Sony widens Geohot PS3 lawsuit

By Fred Dutton Published 8 February, 2011

YouTube, Twitter, PayPal dragged in.

Sony is planning to launch legal action against more alleged hackers regarding last month's much publicised PlayStation 3 security breach, according to new court documents.

The filings, dug up by PSX-Scene and reported by VG247, reveal that Sony is preparing to subpoena a number of sites, including Twitter, PayPal, YouTube, SlashDot, Github and PSX-Scene itself. It wants them to offer up the identities of users it alleges are involved in the hacking team behind the breach.

Aliases listed in the papers include Cantero, Peter, Bushing, Segher, hermesEOL, Waninkoko, KaKaRoTo, Hermes, Kmeaw and Graf_Chokolo, among others.

The listed sites will be asked to divulge each user's contact details, personal information, IP addresses and any message board posts.

Sony commenced legal action against George 'Geohot' Hotz and his team last month, claiming their PlayStation 3 hack infringed on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFFA), directly enabling piracy on the platform.

It recently won a restraining order against the defendant, demanding he refrain from distributing the hack or any links to it.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (82) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • darkmorgado #1 1 year ago

    Oh, fuck off sony.

    You're just butthurt that your security measures got exposed as a laughable piece of piss and now you're the laughing stock of the encryption community.

  • Stepharneo #2 1 year ago

    "Piece of piss"...is that why it lasted longer than any of the other consoles this gen?

    Also, more scapegoat rather than laughing stock.
    Edited by Stepharneo at 08/02/11 @ 00:26

  • darkmorgado #3 1 year ago

    And yet was finally exposed as actually the most compromised and not-fit-for-purpose bit of encryption they had ever seen?

  • jambo74 #4 1 year ago

    So the next time the Guy or Gal at work shows up your ass remember what you type here.

  • customfirmware #5 1 year ago

    i'm against piracy but should they really be going after this thing in such a bullish manner. i for one forgot about the ps3 being hacked but it just seems like sony wants this thing to continue in the limelight, just ban anyone who attempts to hack their ps3 and try to use it online as they'll be losing all the benefits that comes with playing online that's a far more effective method in my opinion, rather than running down something that's already in the open.
    Edited by customfirmware at 08/02/11 @ 00:30

  • bwiancohen #6 1 year ago

    Good for Sony. Best of luck.

  • darkmorgado #7 1 year ago

    Frankly, they should be more concerned with sacking the person who OKd such a compromised security check that means it can't be fixed without a hardware revision.

  • Eraysor #8 1 year ago

    Don't think I'll ever forgive Sony's legal department for destroying Lik-Sang...

  • riseer #9 1 year ago

    I hope these fools get tossed in prison for a few years.Maybe in the rape/murder cell block?Seriously they deserve everything Sony is tossing at em.If people here can't understand that you need to just fk off.

  • ruddiger7 #10 1 year ago

    it did not directly enable piracy on the platform. fucking sony get over it

  • bikmate #11 1 year ago

    Though luck for the people who are in trouble. But personally I don't care about either them or Sony.

  • drumbaby #12 1 year ago

    If they succeed then this will take some of the fun out of this particular type of criminal activity. I suppose its appeal used to be the feeling of complete and utter invincibility for these people.

    Oops.

  • darkmorgado #13 1 year ago

    "I suppose its appeal used to be the feeling of complete and utter invincibility for these people. "

    Erm, no.

  • Nuada #14 1 year ago

    It sounds like Sony are using the US legal system to grab as much info about 'persons of interest' who are scattered all over the world, in one foul swoop.

  • darkmorgado #15 1 year ago

    That's because american law favours corporate interests over individual interests because they have the extremely retarded idea that free markets are inherently good for society.
    Edited by darkmorgado at 08/02/11 @ 01:18

  • atrimus #16 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado

    i'm an individual, and in this particular instance i favor corporate interest over individual interest, mainly because the corporation in question, Sony, are interested in the same thing i'm interested in--preventing piracy and cheaters. the price of hacking far outweighs the benefits it'll bring.

  • Quixz #17 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado +1 for you sir, I agree 100%

  • chasejamie #18 1 year ago

    What the fuck is a Geohot? So glad I pay no attention to this crap. I'm too busy actually PLAYING games, ones that are bought with money.

  • Khanivor #19 1 year ago

    This will not end well for Sony.

