Nintendo files DMCA subpoena ordering Discord to identify"Teraleak" Pokémon leaker

[midian182]

What just happened? Nintendo, probably the most litigious games company in the world, has requested a DMCA subpoena ordering Discord to reveal the identity of the person behind last year's Pokémon "Teraleak." The leaker allegedly hacked Pokémon developer Game Freak and posted a slew of data covering not only unreleased and upcoming work, but also personal information about employees.

In October 2024, Discord user GameFreakOUT posted 1 terabyte of data to a Discord server called FeakLeak that included so much unseen Pokémon-related material that the community gave it the nickname Teraleak.

The leak included information about upcoming projects such as Pokémon Legends: Z-A, minutes from a Pokémon Company meeting, concept art from the original 1997 anime, source code for the DS games Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and much more. The source of all this was Game Freak's internal servers, which meant it also included employee details.

Game Freak said data on more than 2,000 current and former members of staff had been breached in August 2024.

Six months after the Teraleak incident, Polygon reports that Nintendo filed a request for a subpoena on April 18 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The subpoena would order Discord to reveal GameFreakOUT's name, address, phone number, and email address.

Nintendo issued DMCA requests at the time of the leak to try to remove the data, but it can still be found online.

Nintendo never said what it would do if the subpoena is granted and the leaker's identity is revealed, though it's easy to guess its plans. The company is famous for coming down hard on those who it calls copyright infringers. The most famous case is that of Gary Bowser, who was sentenced 40 months in federal prison (he was released after a year) for selling modchips and jailbreaks used to circumvent Nintendo's security measures. He also has to pay Nintendo a total of $14.5 million.

While the leaker in this instance never sold anything, Nintendo in 2021 took two Pokémon Sword and Shield leakers to court. They had to pay The Pokémon Company $150,000 each in damages and attorneys' fees. The size of the Teraleak, the fact it included employee details, and the alleged hacking mean GameFreakOUT would likely receive a harsher punishment.

Nintendo owns around 33% of Pokémon. Game Freak and The Pokémon Company own the other two-thirds.

Masthead: Michael Rivera

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Nintendo files DMCA subpoena ordering Discord to identify"Teraleak" Pokémon leaker

 

[winjer]

Nintendo is a Law Firm that occasionally also makes games.

 

[Vanderlinde]

Nintendo issued DMCA requests at the time of the leak to try to remove the data, but it can still be found online.

Since discord has been up the stocks, they swapped out human moderation with AI, and the few groups of moderating staff is heavily short to even keep up with the current amount of DMCA's.

Discord is history - the amount of doxing and toxic behaviour of so many folks - report all you want - they are not even bothering. Teamspeak and such was so much better in the days.

 

[themastergoose]

Since discord has been up the stocks, they swapped out human moderation with AI, and the few groups of moderating staff is heavily short to even keep up with the current amount of DMCA's.

Discord is history - the amount of doxing and toxic behaviour of so many folks - report all you want - they are not even bothering. Teamspeak and such was so much better in the days.

I've been on Discord (almost) from the beginning - Member since 27th July 2015 apparently. It's been going downhill for a while now as they don't seem to care anymore.

It is starting to make Reddit look sensible with how wayward most "communities" are these days. A hazmat suit before logging on was required long ago.

 

[psycros]

LOL, who the hell puts ANY of their real personal info online if they don't have to? Discord doesn't require any of the data Nintendo wants.