2012. It allowed users to draw up their own messages and have them sent to friends through SpotPass and StreetPass. The SpotPass feature was phased out about a year later, which really limited how useful Swapnote could actually be.

A few years have gone by without much news. Out of nowhere though, Nintendo released a 1.2 update for Swapnote this week, calling it “Remastered”. The patch notes simply state that some problems have been fixed. A few folks have examined the new update and can’t really find anything noteworthy that’s changed or added. There’s some talk that the patch may address an exploit, though that still doesn’t really explain the “Remastered” name here.

Nintendo has disabled all SpotPass features within Swapnote. Why? Based on a report from a pair of Japanese newspapers, Nintendo made the move following some disturbing incidents.

Child pornography charges have been filed against a 44 year-old man who apparently sent nude photos through Swapnote to two girls aged 11 and 12. The acts have already been confessed to.

Two other men, aged 49 and 36, have also been arrested for allegedly performing “improper acts” in hotel rooms with a young girl several times earlier in the year. The 12 year-old child met both adults through her 3DS, though apparently not through Swapnote. Yomiuri Online reports that the 3DS’s online function was used to access an online dating site. Interestingly, Mainichi News does specifically mention Swapnote.

In both instances, the parents had originally turned off the 3DS’s internet function, but the children turned it back on.

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Swapnote

Update 2: Nintendo’s official announcement is in. You can find it after the break.

Update: We’re now getting the indication that SpotPass features for Swapnote have been disabled worldwide. StreetPass still appears to be functioning.

Original: As of now, Japanese 3DS users can no longer take advantage of the ability to share images in Swapnote and Flipnote Studio 3D. Nintendo discovered that inappropriate content was being distributed, which was deemed inappropriate for children. Unfortunately, Nintendo has yet to devise a means of maintaining a safe environment for everyone without suspending online image sharing.


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