Sony Announces Settlement in George Hotz Case
After George Hotz was instrumental in hacking and jailbreaking the PlayStation 3 earlier this year, Sony took ‘Geohot’ to court. In protest, the hacking collective Anonymous declared war on Sony and took action by taking down Sony and PlayStation.com, and later the PlayStation Network. Despite Anonymous apparently backing off, Sony has announced they have reached a settlement with George Hotz.
Over on the US PlayStation Blog, Sony have announced that the case has been settled:
“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”
Continuing:
We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network.
We appreciate Mr. Hotz’s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.
Hotz also made a statement:
It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier, I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.
The details of the settlement were not announced, but Hotz did agree to a permanent injunction on his work involving the PlayStation 3. At no point did Sony explicitly announce that the early settlement was in part due to Anonymous’ attacks, but with the collective planning a bigger assault in the near future, the timing does seem more than just a coincidence.
104 Responses to “Sony Announces Settlement in George Hotz Case”
“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier, I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”
The path to hell is paved with good intentions.
I sincerely hope he learns something from this ordeal. Just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should.
Good point, but this is a settlement so it was done out of court, and since Sony is not releasing the details they probably paid him off because they knew that he essentially did nothing wrong.
When you advertise the PS3 as a ‘computer’ you give it the same rights as a computer which include unlimited and unrestricted alterations and modifications.
GeoHotz probably made a pretty penny out of all of this.
Why do people always make up things about the advertising. Go onto youtube and look at every ad Sony made about the PS3. They never mention OtherOS. Then go get your PS3 box and see if OtherOS support is advertised on the box. ITS NOT. I’ve an original launch day PS3 and OtherOS is only mentioned in the consols manual. Its no where on the box. I’ve also got a 120GB PS3 I bought 2 years ago and its the same thing. They never advertised that feature in store either just like how they don’t advertise a tonne of other features the PS3 has.
Yeah it sucks that they removed a feature that was a security risk to them and us consumers. Yeah maybe they did removed it to save the company money. Who cares. Nobody used it anyway because homebrew ran shit on the thing and linux ran shit too. The people using PS3s as servers still have the other os feature because they never upgraded the ps3 to firmware 3.21. I don’t see people cry when Sony adds features to the PS3 like the video editor which is actually very good, the photo album viewer which now supports 3D or even trophey support that adds hours of extra play to every game that supports them. Theres heaps more things added to the PS3 that never game with your purchase but watever. I suppose bitches will always be bitches
indeed it sucks that its gone, but it will never be removed from my ps3 owners manual.
Jimboner, there is absolutely no evidence or reason to believe Sony “paid him off”. He’s barred from any further “hacking” or “tinkering” with any Sony product in the future. Doesn’t sound a “win” or a “payoff” to me.
You are correct that I have no evidence, but it is common practice in legal proceedings to settle out of court because the plaintiff(Sony) has a case they can not win so they reach a settlement(money) to keep the defendant(George Hotz) from engaging in the same activity in the future.
Further proof that Sony paid of George Hotz is that if they knew they could win then they would have continued in court where the verdict would be enforceable as law since the interpretation of the judicial branch is the interpretation of the law. Seeing that Sony had no real way of winning, they settled out of court with an obvious payment to prevent world renowned hacker, George Hotz, from jailbreaking their software.
OR…They got the injunction they were seek all along and were happy enough with the outcome to stop the litigation as it is costly.
An injunction can’t be settled out of court, since it requires a judge to make a ruling and would make the results public.
Legal common sense FTW!
Well I’m glad its being settled
It was settled on March 31, before Anon even started anything. It will be interesting to see all the settlement terms.
That was surprisingly quick.
So where is Shadow_runner to say a word on the attacks, I mean, apparently he was on the salvation side; are they gonna continue, this doesnt matter to their cause.. punishment?. Anyway, as I said before, this hasnt affected me so I guess this is good news…maybe?
I wonder what happens to GeoHotz’s legal defense fund now that they the case has been settled? Anyways, it would seem as though that Sony is not buckling under Anon (to me atleast) and that GeoHotz out of self preservation did what the courts asked….which is for the best, no matter your stance on piracy and the Anonymous attacks. Curious to see what Anonymous will do now, continue to attack sony, or let it be….
I would be interested to know where all that money will go also. I could just go out and whine about doing something illegal and then get a lot of followers to give me money. Lots of people do that then go to jail for scamming people out of their money, but in today’s climate I guess it is OK to lie, Cheat and Steal.
No matter what the Settlement entails with Sony he will eventually have to answer to the Greatest Power in the Universe if he did something EVIL…
When asking for money, he said any extra would go to the EFF, so I would expect that to still be the case.