  • darkmorgado #20 1 year ago

    "This will not end well for Sony."

    Plus 1. Geohot has precedent on his side doesn't he? For opening up the iphone?

  • sfp_noodle #21 1 year ago

    darkmorgado says:

    "Oh, fuck off sony.

    You're just butthurt that your security measures got exposed as a laughable piece of piss and now you're the laughing stock of the encryption community."

    That is quite possibly the stupidest and most ill-informed pile of crap I have ever read. First of all, a console's security is compromised, it doesn't matter who is reponsible for manufacturing the console, it affects us gamers the most because for the first time in a while our security is it risk in that hackers could potentially gain our debit card details, addresses, names and other highly confidential and sensitive information. If Sony is trying to protect themselves as well as it's customers, how the fuck is that a bad thing you moron!?

    Secondly, how you pathetically described the PS3's security measures as a "laughable piece of piss" is what makes me laugh. It has held out longer than any other console in history in terms of the time, knowledge and dedication needed to hack it so if anything Sony deserve great credit for creating such a strong defense for the system. I fail to see what is a "laughable piece of piss" regarding a successful 4 year+ security measure.

    Finally, how are Sony a laughing stock of the encryption community? I don't think they're laughing at all, if anything, they're probably shit scared right now about what Sony might sue them for. If you created a piece of hardware and intended to make money off it, and then someone else decided to modify your hardware and make their own profits, would you stand by and accept it? You wouldn't. Not a chance, you'd be doing as much as possible to stop it just like Sony are.

    So please, get off your high-horse and see sense. If you do indeed own a PS3 system, and considering what you came out with I am starting to highly doubt it, you should be glad Sony are trying to stop this fuckwit from spreading his encryption keys. It affects us as much as them.
    Edited by sfp_noodle at 08/02/11 @ 02:29

  • darkmorgado #22 1 year ago

    First of all: My PSN tag is Dark_Morgan

    Just to clear that up.

    Secondly, a hypothetical situation. I hire someone to create decent security on a piece of hardware for me. They assure me that their security is brilliant, the best ever in fact. A few years go by, and everything seems fine. I then find out that actually the security they implemented is rather broken, has not been cracked down to sheer luck, and the issues cannot be resolved without a wholesale hardware revision that could end up costing me hundreds of millions.

    Who am I going to be more angry at? The people I knew were always going to try and crack the security, or the idiot who created such a broken system in the first place?

    "it doesn't matter who is reponsible for manufacturing the console, it affects us gamers the most because for the first time in a while our security is it risk in that hackers could potentially gain our debit card details, addresses, names and other highly confidential and sensitive information."

    Oh, give me a fucking break and take off your tinfoil hat love.

    Edited by darkmorgado at 08/02/11 @ 02:34

  • CaptainKid #23 1 year ago

    Fuck Sony.
    I see they are doing their part in trying to restrict the internet.

    If I didn't already boycott them I would do so now.

  • davisorle #24 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • darkmorgado #25 1 year ago

    I love how the US Govt are facing global public criticism for subpaenoing details from twitter over wikileaks, yet a private corporation can do it from many, many more sources because they dont like how people object to closed technology and they are applauded.

    /slow clap.
    Edited by darkmorgado at 08/02/11 @ 02:58

  • polymorph #26 1 year ago

    Sony are trying to use the DMCA law here, said law is a USA law only enforceable there. Sony is a Japanese company, going after "hackers" based in a lot of countries outside of the USA, i hope they fall on there arse.
    P.S. Ive hacked mine, but havn't and won't play pirated games with it.

  • darkmorgado #27 1 year ago

    @polymorph

    +1.

    The fact that hackers deliberately disabled any piracy in their hacks seems to go completely unnoticed.

  • polymorph #28 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado,
    Im not even sure how i could run "pirate" games on my simple geohot hack, oh that's right I CAN'T!!!
    All i can do is run unsigned software now.
    Oh and i have never played my ps3 online, and never will, so im not using it to cheat online either.

  • dfish #29 1 year ago

    All the "benefits" of hacking (how many snes emulators do i need?) can be gained by hooking up a pc to a tv or any of the myriad previously hacked consoles. If they are really keen on people opening up their consoles they should wait until the lifecycle is over, thereby not harming the dev community in the meantime. I mean they only need wait till next year(2012) the damage would be minimal and the wait for homebrew small. I support Sony on this but I think they should concentrate on the people like the PSjailbreak vendors who are attempting to profiteer out of hacking rather than the guys who are doing it for kicks and cred.

