Nintendo disables SpotPass functionality of Swapnote

[Zerard]

Nintendo has learned that some consumers, including minors, have been exchanging their friend codes on Internet bulletin boards and then using Swapnote (known as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) to exchange offensive material. Nintendo has been investigating ways of preventing this and determined it is best to stop the SpotPass feature of Swapnote because it allows direct exchange of photos and was actively misused.

Nintendo always wants to provide a positive experience for all consumers and limit the risk of any inappropriate activity or misuse of a service. We feel it is important on this occasion to take this action.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience to the many consumers who have been using this service responsibly; however this decision was made considering the point that many minors also use this feature of Swapnote. Thank you for your understanding.

http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/det...ZpxNIK5920bRRK

Welp, so much for sending drawings to each other. I'll miss seeing all of your artistic swapnote talents. :[

[Thugnificent]

I saw this coming but I'd hoped they wouldnt do it. Swapnote was one of the best spotpass features the 3DS had, and I hope they find some way to bring it back.

[Aircalibur]

I saw this earlier today. Really kind of sad, honestly. I'll miss Nicki.

[Lozmaster]

What the pineapple?
It's been out for nearly two years and now nintendo has a problem with it because people are giving out fcs on the internet...?

And they just added a voice chat in pokemon too...

Unless miiverse is coming to the 3ds soon, I can't think of any good reason for this.

[Polantaris]

Apparently they disabled it simply because people were sending lewd pictures to each other, with the feature to send actual pictures added a few months ago. So instead of disabling that single feature, they disable the entire thing as if all of Swapnote was the problem.

[Alloy]

So noooo. It isn't the parent's fault for not educating their children to just accept anything from an stranger on the internet. It's the tool. The very same tool they would have in said internet forum with PRIVATE MESSAGES. or POSTS.

I want out of this damn planet.

[Shippo the Fox]

So noooo. It isn't the parent's fault for not educating their children to just accept anything from an stranger on the internet. It's the tool. The very same tool they would have in said internet forum with PRIVATE MESSAGES. or POSTS.

I want out of this damn planet.

To be fair, you know parent's have a hard time with personal responsibility and video games.

[MariettaRC]

I'd think this is just Nintendo being paranoid of being held liable for "exposing" children to such content.

Because you know that's how some parents would react if that happened with their kid as a result of their being stupid on the internet.

[Kirov]

I can see why they did it I guess, if the story made the news or what not it would be a bit of a PR disaster given their kid friendly image. But why not just disable being able to attach pictures, typical heavy handed Nintendo response.

[Kirov]

So I guess that's why they shut it down.

http://kotaku.com/child-predators-we...ice-1459304126

[Tigeon]

So I guess that's why they shut it down.

http://kotaku.com/child-predators-we...ice-1459304126

It just takes .01% of users to ruin it for the 99.99% who use it correctly >_<