It never looks good when a huge company goes after 1 or 2 individuals even when they are in the right to do so. I was behind Sony 100% and I still am. George was simply wrong. I hope this sent a message to others moving forward. If not, sue the next idiot Sony.
Lame! What the hell were you thinking Sony???
They got what they were after the entire time. They weren’t asking for damages or jail time. They simply wanted him to stop and that’s what he will do. If he doesn’t, and starts publishing root keys again Sony at least has precedent to go after him a second time, asking for damages and jail time and win easy.
he gets a 10G fine up to someone large amount for any tampering, still shoulda saw jail time for breaking the law on purpose.
I agree though if Sony is happy with the outcome then I am too.
@Jawknee1
“if Sony is happy with the outcome then I am too.”
Wow. Of all people, YOU are the one grasping on someones nuts. Homo
lol
Why because I am not in a position to tell Sony to continue litigating?
I can’t tell the difference between you moron trolls anymore. You all see to come from the same inbred trailer trash.
@StarEnix
HERP DERP dozens of comments blindly supporting geohot by shadow-runner and THAT’s the big example you can find? Can you say biased?
@JohnnyTruant5
First of all, WTF did you come from? Secondly I was referring to Jawknee1′s constant posts about how someone is gay or on someones nuts. I didn’t say Shadow-Runner isn’t guilty of the same thing. I said of all people, the one accusing others of nut hugging is the one doing it.
What no death penalty for him then??? Oh well… ;-D
You can see the court files on this; for some reason it is not linked on the source website, but the details are at:
http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.cand.235965/gov.uscourts.cand.235965.127.0.pdf
Nice find.
Noone wins. Noone loses. This was a stalemate. As I have always said…regardless of the outcome, the hack is out. We now have CFW and working jailbreaks…even OtherOS is back. There ARE other hackers and modders working on homebrew and apps for the CFW. Backup managers are being released and updated 3 times a week. They will never be able to trully put the cat back in the bag, on this. Thousands of jailbroken PS3′s still remain active. PSN bypass hacks are being developed to allow us back online. Kmeaw, Karakatos, Math, Hermes, Rebug, etc…will still continue to support PS3 homebrew and hacks. This outcome did not intimidate or scare any of us, in any way.
At the end of the day……nothing changes. Despite this outcome, we will continue to fight. This battle is behind us, but the war still remains. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We are Anonymous.
you forgot, “we are dumb”
No one wins. no one loses*
BTW, get a life.
Actually, Sony , the developers who depend on the PS3 being a secure platform and the consumers win.
Pirates and internet trolls who pretend to be apart of another group of internet trolls lose.
Seriously? You’re anonymous? Didn’t we have this discussion before where there’s no such thing as anonymity online?
Face it. You are one, you are foolish, you are not anonymous.
Anonymous succeeds again… They brought down Sony just like they brought down Scientology…
Oh, wait…
I bet anon is going to claim victory for this too
LOL! Yup, last time I noticed, Scientology is still alive an well, Juilian Assange is still going to jail and Paypal and Amazon are still doing business.
What a bunch of losers these trolls are.
But the PS3 is NOT secure, Jawknee1. Just because Sony settled, doesnt mean the PS3 is that much more “safer.” It still has the same security flaws as before…and it will continue to be exploited. All one really has to do…if he/she is really commited to it, is buy 2 PS3′s. One for homebrew/backing up and one for PSN. This outcome does not stop hackers, or anyone wanting to jailbreak their PS3. It doesnt even stop online cheaters or pirates.
Geohot uploaded the keys to the internet, for everyone to use. Made a rap video. Wiped his hard drives, and went to South America for a vacation…..and will never do a single day in jail. I bet that just burns your self riteous assholes to no end, huh? So george hotz can never again hack or jailbreak another Sony device, ever again. So what? Doesnt mean someone else cant, or wont.
Regardless, we still won. We have our hacks, or backup managers, OtherOS and our freedom. As long as people will continue to pirate PS3 games (which will be more frequent and spiteful, now) Sony will NEVER win.
Have a nice day. ^_^
Just because you’re to stupid and stubborn to see the forest for the trees doesn’t mean other are. This set a precedent. Go ahead, keep “hacking”, keep acting like a f***ing clown. I dare you to expose the root keys like Geohot did, and I hope Sony takes your pathetic ass to court.
As long as Sony turns a profit from the PS3, Sony will never lose!
Ugh, please learn to spell if you’re going to sound like a douchebag on the internet. I’m embarrassed for you.