  • darkmorgado #30 1 year ago

    Exactly.

    MS get fined millions for not allowing cross-compatibility on rival OS on PCs.

    Sony do the same thing and all the tards are falling at their knees.

    ALL HAIL THE GREAT CORPORATION FOR THEY SHALL DELIVER US!
    Edited by darkmorgado at 08/02/11 @ 03:35

  • darkmorgado #31 1 year ago

    @dfish

    But they have disabled all functions that would allow piracy. They've explicitly stated that if sony left otheros in that they would have been happy with that.

    Sony have, until this gen, had a very generous attitude towards having an open architecture - look at netyaroze. Now they have suddenly closed down, charge a fortune for devkits, etc. Its purely based around trying to make money.

    MS have at least opened up insomuch as the indie channel goes. And you can chortle about "360 hax lol" as much as you want, but the security is nowhere near as compromised as it is on PS3 - hence the huge banwaves twice a year.

    As said, if I was Sony I would be more pissed off at the person that signed off a security measure that was so open to compromise. If they brought back OtherOS support and brought in a scheme similar to netyaroze, which is basically what the hackers are after, then this would all go away. But it's Sony's desire to monetize absolutely everything that is causing this.

  • polymorph #32 1 year ago

    I don't think it was the security per'se that was bad, in fact it was very good. Sony just fucked up by signing every piece of software ever manufactured or released online with the same fucking security code!!
    Say it was a 1-10 type job you would sign say, need for speed with a 4, this spits out a code which u use as security, or Gran Turismo you give a 6, different security code...
    But the dickheads at Sony signed every game with the same number and included the decryption codes with it for good measure!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Hence once one was cracked they could reverse engineer all the codes, so Sony can never stop this,
    sfp_noodle, this is why they are a laughing stock.
    Rant over, breathe....

    Edit..
    They also included all the PSP codes in there as well for good measure, total twats!!!
    Edited by polymorph at 08/02/11 @ 03:43

  • polymorph #33 1 year ago

    Which mine isn't, how do they stop me if i wanted to pirate, which i don't, but i can run whatever i want now and they can't stop me.

    Oh and because the encryption keys are out there, you can rip out the stuff you don't want, re-encrypt it with sony's own codes, how do they know it's not legit firmware??
    Edited by polymorph at 08/02/11 @ 04:02

  • jackdoe #34 1 year ago

    Yeah, Sony is really stretching a bit too far now. I mean, I doubt that those subpoenas against YouTube, Twitter, and PayPal would actually go through.

    But maybe that's not the point. Maybe Sony is trying to tell hackers that they absolutely will do everything in their power to discover their identities.

  • CloisterBlack #35 1 year ago

    sfp_noodle wrote :
    "Finally, how are Sony a laughing stock of the encryption community?"

    three words: fixed random number.

  • dfish #36 1 year ago

    @darkmorgado
    I doubt geohot et al were naive to think there non-piracy enabled hacks would not be circumvented. It took all of about a week for backup loaders to appear. Its like selling a pistol as a replica firearm because the safety was on when you sold it.

  • siro #37 1 year ago

    Peter? I think I know a guy under that name. Should I call the cops?

  • coolbritannia #38 1 year ago

    Darkmorgado's thread of win. Fuck off Sony, you're pathetic. Is this the same legal team that shut down Lik-Sang? That lost the class action lawsuit on the PS2's dodgy QC's?

    Sony are just a nasty company.

  • Dizzy #39 1 year ago

    Why not add EG and NeoGAF while you are at it Sony.
    Edited by Dizzy at 08/02/11 @ 07:05

  • toa_boa #40 1 year ago

    Based on the Iphone amendment of the DMCA and the CFFA's clear notion that transmission of secuity information must be with intention to defaud or thereby cause direct damage - Sony has very little footing in these cases.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #41 1 year ago

    Bold move by Sony. Anyone know if Sony tried to get the data from the sites mentioned beforehand or did they just file immediately?

    Completely disregarding why Sony is doing this I think it is quite worrying how far this is actually going. The mentioned sites aren't necessarily small and I'm sure everyone here visits at least some of them regularily. I wonder how much of the hacking stuff you actually had to click/comment on to get on 'the list' of potential people involved.

    I am really not all that paranoid but targeting YouTube and Twitter is almost like targeting 99% of internet users.

