Sony Subpoenas Geohot's PayPal Records

[dalethepcman]

The only way Sony is going to make any money out of this, is if they make such a huge scene from this little boy's experiments with the PS3 that they can make a movie out of it later. This entire scenario is just sad on Sony's part. Maybe the DMCA will get ratified agian to allow users to unlock/jailbreak any electronics, not just cell phones and stick a fork in this nonsense.

 

[blibba]

[citation][nom]Yoder54[/nom]Very valid point. It is too bad that so many end-users think that just because it is in a digital format that it should be available to all for free. These morons forget about the developers who depend on sales to make a living, or the companies who spend millions in R&D and need generated revenue to continue with product development. To pirate anything is to deny the rightful owners of what is legally theirs and is theft.It is appalling how many people here at Tom's are proponents of music/software piracy. Not all, but far too many in my book. The positive side is that most who are the loudest supporters of piracy are still in high school, lack an understanding of commerce, and are short on ethics--one day they will grow-up.[/citation]

You make a fair argument, but don't confuse lawful with right.

What I'm most struck by, however, is your suggestion that proponents of piracy (which is a fairly negative term, and turns the whole thing into a leading question) lack an understanding of commerce.

I'm (amongst other things) an economics student at one of the best universities in the world. I have a basic grasp of commerce, thanks.

 

[kinggraves]

[citation][nom]tramit[/nom]Does anyone know why Nintendo stayed in business and Atari went out of business? The reason was that Nintendo regulated its goods by preventing piracy that was wide spread with Atari games. This is no different. Most people who hack their PS3 are most likely doing it to pirate games/media. Don't beat around the bush by saying you are hacking it for usability. Those that want to hack for a legit reason are far outnumbered by people who use these hacks for pirating means.[/citation]

The Wii has been hacked up, modded, and pirated back and forth nearly since it was out. The DS is infamous for being pirated. Nice try though

[citation][nom]Yoder54[/nom]Picking a Master lock is not the same as jail breaking software, distributing it, and possible selling it. Hell, you crack a lock and what have you got? An open lock..big deal.[/citation]

You jailbreak a ps3 and what have you got? An open system...big deal
Most people pick locks to get at secured property without permission, most people hack systems to pirate games, that doesn't mean that possessing either skill is illegal.

[citation][nom]HappyBB[/nom]Sony, you have fxcking crossed the line! You are invading others' privacy for your own gain and benefits! When I buy a PS3 one day, I will definitely modify my system and buy copied games instead of giving you any additional money!![/citation]

BTW when you pirate games, you hurt the game publishers and devs. You aren't hurting Sony when you're still buying their hardware to mod. If your response is that the devs aren't making quality games anymore and don't deserve your money either, then I question why you'd want to pirate their shoddy product to begin with.

 

[Guest]

Originally the PS3 allowed hacks like Linux. I have read many stories on how the US Navy has a bunch of them for number crunching. The latest firmware release by sony, prevented this. GEOHot is only hacking the PS3 to be able to use it as it was oringinally purchased.

I guess this also allows people to play pirated games. oh darn..... sh1t happens.

 

[pocketdrummer]

Well, I'm definitely boycotting Sony products after this. All he did was make it possible to run linux on the system. He only released the source code after he realized they were trying to ruin his life (and succeeding).

I get along just fine with my PC. I have no need for anything Sony.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]Parrdacc[/nom]You say most that "hack" the PS3, not sure hack is the right term perhaps jailbreak but then again depends on ones definition, are doing so for piracy and that those that do it for piracy outnumber those who do not. I seem to be missing the point I guess. I am not even certain that what Hotz did was even wrong. Did he prompt or commit piracy or did he do something that could be use to promote or commit piracy? It is not the skill or ability that determines right or wrong, but the how that skill or ability is used. Just cause some or many choose to do wrong with it does not mean you go around taking it away from everyone else.[/citation]
Geohot helped in hacking the console but he never condoned piracy, or launched any kind of software to play pirated games. Other people used his knowledge to create custom firmwares and ISO loaders that enable the option to play pirated games.

 

[foogoo]

I think i have bought 3 Sony products in the last 10 years. Now i will buy zero for the rest of my life. Unless they make a time machine or cold fusion reactor that powers your house (and said time machine) i will never buy another Sony product. I like the ps3 but only as a machine. It has no software i care about and right now it serves only as a blue ray player/netflix machine. Its a shame they are at the head of the whole blue ray thing because i still need to give them money in that regard, all be it indirectly.

 

[ProDigit10]

First off all, paypal is private! If any company can access payment information from accounts of petty thieves or those involved in minor crimes, then what is left of the privacy of paypal?
I believe many will leave paypal if paypal does not counter sue, and protect it's clients!

Second, donations are that, donations!
Noone can sue on the base of donations!
You can sue on the base of received payment for an illegal program, but not for donations!

This case is going nowhere! I hope the guy has a good lawyer, and gets set free in a matter of weeks, countersues Sony for a billion dollars, and perhaps he will get away with a couple of million from this whole ordeal!

Sony is going too far! I've already promised myself not to use Sony ever again, and a second may be Paypal!
they've always been problematic with their 'verified address' issues, if they now will not defend their clients, it's a definite byebye to paypal forever!
(now I only use them when I have no other payment method, pretty soon I might just simply not buy an item if it only has paypal, or pay $5 more for an item that has debit card payment!)