Shadow Runner is obviously an idiot and just trying to be cool. For one, no one is going to jail anyway in a civil matter. Moron. maybe you should understand your government before you go all queer boy activist. You know whats really funny? Is YOU are the sheep. You follow your gay little click of other hackers who cant get girlfriends and have to annoy other people to make yourself feel good. Really it’s quite sad.
Everyone here can tell that you are no one important and they have no reason to listen to anything you have to say.You also fail to see Sony’s end game here. Number one, make our platform appear secure and have our customers see us as their “protector”. Number 2, send a message to the douchbags that they aren’t going to lay down and take it in the ass. Number 3, still come out looking reasonably good because they decided to take the high road and not bury him completely. Number 4, they took Geohotz pride and knocked that fag off his high horse and back with the pony’s where he belongs!
If you don’t believe me about the impression that Sony has left on its customers, feel free to scroll through the above comments and see how many people are really happy with Sony today.
On a special note,
Wow. Ya not to sound like one of “those” people but honestly this is kinda a win for Geo. I remember that since this started ppl were saying he was gonna suffer to the full extent to the law. Well he took off to South America, did something to his hard drives and now he’s not doing a drop of jail time. Honestly I feel like its a win for Geo.
As for Sony who knows what their modivation for settling was. Maybe even the attack by anon did have something to do with it.
Either way I regard this as a win for the hackers. But is it a win for Users? dunno.
No, we were saying we wanted him to be punished under the full extent of the law. As some one noted above, he still has to pay a fine and is not allowed to publish anymore findings on the PS3. if he does, he will then go to jail. So no, he didn’t win.
LIES! I can recall several posts where you quoted “I hope the scum bag rots in jail.”
“He deserves to go to jail.”
“Geohot will soon be jailbreaking bubba’s butthole.”
Youre such a two-faced HYPOCRITE, Jawknee1.
Read my post again dumbass. How is that any different that what I just said. Me hoping he punished to the full extent of the law is no different that saying “He deserves to go to jail” or “I hope the scum bag rots in jail.”
Key words. “deserves”, “hope”. I never he “will”, only that I wanted him to. Nice try though you f***ing douchebag.
Children, children, children.
Clearly Shadow-Runner is a self-involved, spoiled, fifteen year old from San Diego who desperately wants to belong to what appears to be a powerful group so that he can feel more influential and in control of his world than he really is.
There is no reason to agree with him.
…
…
…
Oh, wait. You weren’t agreeing with him, were you?
Well, then…
Carry on.
Shadow-runner, can i ask you something? What’s it like to pretend that you are in a group of people that nobody likes? That is kinda like asking to be fat, retarded, ugly, stupid, gay, black r mexican. Unless you are in fact a Fat retarded stupid gay ugly bla-xican (yes i made that word up, but they do exist!, i swear!)
@kyle
F’king racist. All your comments should be thumbed down.
@starENIX
he’s not really being racist, he’s saying it’s like asking to be in a majority with so many things that people can be discrimitive against (Not that it’d be right for them to be doing so but at the same time you’d be stupid for wishing something like that upon yourself) there’s no need to throw the racist card.
I don’t think he was fined anything yet. There is a statement that he would be fined for $10,000 if he violates the injunction (and $250,000 if he distributes it).
can we just ban shadow-runner already? He SUPPORTS piracy as by his last post, he is not wanted here. He is just a little thief that gets his jollies pretending that he is part of some super secret hacking group. Most kids his age play with transformers, he is in his room with a cape made of bed sheets and a colander on his head shouting “FOR GREAT JUSTICE, WE SHALL STEAL THE WORLD”
Judging by the linked court document, Hotz can’t even open any “Sony Product”, such as replacing the lithium-ion battery in a PS3 controller, without violating the settlement.
If he violates the settlement, he will be fined $10,000 for every violation, and if any violation is found to be distributed in any way, he will be fined an additional fine up to a maximum of $250,000.
Details to the settlement as “Sony Product” is any product or service of SCEA or SCEA Affiliates that have the Sony, PlayStation or PlayStation Network (PSN) brand name or mark.
This excludes anything acquired from the above that was not owned by the above before the settlement.
Details as to what Hotz cannot do is “Circumvent” meaning “descramble, decrypt, or otherwise avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair, regardless of the alleged purpose”
As well as “including but not limited to any code, device, information, encryption or key that prevents access to, downloading of, distributing, or copying of any confidential or proprietary information or any softare code or other copyrighted material.”
In case ya don’t want to open and read it yourself, that’s the gist of it.
Nothing to do with laser-sharks or tentacle pron? I’m very disappointed in Sony. Disappointed I say!
@ Jawknee1
“I dare you to expose the root keys like Geohot did.”