  • gamefan #42 1 year ago

    American corporate lawyers gone mad. There are probably constitutional issues with these law suits also.. Sony legal department are being told to do this by someone in management who really pissed off, but attacking the world is no solution.

    And as for going after Paypal, Sony are really taking it way too far. Under what grounds should Paypal hand over transaction data to Sony - it is not murder case!

    I have not hacked my PS3 and have no intention of doing so, but this whole issue is really their own fault and Sony hunting down people who are smarter than them is police state madness.

  • SeesThroughAll #43 1 year ago

    That's because american law favours corporate interests over individual interests because they have the extremely retarded idea that free markets are inherently good for society.

    You are absolutely right in the first half of your sentence, but the fact is, there is no such thing as a free market nowadays. America included. Laws and taxation forbid any competition from the small guy against larger corporations and protect monopolies.

  • space_ace #44 1 year ago

    should simply sue the internet

  • Progguitarist #45 1 year ago

    Couldn't care less what people want to do with their own consoles...just hope cheating fuckers are kept away from online games.

  • Dewin #46 1 year ago

    Love all the Sony hate in this thread. My god what a bunch of morons. Hacking is illegal people, plain and simple. Once you spread encryption keys on the internet just to show off how smart you are you crossed the line, bigtime.

    And as for all the people who think Sony is taking this too far, this has nothing to do with the PS3 anymore. Little assholes like Geohot and such have already killed the PSP and now went for the PS3. This is Sony saying "enough is enough". The internet is not the Wild West where you can anything you want. There are still laws. They are pushing hard on this one and rightly so. This is for the protection of the new NGP and down the line the PS4. You can't hack a system which will cost Sony and publishers millions and millions of dollars by supplying the means to make piracy possible and then think you'll get away with it because... hey.. your on the internet... federal law does not apply to you. Think again, it does. You are bound to the same law as anyone else. And Sony is driving this point home. Laws are laws, and they apply to everyone. And it does not matter if its a big corporation or the baker down the street. If you steal or make someone lose money you get your ass sued, and hopefully... in jail.

  • Beano #47 1 year ago

    Breaking News : Sony sues God for creating hackers. Movie at 11.

  • lancashirered #48 1 year ago

    I think they should throw the book at him. Home brew my arse, buy a PC! His actions have made COD MW2 multi player practically unplayable.

  • savant #49 1 year ago

    Remember, this is the same Sony who sold PS3s with 'OtherOS' as an on the box features, then removed it at a later date. Maybe someone should sue them instead.

    As for hardware hacking, the Xbox 360's encryption hasn't been broken still - unfortunately the DVD firmware has, which means pirated games can run. There was a JTAG bug which allowed homebrew to run, but this was fixed by Microsoft in a dash upgrade soon after discovery. The PS3's entire security infrastructure was compromised by fail0verflow and GeoHot because of some elementary mistakes on Sony's part. Still, at least with 3.56 they've finally figured out how to use a random number generator.

    @Stepharneo - it lasted so long because hackers weren't bothered...until Sony removed OtherOS. See fail0verflow's CCC video for details - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4loZGYqaZ7I.
    Edited by savant at 08/02/11 @ 09:26

  • M_of_the_sys #50 1 year ago

    @savant

    "Remember, this is the same Sony who sold PS3s with 'OtherOS' and 'Backwards Compatibility' as on the box features, then removed them at a later date. Maybe someone should sue them instead."

    Backwards Compatibility was not removed from any consoles that already had the capability unlike Other OS. The on the box feature for BC consoles are not wrong.

    Edit: And the 'hackers weren't bothered' thing amuses me everytime I read it.
    Edited by M_of_the_sys at 08/02/11 @ 09:19

  • mkreku #51 1 year ago

    There are two reasons the PS3 was hacked. First, the hackers got hold of that hardware dongle that gave them internal access to the machine. Second, Sony made a mistake with one part of the encryption.

    Without that dongle, the PS3 would still be untouched. Anyone believing the hackers claims that "they couldn't be bothered until now" (coincidentally two months after the dongle was leaked) needs a serious reality check.

  • Sodding_Gamer #52 1 year ago

    FFS Sony give it a rest. The damage is done, move the fuck on and concentrate on much more pressing issues.

  • HL706 #53 1 year ago

    Isn't this a bit pointless. For every prosecuted hacker another one pops up in their place. Maybe they should spend their time and resources on developing a proper encryption system to ensure it doesn't happen again.

