It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:

[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.

Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
​

* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

• From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
  • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
  • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
  • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
  • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
  • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
  • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
  • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
  • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

• The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
  • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    
  • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
  • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
  • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

• Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
  • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
  • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
  • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
  • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !

 

[Platinum Lucario]

A screenshot should be fine.

Spoiler

so is there no workaround this banned things?

There is a temporary solution, which is to change the LocalFriendCodeSeedB of an unbanned system to the banned system. But that I can't guarantee that you'll stay unbanned. Nintendo can still find out if you have evaded a console ban by checking the serial number (hardcoded on the CPU) and comparing it with the console ID and signature within the FriendCodeSeedB, just like Sony and Microsoft.

 

[aruna]

There is a temporary solution, which is to change the LocalFriendCodeSeedB of an unbanned system to the banned system. But that I can't guarantee that you'll stay unbanned. Nintendo can still find out if you have evaded a console ban by checking the serial number (hardcoded on the CPU) and comparing it with the console ID and signature within the FriendCodeSeedB, just like Sony and Microsoft.

i dont want this solutions makes my head complicated + also not a techies

 

[Osakasan]

I want to send a clear message to all three of the gaming giants: "Change your Terms of Service to allow for unauthorised content and console modifications."

I have some bad news for you, because they wont

 

[plushifoxed]

So, we know from people snooping with WireShark that 3DS bans were most likely doled out by monitoring data sent by BOSS back to Nintendo in real time, rather than, say, pulling the Activity Log/PTM data back from the system to their servers or something.
There's a couple ways that we could get around this:

1. Add a feature to a CFW that forcibly blocks packets sent from BOSS to Nintendo, but not packets bound for the internet in general; thus, FBI's Remote Install and hblauncher_loader's download of the otherapp payload for your system version can be done without Nintendo knowing it. However, this is kind of a scorched-earth solution; it might cause problems with other apps. You also generally wouldn't be able to use SpotPass in any games at all anymore.
2. Again, someone would have to add a feature to a CFW, but instead of blocking BOSS entirely, we'd want it to alter the monitoring data sent to Nintendo when we're in a homebrew app, so that the titleid sent back to Nintendo would be set to something that actually exists, and the product code sent back would be altered to match, instead of being something obviously fake like "CTR-L-UPDR", or "PRBOOM", or... "freeshop".

• It'd also be ideal to change the titleid/product code when one is playing VC injections, in order to have them match a legal VC game. Especially GBA VC, since there's only 10 legal titles, but hundreds of injections out there.

Anyway, I wish I could be more than just "that one asshole with an ~good idea~" here, but I can't program for the life of me. Sorry...

 

[KytuzuZE]

i dont want this solutions makes my head complicated + also not a techies

Unfortunately, there is no other solutions you can do, this is the easiest one to do.
Just an Local Friend Seed B...

Get that file around google and inject it to your console with Decrypt9. As long you have A9LH or B9S.

Then you be unbaned gud 4 life, no rizks

 

[Platinum Lucario]

If we want a permanent solution to everyone's console ban, the best thing we should do, is campaign to send a clear message to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to change their Terms of Service to allow for "unauthorised content and/or technical modifications". Because what they're doing with their Terms of Service, is crippling long-time fans and developers who actually like to research and develop. They have never done anything to disrupt Nintendo's online gaming server, they have never cheated, nor have they done anything that would hurt developers in any way, shape or form.

If we all campaign against their provisions in their Terms of Service, we can somehow make a difference. We can already see some companies that actually embrace mods to their software, and even include editors in their software install.

First of all, they should have told you to remove the SD card.
Second of all, seeing as they did not do that, you should have removed it or formatted it. Their contents are yours and are private, it's your sd card, they are not allowed to look through it.
Third, share the file list if you like, but chances are that if you really didn't do anything related to homebrew or cfw, and didn't have any "wrong" files on your card, that they are trying to pin the ban on you by putting those files there (or saying that they are there) instead of unbanning you, because that would be admitting guilt on their part, and admitting that they can wrongfully ban someone, which would be the end of these bans.

Sounds just about right. Because those folders on my SD card, are the only stuff that I have. And yeah, I'm quite concerned as to why they didn't tell me to remove my SD card. Perhaps they were waiting to make up something false, just in order to make me try and give up?

I have some news, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to evade the ban either. I'm going to fight my ban. They provided no evidence, and they refused to tell me what kind of software I had on my microSD card that was "unauthorised software".

 

[novren]

If we want a permanent solution to everyone's console ban, the best thing we should do, is campaign to send a clear message to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to change their Terms of Service to allow for "unauthorised content and/or technical modifications". Because what they're doing with their Terms of Service, is crippling long-time fans and developers who actually like to research and develop. They have never done anything to disrupt Nintendo's online gaming server, they have never cheated, nor have they done anything that would hurt developers in any way, shape or form.

If we all campaign against their provisions in their Terms of Service, we can somehow make a difference. We can already see some companies that actually embrace mods to their software, and even include editors in their software install.

Sounds just about right. Because those folders on my SD card, are the only stuff that I have. And yeah, I'm quite concerned as to why they didn't tell me to remove my SD card. Perhaps they were waiting to make up something false, just in order to make me try and give up?

I have some news, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to evade the ban either. I'm going to fight my ban. They provided no evidence, and they refused to tell me what kind of software I had on my microSD card that was "unauthorised software".

But. Have you ever had cfw or used homebrew in any form?

 

[MushGuy]

If we want a permanent solution to everyone's console ban, the best thing we should do, is campaign to send a clear message to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to change their Terms of Service to allow for "unauthorised content and/or technical modifications". Because what they're doing with their Terms of Service, is crippling long-time fans and developers who actually like to research and develop. They have never done anything to disrupt Nintendo's online gaming server, they have never cheated, nor have they done anything that would hurt developers in any way, shape or form.