[Copyrighted material]
Come at me. ^_^
I hope Playstationlifestyle reports your ip to sony a
Yes. But can you recite Shakespeare’s Hamlet in it’s original Klingon?
Keep those funny comments coming
I hope Playstationlifestyle forwards your ip and email adress to Sony.
Oh dear! Well let me format my HDD’s real quick, and spoof my IP address. In fact, this isnt even my computer, im selling it in an hour. Im also moving to mexico, where Sony’s laws mean nothing.
I’m sure I’ll be just fine. ^_-
When asked what his thoughts were on the matter, George Hotz had this to say:
“What I’ve found in all PS3 related matters is no matter what you do, you make tons of people pissed off. You release something, people are pissed. You don’t release something, people are pissed. Sony removes OtherOS, people are pissed at YOU. You settle, people are pissed. You fight, people are pissed. You talk, people are pissed. You stay quiet, people are pissed.
The conclusion I have drawn is that PS3 fanboys are just pissed off.
And no one except me has lost any rights today.”
How big is George Hotz dick, Susan? I’m just asking because you seem to do a good job at taking it all down your throat, including his balls, which is pretty impressive. I haven’t even seen seasoned porn stars do the magical things you can do.
People liked your comment? Very distasteful. I guess if it’s not Shadow-Runner then it’s ok?
I had to like it on principle after that.
@kyle
lol
@Shadow-Runner, go wait in line for Beiber tickets looser.
Well, yeah! George lost. If we had lost we’d be the ones losing “rights” but we didn’t. Also someone might want to teach George what his real “rights” are. Perhaps we should vote Shadow-runner into doing it. It’ll be educational for him to do something constructive for once
This STUPID ¨hackers¨ really think they ¨WON¨ Woooow…. ¨SONY will never win¨? Dude just how STUPID can you be? XDD
SONY is a MULTY-BILLIONARE industry, and you think you ¨win¨ just because SOME ps3 have been hacked??, most of the Playstation community respects THE LAW and enjoys what SONY has to offer therefore we respect our consoles and the people that made it, so sony will ALLWAYS has consumers, MILLIONS of them against a couple thousands hackers…. yep you guys WON! jjajajajajaja!! XD
He didn’t go to jail, but Hotz definitely lost, didn’t shadow say that if George lost he would stop posting forever?
i’m starting to be a big fan of this thumbs down system. if you really want to mess around with all of this stuff why your ps3? why not your computer? sony has every right to protect them selfs and protect there consoles, sony doesn’t support homebrew and doesn’t want it on there consoles. if you don’t agree with any of this then you shouldn’t have agreed to the terms of service.
not quite the outcome some of us were hoping for but any victory is a good victory for sony against hackers.
i dont think sony was looking to completely destroy this kid, but more to set an example of the lengths theyre willing to go through to protect their (and in a way every ps3 users) investment.
unfortunately this is still a loss to the consumer. Just like new laws have to be made because of those that insist on not being a civil member of society, in the future, sony will find new ways to make sure incidents like these dont re-occur, therefore we pay the ultimate price.
I predict an all digital console not too far in the future. If you think this isnt being discussed and looked into for the ps4, think again. Thanks alot you fucking maggots for being the non contributing blood sucking leeches of society.
I don’t think so. If Sony was really that concerned and wanted to go all digital they would have done it with the NGP first. Remember they used the PSP Go to test the digital waters and in the end determined consumers aren’t ready or willing to jump to an all digital medium. Not saying it’s impossible but I just don’t see it happening anytime in the near future. Maybe after the PS4 but even then, most people won’t be willing to give up physical media. I know I won’t.
the pspgo was a failure on many different levels. first, its high price. second, lack of support in terms of available downloadable games, plus new games being not being available same day as umd’s (many not available at all). sony could have also sweetened the deal by allowing those who download the games to save a few dollars on each purchase. Many also believed the pspgo to be an actuall downgrade in hardware compared to the 3000 model.
I dont think sony was well prepared at all. Im not so sure it was because people just werent ready for an all digital handheld. The idea of a digital handheld appealed to me at first, but it was easy to see that the pspgo just wasnt getting the support it could have.
I agree though that given the choice, most of us prefer a physical format console. I also agree that it probably wont be the ps4, but i bet the idea has been thrown out there and played around with a bit, measuring its pros and cons.
Im sure the ps4 isnt anywhere near its final state, so although it isnt likely, its still a small possibility.
Indeed. I’m sure it’s something they have considered for future generations but I just really think it would be too soon to force gamers to jump on the digital band wagon with the PS4. Kaz Hirai has spoken some about this as early as last August.
http://www.slashgear.com/sony-playstation-4-will-use-physical-media-says-kaz-hirai-2699166/
http://www.1up.com/news/hirai-rules-out-digital-only-strategy
Meh I find it a win for Sony.