  • NotSoSlim #54 1 year ago

    Poor security yet 3.56 still cannot have anything signed to it.

    I thought the console was blown open?

  • SeesThroughAll #55 1 year ago

    No, it's not pointless. The more lawsuits impact the current generation of hackers, the more second thoughts any new hackers will have before messing with the next generation of Sony hardware. It's intimidation, and from Sony's point of view it's necessary.

  • savant #56 1 year ago

    @M_of_the_sys - thanks for the info. I've updated my post.

    @mkreku - I take it you haven't seen the video I linked to. They explain in detail the many steps that had to be taken to understand and break the PS3's security. Sony fundamentally failed to secure the system correctly, including: having SPUs that would decrypt anything you sent to them; a buffer overrun vulnerability which allowed user code to run at a privileged level; a hypervisor which did no security verification of the code it was running; a flawed public key crypto implementation; not checking that upgrade files were a later version (thus enabling downgrades to earlier firmwares) and so on. As the hackers say, it was an epic fail.

  • DirectAim #57 1 year ago

    lancashirered, it wasn't his hacking, it was a shite game code that allowed these hacks to be made, the hack was done after the release of the game and the hacks where floating about after the release of the security keys.

    psx-scene is down for me, has it been shut down?

    Also this hack and Sony's lawsuits are a joke, their security was shite and they have pissed off so many people its untrue!

  • irve77 #58 1 year ago

    this won't work this is just sony delaying the inevitable for as long as they can.

    The joy of modern consoles from Ms and Sony's point of view is that system updates can eliminate mods ( in the short term at least ) it makes it troublesome for ordinary people to use and so people won't bother.

    I for one love the idea of a PS3 hack and would be even happier to see linux running properly on a PS3 WITHOUT the ability to play pirated games .. it's a hack i would happily use as the PS3 would make an excellent media centre.

    And lets face it how many games would people really download at 25gb a pop ?

  • TheEarlOfZinger #59 1 year ago

    "FFS Sony give it a rest. The damage is done, move the fuck on and concentrate on much more pressing issues."

    There's a lot of stupidity in this thread, but this has to be the highlight. :)
    Edited by TheEarlOfZinger at 08/02/11 @ 10:16

  • M_of_the_sys #60 1 year ago

    @TheEarlOfZinger

    Agreed. Would not be hiring him as my defence attorney if I ever needed one.

  • dfish #61 1 year ago

    just so we're clear, sony removed otheros AFTER geohotz's initial hack. That was the reason it was removed. The slims never had otheros advertised as an "on the box" feature
    Edited by dfish at 08/02/11 @ 10:39

  • Spekingur #62 1 year ago

    So they are wanting to do the same thing that the US government did to Wikileaks?
    Can you not compare the two for similarities?

  • des #63 1 year ago

    sdf is very active,i see

    sony vs internet...fight
    the only thing this Sony failure tactics will do is to make hackers go underground and then they will be million times more dangerous
    ngp will be hacked like crazy

  • FooAtari #64 1 year ago

    @riseer
    "I hope these fools get tossed in prison for a few years.Maybe in the rape/murder cell block?Seriously they deserve everything Sony is tossing at em.If people here can't understand that you need to just fk off."

    Really? Bloody hell, get some damn perspective. People walk away from much worse crimes all the bloody time, this is a much press issue than some damn hacker. I'm not condoning what he did, but it was just screwing around with a lump of plastic and electronics. We are hardly talking serious crimes against humanity.

  • Dewin #65 1 year ago

    @HL706

    They are trying to send a message. "You screw us, we'll sue and take your house."...

  • Dewin #66 1 year ago

    @spekingur

    Hahaha This is comparable to wikileaks? Are you serious? Nah, you can't be serious.You were joking right? Right... ???

  • Sodding_Gamer #67 1 year ago

    LOL Calm it mate. What else is there to do other than give themselves more of a bad repuation really. From what I see on here the new update can't have any signed stuff on it. They have fucked Geohot over. So like a guy said above, how about they start having lessons on correct encryption and start working on the NGP for instance. Not go on a lawsuit spree, thats something Acti would do. And we all know what reputation that company now has!
    Edited by Sodding_Gamer at 08/02/11 @ 12:43

  • Murton #68 1 year ago

    Here we go again, a load of fanboys (on both sides) arguing their line and forgetting that this has implications for the whole industry. The PS3 remaining secure was just as important for MS as it was for Sony as it proved that you can still run a console on physical media without falling to piracy. You people do realise that if piracy gets bad enough one of the platform holders will go totally digital and games will only be obtainable online through their proprietary store right? Zero price competition, very few reductions, likely less games overall.