 

[surfer1337dude]

[citation][nom]HappyBB[/nom]Sony, you have fxcking crossed the line! You are invading others' privacy for your own gain and benefits! When I buy a PS3 one day, I will definitely modify my system and buy copied games instead of giving you any additional money!![/citation]
You are punishing the game companies more then Sony, if youw ant to show them that you dotn support them then buy a consol second hand and just dont buy Sony published games (or also buy them second hand). This targets just Sony and not the other publishers/developers.
[citation][nom]hotelromeo[/nom]George Hotz, hero to the wonderful world of piracy, wannabe hackers and over all second rate techie scum. It's criminals like him that create price hikes and launch delays. 1,432,622 people can't be wrong, right? Wrong. Sony's YouTube reply from the lawyers, "Slamdunk Punk".[/citation]
You really believe that? I ask because Sony has had the LEAST amount of pirating. Not that I support pirating, but the price hikes are caused from companies' greed. Look at how much the CEO's of companies like Sony make per year. While they deserve a high wage, multi millions a year [9.2 for Sony's Stringer according to a Tom's article] is a little ridiculous.

As for the actual article, Sony trying so hard to get the case in California seems kind of unfair. First, Sony can afford to send their legal team to some guy's state but its a little harder for GeoHotz to have to go to California for a lengthy trial. Also I cant help but feel that Sony might be using the legal system to tip the scales in its favor (like if they have a judge that favors them), although I highly hope that isnt true.

 

[ProDigit10]

[citation][nom]Yoder54[/nom]Very valid point. It is too bad that so many end-users think that just because it is in a digital format that it should be available to all for free. These morons forget about the developers who depend on sales to make a living, or the companies who spend millions in R&D and need generated revenue to continue with product development. To pirate anything is to deny the rightful owners of what is legally theirs and is theft.It is appalling how many people here at Tom's are proponents of music/software piracy. Not all, but far too many in my book. The positive side is that most who are the loudest supporters of piracy are still in high school, lack an understanding of commerce, and are short on ethics--one day they will grow-up.[/citation]
I find any user who PURCHASED a console should be able to do with it what they want!
It is theirs after all!
Otherwise we might as well lease one for 4 years on a payment plan of $25-50 per year!

Pirating games is wrong, but if a user will want to put linux on his console he should be able to do so!
And if that user wants to play his old dos games, and windows games on that console (if possible) he should be able to!

And though it is true that the majority of people are just pirating the games, there is a substantial amount of people who would be overjoyed when they can just hack away, put linux on their machines, and use it in environments different to the original console, much like some pc's can be equipped with Windows, Linux, Leaopard MacOs, or other os!

 

[stry8993]

Thanks for showing the world how to be a lot sneakier sony. Geohot will take the fall, and like Jihadist, he'll just look like a martyr, and many MANY more will follow in his place. If you don't want to anger the mass' fix your crappy ass hardware, and don't make a promise of a feature and then revoke it, and then when people get it back themselves get upset about it. You make the bed you sleep in Sony.

 

[Guest]

I just want to know how many people who cant afford to buy the games can afford a Blu ray writer and the stupid costs of Blu Ray Disks.

And the argument goes, if people cant afford to buy the games use pirated copies, has a sale been lost really!

 

[damian86]

Why do they want to have access to 'his PayPal records', does he have a paypal account first,far too stupid. When are theyt going to stop shitting people?

 

[gatzby]

I give you a gun, you shoot somebody. I didn't tell you to do it, am I responsible for the shooting? Geohot already beat Apple in court, I expect the same outcome. Sony might just need to rethink their business model

 

[shloader]

Ya know... All this worry about what George Hotz is doing in an effort aimed at bringing linux back to the console (maybe even in a more robust way than before). I don't blame them at all for wanting to battle this out with him, and he has been a little bit of a punk in the way he suggested he could be a security consultant, but they picked the very wrong war to wage. Hotz never advocated piracy, he simply advocated bringing back advertised features that were taken away. They might not even be in this mess if they left linux alone.

Two points that are shaping this war;

First, Sony's just used to handling things in this manner. They're deep in bed with the entertainment industry and have experience (ab)using the justice system in this manner when Sony Pictures or Sony Music is involved. Feels like the same legal firm is involved. Maybe members of the same team handles cases on all fronts now. This is just how they do it.

Secondly, keeping the fact that George's aim was to re-instate linux and Sony's taking exception to what this could mean for piracy all at the forefront of the mind, there is another man who may make George very insignificant to Sony. The same guy who currently produces hacked firmwares for Xbox 360 consoles has his sights on the PS3 Blue Ray drives, and he's not going to be loud about it right before he nails it. See, Microsoft has combated by revising their security in the console software and the DVD-ROM drive. Hacked firmware for slims is not yet ready for consumption. Sony hasn't had to revise the security in the disc drive itself. That's quite a lot of drives in the wild that will be vulnerable in the end of 2011 (guessing). And disc drive hacking?... pure piracy no doubt about it. And I don't think he's in fear of Sony at all.

 

[thillntn]

I miss being able to buy something and own it. Companies like these are good for one thing tho, pushing game developers back onto the pc platform. with steam and all the latest gpu and memory speeds, some impressive stuff is coming out again.Gotta get me a gaming card one day. Anyone read that new eula? scary.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]moricon[/nom]I just want to know how many people who cant afford to buy the games can afford a Blu ray writer and the stupid costs of Blu Ray Disks.And the argument goes, if people cant afford to buy the games use pirated copies, has a sale been lost really![/citation]
Pirated games in the PS3 are played through an image stored in the hard drive.

 

[fayzaan]

Hah, Democracy/Capitalism at its finest! now they invade peoples privacy for their own gains. I understand they want to take legal action, but this is going too far

 

[gruntlord6]

Few people here have any understanding what hotz did.
For the record, he only allowed people to run homebrew software and linux, he made strides to ensure that people wouldnt use his findings for piracy. If you look at the PS3 jailbreak, piracy was around before hotz discovered anything.

 

[eriko]

Message to SONY:

Go ahead and prosecute him.

And you'll lose a customer (in me) for life.

No joke.