Hotz is basically forbidden to do anything with a Sony Product ever again, so no more for him.
This will certainly put a damper on anyone else who might want to pick up where he left off at, considering Sony would simply push at them like they did with Hotz, and they’d would most certainly win.
Yes, we own our PS3′s. Keep in mind we own the hardware as a whole product.
We do not own the software, we do not own the copyrights and we do not own the intellectual properties.
We own our consoles, but what Hotz was claiming to fight for was infringing on Sony’s property.
@ Dmdragon
No. I said if Geohot LOST the court battle….that I’d stop posting.
He never lost. When you agree to settle a legal matter in court, you get “something” out of it.
He agreed to never again hack, mod or jailbreak another Sony device. In return, we al know Geohot got something for compensation. Maybe it was money, maybe it was a job, maybe it was his freedom…..but as long as he got something, it’s not a loss. I’ve been saying this case would end in a settlement rather than anyone actually winning or losing. Do you think Geohot would’ve agreed to a settlement, and a permenant injunction….if it didnt somehow serve his purpose, in some way?
He wasnt defeated, tired or out of money. He was offered something worth ending the case on.
@ abercrombie
This was never about finding alternate devices to jailbreak or hack. Yeah, I can moddify my PC to do all kinds of things….and I have. So what? Thats not the point. The point is…if I wanna hack my PS3 to do some of those very same things I can do on my PC, I can and will. I should be able to. So the law says were not allowed to circumvent our PS3 consoles for homebrew. Im pretty sure legalities were never a concern for us. We certaintly didnt care if it was legal BEFORE Sony and Geohot settled, and our disposition on the matter remains the same even NOW. All legalitles and moral qwalms aside, at the end of the day….I still have my hacked PS3. Im still backing up games, and as soon as another PSN bypass or CFW becomes available, I will be online too. Fragging your sorry asses in MW or BO, lol. You cant keep us down, no matter what you say or how hard you try.
Dont forget, Geohot wasnt the ONLY one taken to court by Sony. Graf_Chokolo and FailOverflow were also subpeoned and taken to court. I believe their cases are still pending. The case for OtherOS is also still pending….as Sony keeps motioning for a dismissal, every time it comes up. Geohot was just a tiny speck of paint and served his purpose on the overall canvass of what we like to call “the bigger picture.” Like I always said….this is far from over.
@ lyashi
This has, in NO way…put a “damper” on anyone in our community, nor does it serve as an example or deterrent to stop other hackers from jailbreaking the PS3. Thats a complete fabrication. More like “wishful thinking” LOL. The main players who have been hacking the PS3….Kmeaw, Karakatos, Hermes, Math, Rebug, etc…will still continue to do so under the guise of anonymouse screen names and identities. The only reason Geohot was caught, is because he wanted to be. He made is identity known to the world. He could’ve just as easily uploaded those keys under a different name, inside of a starbucks, under a different IP address…..he chose not to. I myself am learning how to code and hack for the PS3, and when I finally have something worth uploading to the community….I will do so, without fear or intimidation from Sony or Big Brother.
Again, I say….this was not a loss. Hackers will still hack. Jailbreaks will continue to surface. Pirates will continue to pirate. Sony will continue to LOSE MONEY from those pirated games, as well as from the percentage of people who are now boycotting Sony products. I myself have considered piracy on the PS3, as a way to strike back at the faceless and greedy corporation known as Sony. If anything, we will continue to make sure Sony loses money…..even after the case with Geohot is long behind us. Remember….a typical retail game goes for $59.99 (65 after taxes)…multiply that by 10,000 after it gets uploaded to a torrent site….and see if that doesnt put a dent in Sony’s finances.
This is far from over. ^_^
Well I’m glad that this whole thing is over. Hopefully Anonymous will leave Sony alone since the case is settled.
Negative. We have no intention of letting up. Keep dreaming.
“We have no intention of letting up.”
Were all DIEING to know, exactly what is your position over at the “anonymous” headquarters?
I dont mean the countless “positions” a groupie like you gets put in, but i mean your “duties”, as in, other than the on demand hand/blow jobs you give to each member as per requested..?
“we are!”, “we are!”, “we are!”. Reality check cunt muscle, THEY ARE, YOU AINT! lmao
sorry i cant help myself, youre just so pathetic. ^_^
I would LIKE to say that:
“My position, as of now…is to assist in damaging the sales and profits Sony makes off of it’s software, in an attempt to retalliate for the injustices wrought by their corporate greed.