If we all campaign against their provisions in their Terms of Service, we can somehow make a difference. We can already see some companies that actually embrace mods to their software, and even include editors in their software install.

Sounds just about right. Because those folders on my SD card, are the only stuff that I have. And yeah, I'm quite concerned as to why they didn't tell me to remove my SD card. Perhaps they were waiting to make up something false, just in order to make me try and give up?

I have some news, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to evade the ban either. I'm going to fight my ban. They provided no evidence, and they refused to tell me what kind of software I had on my microSD card that was "unauthorised software".

Fight the good fight, even if it means going for a lawsuit. Don't give up!

 

[Platinum Lucario]

But. Have you ever had cfw or used homebrew in any form?

Nope, I've never used it on that console (white New 3DS), nor on the system that I transferred from, which is the Aqua Blue 3DS

 

[novren]

Nope, I've never used it on that console (white New 3DS), nor on the system that I transferred from, which is the Aqua Blue 3DS

You've got very good chances for all of us!

 

[suzsuzuki]

If we want a permanent solution to everyone's console ban, the best thing we should do, is campaign to send a clear message to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to change their Terms of Service to allow for "unauthorised content and/or technical modifications". Because what they're doing with their Terms of Service, is crippling long-time fans and developers who actually like to research and develop. They have never done anything to disrupt Nintendo's online gaming server, they have never cheated, nor have they done anything that would hurt developers in any way, shape or form.

If we all campaign against their provisions in their Terms of Service, we can somehow make a difference. We can already see some companies that actually embrace mods to their software, and even include editors in their software install.

Sounds just about right. Because those folders on my SD card, are the only stuff that I have. And yeah, I'm quite concerned as to why they didn't tell me to remove my SD card. Perhaps they were waiting to make up something false, just in order to make me try and give up?

I have some news, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to evade the ban either. I'm going to fight my ban. They provided no evidence, and they refused to tell me what kind of software I had on my microSD card that was "unauthorised software".

Xiaomi is one company that allows you to mod your phone and root it, without losing the warranty. They even teach how to do it. Nintendo needs to be more like Xiaomi.

 

[Grifnelle]

Add a feature to a CFW that forcibly blocks packets sent from BOSS to Nintendo, but not packets bound for the internet in general; thus, FBI's Remote Install and hblauncher_loader's download of the otherapp payload for your system version can be done without Nintendo knowing it. However, this is kind of a scorched-earth solution; it might cause problems with other apps. You also generally wouldn't be able to use SpotPass in any games at all anymore.

I don't know if that's possible anymore. It might have been possible using the same exploit as CTR-Httpwn and instead of spoofing the system version, we could spoof the app and have it look like another app to the servers. However, since its been patched I don't know if it's possible. I know luma has a similar feature built in for non NNID online interactions, but I don't think it would be strong enough to do this.

 

[DocKlokMan]

I'm pretty sure there was someone here that used WireShark and captured the packets and told us that there was only "Currently Playing" information was sent along with the details of the LocalFriendCodeSeedB and the console's serial number and mentioned that the size was too small for it to send console's activity log data

Ah, thank you for the reply! I will begin looking through the thread for these original posts. *eyes the page count* On my next day off.

 

[nl255]

Nope, I've never used it on that console (white New 3DS), nor on the system that I transferred from, which is the Aqua Blue 3DS

Did you convert your own 3d videos for use on the 3ds video player, or your own 3d pictures for use on the 3ds picture viewer? Because those could count as well.

 

[kingaz]

I'm pretty sure there was someone here that used WireShark and captured the packets and told us that there was only "Currently Playing" information was sent along with the details of the LocalFriendCodeSeedB and the console's serial number and mentioned that the size was too small for it to send console's activity log data

Searching for "Wireshark" in this thread only turns up three types of posts:

1. Requests for someone to use wireshark (including requests from you).
2. Vague half-recollections of a wireshark post that either was deleted or never existed in the first place.
3. Assertions about what people found via wireshark that primarily cite your post as fact.

While I cannot be certain, it seems that this thread has formed a daisy chain of speculation and theories that has been elevated as "fact" in the eyes of many, especially since your post is directly quoted by the OP. As far as anyone knows, none of what you asserted is actually backed up by someone going in and monitoring traffic from the 3DS.

 

[ShadowOne333]

What are the downsides of injection another LocalFriendSeed into a 3DS to unban it?

 

[kingaz]

Spoiler

There is a temporary solution, which is to change the LocalFriendCodeSeedB of an unbanned system to the banned system. But that I can't guarantee that you'll stay unbanned. Nintendo can still find out if you have evaded a console ban by checking the serial number (hardcoded on the CPU) and comparing it with the console ID and signature within the FriendCodeSeedB, just like Sony and Microsoft.

One interesting thing here is that there are three folders in your "Nintendo 3DS" folder. That leads me to believe that you had an emuNAND on there at one point or another.

 

[Slattz]

I'm pretty sure there was someone here that used WireShark and captured the packets and told us that there was only "Currently Playing" information was sent along with the details of the LocalFriendCodeSeedB and the console's serial number and mentioned that the size was too small for it to send console's activity log data

Could have been me, I used fiddler. Btw, I didn't see the currently playing titleid but rather the current titleid trying to connect to the server.

 

[novren]

One interesting thing here is that there are three folders in your "Nintendo 3DS" folder. That leads me to believe that you had an emuNAND on there at one point or another.

Or that he performed a few system formats.

 

[Grifnelle]

What are the downsides of injection another LocalFriendSeed into a 3DS to unban it?

You lose your friends list. You can also be banned again which will bad both systems with the seed