Nintendo Apologizes to SuicideGirls

As a follow up to the unfortunate incident on Wednesday, thanks to emfra (and others) who pointed out that BoingBoing has Nintendo's Apology Letter to the SuicideGirls site up. They even went so far as to offer up a free game system and game to the site owner. So alls well that end's well...but not before Penny Arcade had a chance to comment.

Comments

Let's give Nintendo a break, folks.

[Randolpho]

Now that we have the whole story, I think we can cut Nintendo a little bit of slack. Note the following from the original C&D letter:

It has come to our client's attention recently that you are using the Nintendo trademark(s)/works in the hidden text/visible text/meta tags and/or title and/or links of the above-referenced sexually explicit Web site.

Note the bolded portions. Then note this quote from the apology letter:

The letter was sent as part of an ongoing Nintendo program to aggressively protect our younger consumers from the hundreds of sexually-explicit sites each year that use Nintendo properties to attract children. We are proud of our efforts in this area. Unfortunately, the site posting identified in our letter was targeted by mistake.

What Nintendo did was try to protect children from porn-site google-spoofing. I know every one of you has done an innocent search for, say, "dog food brands", and come up with hundreds of porn links, usually on the first page, often the first link! I think what Nintendo was trying to do is a good thing, not a bad thing; unfortunately, they targeted a legitimate porn site rather than a google-spoofer.

It was a mistake, and they recognized it and fessed up. That in and of itself takes balls, and I salute Nintendo for it. I think the rest of us should calm down about it. I understand the desire to knee-jerk and think the man is out to get us, but I think the truth, in this case, is a little more mundane.

Re:well after RTFA

[t35t0r]

Suicidegirls is not "goth porn", I saw no pictures of penetration, blowjobbing, cunninglingus, and cum gargling, but maybe i didn't look in the right places.

It seems to me the Suicidegirls is erotic/nude art with a gothic twist and should not be confused for porn, although it may have the same effect on your penis.

Parent has merit

[Adam9]

What kind of business letter starts with "Hello,"?

No contact information provided for the SG owner to contact customer service with the system of his choice

Most people scan in their letters as JPGs or PDFs, not retype them

Attorneys usually send e-mails to supplement a cease and decist letter sent via mail. SG says they only got an e-mail.

I could go on, but I think it's apparent now that SG did stage this.