I have started, by uploading the Eboot files of various Sony games to The Pirate Bay and other torrent P2P sites. I will continue to do so…untill I am satisifed with the ammount of damages incurred.”
But I dont think I officially will. ^_-
The toys are out of the pram HAHAHAHA…
This kid must have been fined big time. Glad Sony got this sorted out, hackers be gone.
Nope. Hackers still here. ^_^
i seriously doubt a member of such a high and mighty elite group of hackers would be waisting their time on a playstation news site trying to troll and piss people off. we get it, your probally one of the douchebags that was happy bootlegging your games and got banned or something similar. your pissed and keep on hoping your “cyber superheroes” will make sony submit into allowing something on their consoles that no other company does. hell you probally even donated but i doubt it. in truth your just another “keyboard cowboy” who has no life. get over yourself poser.
Your predictions are worse than Star Jones or Ms Cleo. You dont know me. Dont presume to.
We ARE the cyber super heros. And Sony is being dealt with, appropriately. ^_^
So which are you trying harder to be: Delusional, Ignorant, or Hypocritical?
and your bullshit and lies are worse than bush and obama. lol you posers are all the same. yeah i dont know you but i know your type….self-riteous wannabe. if your so powerful prove it. you cant…..poser.
Can you please try to avoid typing nonsense like that after my comments, thanks.
Noble, riteous, and sincere. We’re the good guys. ^_^
Yeah I figured delusional.
hello …
i’m sick & tired & need a good sleep
.. i just replied to similar post on techspot, so the lame sleepy of lazy dude i am would just copy-paste & quote it … sorry it is a long post, but i guess you are used to this 
…
cheers
quoting myself :
”
hello ..
i’m happy SONY & GeoHot settled on this & it is sad to see that still the latter wants to show that the former is evil & ANON is just fighting the wrong battle …
inciting people to boycott SONY is just cheap & childish, i’m sorry the big corporate didn’t do anyone any harm, they had to protect their work, investment, other people’s job, the consumer’s security & fun.
hacking & piracy isn’t like 20 years ago anymore, today hacking means touching something as delicate as our private & sensitive data. If some games can activate your PS3 webcam to take a shot of your face when playing online, what will happen if some hackers could take control of this (that’s why it’s always turned down for me) … access to free PSN is interesting for all gamers & taking risk losing such feature is just not worth it. We have really confidential data (full address / credit card number / etc) on most internet enabled devices … i dare anyone saying that hacking today doesn’t open too many gates to online hell.
GeoHot is a natural born jailbreaker, i admit it may be interesting to mod / enhance any existing devices, we like it when we can overclock, emulate but we also need to consider not only the legal aspect but the new security threat that comes along & the moral issues too. I don’t feel like hackers should stop to hack for sometimes they push manufacturers to give us more, yet they should make it a sport, an exclusive discipline reserved to some elite.
With hacking / cracking we’ve seen easy methods of stealing, so it is a big responsibility for those who can not to make easily redistributable kits, for in the end we consumers lose more.
to those who wants to boycott SONY or any other big corporate go along, we legit & loyal consumers do want to play safe, have fun & no hassle. we want peace of mind & we’d prefer the devices not to be in those hands who don’t even respect their own money, their own data & other people’s work.
I say good luck to GeoHot & ANON, you’d better show maturity & show that you can do something big without causing any harm anymore, no one should go & attack anyone, even those big evil corporates that we need in the end, for in all wars, the real losers are the civilians, here, the consumers.
cheers!
”
Thank you & apologies!
I like your intro. “hello …”
Whenever our rights are being violated and subverted in the name of security, there will always be a cause and reason to stand up for what you believe in. Sony has every right to protect their merchandise and lock it down, while it’s still in the warehouse….but when it’s in our homes, their rights end at our doorstep. You people can argue this till youre blue in the face, it’s not gonna change our disposition on the matter. We have rights. Consumer rights and constitutional rights.
Our rights are slowly and constantly being taken away, every time someone decides to blow something up in this country. Some kid takes a shotgun to school and blows his classmates away, you wanna go after the gun companies, instead of hold the parents accountable. Some kid breaks his friends neck and cripples him for life, after watching and emulating his favorite WWE superstar….then you guys wanna go after the WWE. Some emo commits suicide after listening to Marylin Manson, now all of a sudden we gotta pull every Manson CD off the shelves. Some terrorists “allegedly” fly a few planes into some buildings, and now we have naked x-ray scanners in every airport.