    By all means question Sony's methods but they have both the right and the duty to protect their platform against piracy and if they think this is the best way to do that I for one support them. This filing doesn't really do anything anyway, just gives them the identities of the hackers involved in the security breach that can enable piracy, from there they'll file injunctions on those living in the US as they did with George Hotz and look for similar laws to get to those from outside the US.

    At the end of the day, these hackers have broken the law and until now have not only gotten away with it but been made famous and even received high praise from the media for their wasted talents. At the end of the day these hackers have broken the law and should expect to prosecuted as criminals, not hailed as heroes for some supposed homebrew movement.

  • Murton #69 1 year ago

    @Truthgiver: okay, allegedly. But even so, if you are accused of a crime you should expect to follow due process should you not?

    It's not Sony is the evil Empire oppressing these guys for the fun of it, they're defending their property as anyone else would do in their position.

  • albinas #70 1 year ago

    http://imagequalitymatters.blogspot.com/...

  • Dewin #71 1 year ago

    "The defence of Sony on this site is hilarious. You have to wonder if some people here are paid by this large, greedy corporation that literally does not give a shit about them? I bet every single one of them downloads things illegally too. Maybe not games, but music, TV shows or whatever. "

    The fact that you are mentioning "greedy corporation" says a lot. Its a very childish mindset,. Sony isn't greedy. Sony isn't evil either. Its just a business just like MS or nintendo. They all made a platform and try to make money from it. So they are all evil? No. Sony is not asking 100 dollars for a game. They price their games just like all the others. So what is so greedy about them? What does sony do so evily that MS and Nintendo do not? It is just a business, and one they are trying to protect it. I don't need to be a fanboy to understand it. And no i don't download illegaly, i can afford my games.

  • man.the.king #72 1 year ago

    @riseer

    "I hope these fools get tossed in prison for a few years.Maybe in the rape/murder cell block?Seriously they deserve everything Sony is tossing at em.If people here can't understand that you need to just fk off."

    Perspective.

    Very important to have.

  • man.the.king #73 1 year ago

    @Nuada

    "It sounds like Sony are using the US legal system to grab as much info about 'persons of interest' who are scattered all over the world, in one foul swoop."

    Sorry to have to correct you, but it's "fell swoop", not "foul" or "fowl". :)

  • des #74 1 year ago

    "The fact that you are mentioning "greedy corporation" says a lot. Its a very childish mindset,. Sony isn't greedy."

    hahahaha...are you like 10 years old?,

  • toa_boa #75 1 year ago

    "Hacking is illegal people, plain and simple"

    Not at all - please reference the Iphone DMCA amendment - which very clearly made it legal to jailbreak smartphones and create said means to jailbreak smartphones.

    Basically this was deemed legal, for users to enable lawfully obtained software to function without Apple's consent.

    Furthermore the amendment clearly states, that construction of jailbreaking software was a non-infringing act releated to Apple's TOC and EULA for the Iphones.
    Edited by toa_boa at 08/02/11 @ 18:30

  • Nynja #76 1 year ago

    @toa_boa

    "please reference the Iphone DMCA amendment - which very clearly made it legal to jailbreak smartphones and create said means to jailbreak smartphones."

    EXACTLY. So tell me, when did your PS3 transform into a smartphone? What is the core purpose of the PlayStation 3? Run software. What is the core purpose of a mobile phone, cordless phone, pay phone, smart phone, telephone? Make phone calls. "Jailbreaking" a mobile phone is not the same as "Jailbreaking" a games console.

    Everyone is entitled to do what ever they want with what they purchase. This doesn't mean that some actions performed with the product you purchased won't be illegal somewhere. The hackers went too far by carelessly sharing confidential information that is the sole property of Sony on the Internet like they are the Untouchables.

    "the court found that Hotz prima facie violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as local Californian laws"

    Read about it here:
    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/107581/2...

