Nintendo 3DS News: SwapNotes Feature Used by Child Predators, Reports Alleges

Without warning, it was gone. On Oct. 31, Nintendo decided to remove the SwapNote feature from the Nintendo 3DS. The reasons cited for the sudden removal of the feature were that SwapNote was "actively misused" and that "offensive material" was traded between people using the program.

While details regarding the exact reasons for the feature's removal were initially vague, according to a recent report from Japanese newspaper Mainichi, a child predator used the SwapNote feature to obtain child pornography. A 44-year-old man allegedly confessed to using the feature to convince two girls, 11 and 12 years old at the time of the incident, to send nude photos.

Another report, this time from Yomiuri Online, notes that two men used the Nintendo 3DS to prey on a 12-year-old girl in Japan. The two men, 36 and 49, used the Nintendo 3DS to contact the girl, then meet her in a hotel room and allegedly performed "improper acts" on the child. While SwapNote was not mentioned in this second incident, is it claimed that the girl used the online capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS to access an online dating site. In both instances, the parents of the children had turned off the online functionality of the 3DS originally, only for the girls to turn it back on later.

These are some very serious crimes, and it makes sense that Nintendo would end the service to prevent other children from being affected by the sick machinations of child predators. Perhaps Nintendo will bring back the feature at some point in the future with added safety procedures, but until then users will have to go without SwapNote.

Swapnote originally let users create and share handmade notes, and connect to the Internet via Spotpass to share the notes with other users. Interestingly enough, while Nintendo is looking to increase the privacy and safety of users who are minors, other console makers are going in the opposite direction when it comes to privacy. There has been a push for users to be able to use their real name on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with the PlayStation 4 allowing the feature at launch and the Xbox One not, despite previous promises to the contrary. This could end up risking the safety of minors using the feature online, and hopefully steps will be taken to ensure that similar incidents like the ones in Japan are avoided.