You people have become so dependant on Big Brother and the laws they make, that you WILLINGLY give your rights away, just so you can feel a little more “secure” with your precious information and loser identities, that noone wants! Do I feel any safer knowing that you cant quote proprietary information over a blog? NO. I feel that as being another law that suppresses my free speech. Censorship is NOT okay. That is an orwellian practice that is being used to CONTROL YOU. Just ask Julian Assange.
“What does censorship reveal? It reveals fear.” — Julian Assange
So you are telling us that geohotz releasing the security code is on the same scale as 9/11?
I mean even people disagreeing with you probably wouldn’t go that far, i’m pretty sure you’re getting way too carried away.
Sorry but they “Allegedly” flew a few planes into a building, jeesh it’d be great to have you deliver bad news to the american people. Maybe your right, maybe 9/11 NEVER happened, I mean for all we know there the twin towers never exsisted and there was just a pile of rubble there the whole time.
your comparison is just pants on head retarded, I don’t live in the US but I’m almost certain the american public are more upset about the fact that so many people died that day plus the naked xray scanners are kinda important, I mean would you rather have the risk of a terriost being on your plane or put up with the discomfort of a naked xray scanner,
I doubt if they didn’t have them and you were on a hijacked plane you’d be thinking “The good news is nobody saw me naked!”
I can’t really tell, but the wording makes me think that he thinks it was missiles or government UFO’s or some other tin foil hat shit. Or it could be that the planes were really flown into something else but we were led to believe it was the buildings after they spontaneously collapsed. Who knows with this guy.
Julian Assange is also a sex offender. Just sayin…
He was charged with having sex without a condom or something stupid like that. If I remember correctly I read that Swedish law lumps lesser charges like that with more serious ones when it comes to terminology. Either that or it was a mistranslation of that lesser charge.
Regardless, what does that have to do with anything at all?
Actually I think in Jullian Assange’s case what he did was a noble case just that he should have made sure that the things he was uncovering couldn’t hurt anyone. Like for instance releasing the files on what some of the corruption of the US army and how they were killing Civilians I agree with but releasing some information on people who went against Al Queda (I’ve heard they were going to do it, I really hope they decided against this) was a bad decision.
Although I think there’s a little bit of a differance between revealing the corruption within the US goverment and trying to get a feature that was removed from a console. A HUGE differance.
hello …
Shadow-runner !!!
i’m sorry but i don’t usually directly criticize or bash someone, but your pathetic excuses & lame examples remove the ‘respect others’ from the sentence i need to create with your name in it.
You should 1st learn to read your post, see if you really are right before posting… I agree that we just can’t create new rules, block some stuffs just because of some tragic events, yet those events are so terrible that even if Assange is right about censorship we can’t find any other solutions.
No, not even you deserve to be a victim of anything you mentioned, no we don’t need big brother to tell us what to do or not, but if we were wise or responsible enough to do the right thing in the first place, there would be no need of a big brother.
what are you defending here, your ‘belief’ that you can do whatever you want with something you ‘own’ while you don’t even have an insight of reality, i can’t believe you are almost same age as me … well sometimes we can find total immature of any age.
not everyone wants the same thing you want, when you are in minority, we accept to tolerate you but please sir or miss or whatever you are, don’t justify your deeds with things you don’t know about, don’t try to promote your belief & stop lying to yourself. OK you don’t pirate, it’s all to your honor if you say the truth but you also said you didn’t care about what does others & they could steal, mock or spoil our entertainment, so that makes you as pathetic as the excuses you put forward.
I’d rather go through the burden of being ‘naked-scan’ at an airport, knowing that in the end it is to protect myself, my family & others, I’d even agree that my streets are covered with cameras so it can prevent excess speed, protecting the people & pets in my surroundings. & i live in a country where we don’t even need to consider such threat, This is not fear, but survival & having consideration for others, something you’ve proven you don’t have. I’m sure you don’t even have any considerations for your own family by your statements.
Too bad i can’t 1000s thumb you down, for it’s all you deserve & i just really hope you hold on to your promise to never buy SONY product, i just hope you never buy another PS again, for you don’t deserve it & now please go & think about the stupidities you post before you comment, i would recommend you shut up for once & not prove to the world you are a fool.
as for GeoHot he is as immature as one can be too, he had to accept a settlement, else would have made him a fool in the eyes of the world, he didn’t fight for our rights for the majority didn’t want him to do so & he’s ego brought him to a level he should be ashamed of.
we don’t need or want all the ‘good’ stuff you can do with your console, happy for you if you can but please do keep it for yourself & if we want some of it, we should come knock at your door & buy it from you, the world don’t need such gifts if it means causing more harms & exposing ourselves to some threat …
to this, go & have a nice day or night
cheers!