  • Lucodeath #77 1 year ago

    Sony, move on an make a ps4 instead

  • man.the.king #78 1 year ago

    @djronz

    "lolnoodles, you really need to let it go ,how is your sony hate any less pathetic than the sony love you percieve some posters to have? "

    While the number of posts on lolnoodles's profile makes me think that he is just a banned 360 fanboy troll who resurrected himself through this new account, I certainly agree with one point - mainly that I think Sony's "hammer" approach is a misguided attempt at scaring Internet users into avoiding the PS3 root key.

  • blackened #79 1 year ago

    @Stepharneo

    The reason the PS3 went on so long without being hacked is because (as Fail0verflow stated in their talk) no one was bothered about opening the PS3 up - it was already open. The only thing they wanted to open up was access to the RSX to allow for hardware accelerated graphics rendering, which they did, then Sony got edgy.

    Sony made a single mistake on their security system, an easy mistake to make, but a stupid one nontheless.

  • toa_boa #80 1 year ago

    @Nynja

    If you'd taken the time to read to DMCA amendmend you'd known that the decision was partly based on the fact that smartphones no longer was seen as simple telephoning devices - but instead considered general computing devices capable of surfing the web, reading books, mail, playing games etc.

    And please, you want to have a discussion, then please do not put words into my mouth! I commented on that not all kinds of hacking was illegal as such, nothing more nothing less!

    So tell me where did you see me put a clear connection between consoles and smartphones related to the DMCA? Ohh that's right, you didn't ....

    Edit: P.S. don't bother with a reply, you're already in Ignore oblivion Nynja
    Edited by toa_boa at 09/02/11 @ 14:39

  • savant #81 1 year ago

    Here's a good overview of the post-3.55 work Sony did to re-secure the console.

    [link url=http://imagequalitymatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/intrusion-prevention-ps3-re-secured.html
    ]http://imagequalitymatters.blogspot.com/...[/link]

    To be clear, nobody said that the PS3 had been compromised permanently. (This mirrors the custom firmware efforts on the PSP.) However, 3.55 was pretty much systematically blown open and can never be re-secured because the hackers gained access to the majority of the keys. With 3.56, Sony released new game title whitelists and revoked the compromised keys, and seem to have learnt how to use random numbers in their crypto.

    As for the legality of this hack, that's up to the courts to decide, but please don't assume that all security hacks are illegal. This isn't a piddling copyright issue, but has potentially wide-ranging implications regarding whether you actually own the hardware you paid for and your rights as a consumer. GeoHot's iPhone jailbreak successfully brought that to the attention of the public for smartphones, and this will hopefully do the same for consoles. Ironically, Sony used to argue that the PS3 wasn't a games console, but a supercomputer - they're doing a bit of a backtrack on that now it doesn't suit their agenda.

    @Parsnip - "I personally think hacking and piracy are bollocks and really can't understand why people waste their time hacking."

    It's disappointing that some people assume that because they can't see the benefit then it automatically has no worth to the wider community or the public at large. Consoles are fantastic value for money general computing devices and clusters of Xboxes, 360s, PS3 and others - even Wiis! - have been used in serious supercomputing-on-the-cheap research. Please see this article:

    [link url=http://www.techxav.com/2010/05/16/what-can-a-ps3-xbox-360-or-wii-do-other-than-entertainment/
    ]http://www.techxav.com/2010/05/16/what-c...[/link]

    and this Wikipedia entry specifically on PS3:

    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster
    ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation...[/link]

    Personally, I'm fascinated by the intellectual endeavour - to go from nothing to an intimate knowledge of a system via something akin to electronic forensics.

  • Nynja #82 1 year ago

    @toa_boa .....Ignorant Fool.....

    I repeat: "the court found that Hotz prima facie violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as local Californian laws"

    What part of that do you not understand? Violated? Prima Facie? DMCA? There's a huge difference between the devices and the industry you seem to be attempting to compare too. Apples to oranges, bub. Smart Phones and Game Consoles are NOT the same. Obviously the Judge saw this, but you cannot.

    If you were familiar with the PS3 System Software License Agreement, which Hotz had agreed to in order to update his PS3, you would understand that Sony lawyers were pretty thorough in covering just about every loophole that would deem hacking the PS3 as legal.

    See Section 2.1 : You may not (i) use any unauthorized, illegal, counterfeit, or modified hardware or software in connection with the System Software, including use of tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism for the PS3™ system.

    Want to educate yourself more? Check out the full User Agreement that every user accepts when they run a Firmware Update.

    http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_...