I just find it rediculous that my jailbroken ps3 is now considered “illegal contraband” and by such definitions, I am subject to the same public scrutiny as someone growing pot in their house.
This country has it’s priorities all wrong.
Well…Im here with my jailbroken PS3. I have my backup managers, emulators and homebrew apps. I have my Linux OtherOS. PSN will come back to us, soon. I have my freedom.
I have vowed to boycott Sony and their products. I may enjoy my PS3 (because I made it better) but I do not intend to buy a PS4 or the NGP, or the Xperia Phone, or the Bravia TV.
Instead, if there is to be a next gen console era…I will support Microsoft. They may ban you from Live, but at least they dont persecute you for their own personal enjoyment….like Sony.
We have exposed Sony for the corrupt and greedy corporation they really are, and we have made many others aware of their injustices as well. Anon decided to change tactics, in an attempt to take the average gamer and consumer OUT of the crosshairs.
George Hotz hacked the PS3, uploaded Sony’s proprietary keys all over the internet, wiped his HDD’s and took a vacation down in South America. He made a rap video, taunting Sony and was even able to get the funding ($10K) for 5 extra lawyers, when most of you doubted he could raise a dollar. He fought Sony for about 3 months, and by the end of it all…..he never recieved any fines, he never recieved any jail or prison time and he was even able to walk away as a free man, in exchange for a permenant injunction. Who else here can say that they wrestled with a mega million dollar corporation, and almost won?
I dont feel as if I have done anything wrong with my PS3. I dont believe I am a criminal. I dont pirate games. I dont steal or blackmail. I dont beleive my actions regarding my PS3 has affected any of YOU or your homes, in any way. I dont believe I have ruined anyones gaming experience on their PS3 or PSN, in any way. I dont create hacked lobbies to cheat in online games.
So…at the end of the day, yeah…I do feel like we won, in some way. Even a small victory, is still a victory nonetheless. ^_^
You may be the PSLS troll but I enjoyed that comment. We are very similar, you and I, because I also have a jailbroken PS3 and I’ve also done nothing to harm/affect anyone. I’ve never pirated a PS3 game, I buy them. The only thing I disagree with is boycotting Sony. Sure they may be assholes but they make great products. As long as they don’t try to raid me for hacking my own hardware then I don’t care. Kinda wish geo didn’t settle though, he could of set a precedent for future closed consoles.
Ridiculous statement. You know it was the information he released and not the fact that he hacked his system.
if you wounder why ps’s new online plan on ps4 would be a pay system like xbox live , it will bebecause stuff like this , on xbox live its more of a punishment to ban some one online , you loose your achivments , and have to make a up a whole new name. on psn its free , you can just keep making accounts. then again they should have if ur master account is banned from psn , then al lur accounts ar ebanned forever. really though? all of this over stupid things like home brew? you can easily do all of this on ur pc , hooked up to a tv for the same exact thing. they didn’t make the ps3 for you to put emlators on , and they have the right to fight against all of that. you keep bringing up rights like you know what your talking about if you have to the right to do something sony has the same exact right you talk about to fight back , which is the whole systme of freedom right?
Uh oh, Hotz said he is never buying another sony product again, so it looks like his boyfriend Shadow are going to have to hope his ps3 doesn’t break since his messiah has forbade him from buying another.
I will say one thing though honestly. Shadow, if you do not steal from sony, by pirating or anything in any way then no, I don’t believe you have broken the law, but because you don’t does not mean that there aren’t people who will, and they must protect their system from THOSE people, not the ones who just like to add a spoiler to their nissan or something like that.
MS banned everyone who had a hacked console, and they didn’t sue anyone only because there wasn’t one person who stepped up and said that they were the ones to hack it, you better be damn well sure that if someone had jumped out like hotz did, ms would have sued them to oblivion.
Hotz was stupid for nothing else other than admitting that he was the one that did it so he can get his street cred up. Had he sat aside and done it for his own curiosity like he said he did, he never would have been sued, so no matter how much you spin it, the lawsuit only existed because of him. And now he’s going to throw a temper tantrum? Like the guy getting thrown out of the store
You can’t shop here anymore
I won’t shop here anymore
Yeah, that’s what I said
But, I”m not shopping here because I want to not because you said i couldn’t
Whatever, just get out of my damn store moron.
Who Cares? Honestly I don’t care whether someone hacks their PS3 or not I didn’t because I love playing games like Uncharted 2 online(not CoD Hate That Shit) so ya who cares as long as we’re not effected its fine! You Guys Just Love To Make A Big Deal Out Of Nothing. Nonetheless I love my PS3 and if online goes down I’ll be fine still because they make most games with a really good campaign.