David Braben slams PS3 hackers
"Right now it is Sony that is hurting."
PS3 hackers who cling to misguided 'I own the console so I can do what I like' arguments are hurting game developers and buyers and publishers - the lot.
That's the opinion of David Braben, creator of Elite and founder of Frontier Developments (LostWinds, Kinectimals).
"It really annoys me when hackers claim they can do what they like with what they find, especially when it is destructive to the security of all the other PS3 machines," declared Braben on Develop.
"These people are damaging to everyone with a PS3, not just to the games dev community, because of future security measures that will be needed. But there seems to be a blind-spot among some players perhaps because they imagine it will mean free stuff in the future."
Working out how to hack PS3 is like working out how to break into a car, Braben analysed. If you shout about it to everybody, who benefits - punters or crooks?
"There have been suggestions that releasing hacking information is an issue of freedom of speech," wrote Braben. "That is such rubbish."
"It is all about what is reasonable," he added. "Hacking into a machine as an academic exercise is one thing. Broadcasting the information is another.
"We should all be prepared to roundly condemn such people. Right now it is Sony that is hurting. Tomorrow it will affect all of us in the development community, so we should stand against it together, now."
Braben's tirade concerns Sony's on-going war against PS3 Jailbreak and figurehead George "Geohot" Hotz. Sony upped the ante recently by threatening to bar anyone caught using "unauthorised or pirated software" from PlayStation Network or Qriocity.
You may also like...
-
Going Hardcore in Diablo 3 66
-
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Review 123
-
Judge recommends US Xbox 360 ban 152
-
Japan chart: My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute takes top spot 68
-
App of the Day: This Could Hurt 3
-
Growing Paynes: How Remedy's Hero Went Rockstar in Max Payne 3 37
-
Diablo 3 Review 242
-
Inside Xbox team set up on their own 30
-
Sony developing Shadow of the Colossus movie 39
-
Wii U Darksiders 2 graphics "at least as good" as PS3, Xbox 360 versions' 54
-
Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector's Set announced 40
-
Diablo 3: Blizzard nerfs monk in first hotfix 49
-
Face-Off: Max Payne 3 146
-
Diablo 3 fastest-selling PC game ever, biggest PC game launch in history 70
-
Dragon's Dogma Review 126
Comments (83) Latest comment 1 year ago
Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
You know what? Unlocking a piece of home electronics so you can install whatever you want on it is not at all like breaking into a car. Unless he means discussing PS3 hacks is like telling people how to break into their own cars? Bit of a strange simile, all in all.
As for the idea that PS3 security being broken is some kind of mega-disaster for developers and gamers alike - how is it that every other platform, all of which had their security broken long ago, seems to be doing fine despite this?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Whether I agree with you or not, just stop mouthing off.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
It's nothing like advertising how to break into a car. No one is going to hear about a method to hack a console and come round my house and hack my console for me without asking. Someone might hear how to break into my car and steal it though.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Doesn't stop him being right in this case.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Pity that software running on said property isn't also your property then isn't it?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
That is the single greatest quote to come out of this whole argument
Comment below viewing threshold Show
On a more serious note, I have a hacked 360 and I still buy games that are worth it, hacking doesn't destroy markets, it builds e
Comment below viewing threshold Show
/sarcasm.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
It's not hackers who pirate, pirates do.
LISTEN TO GOLDIE LOOKIN CHAIN DAMMIT.
As a sidenote, I do download some games (mostly as dry runs to see if they'll run on my PC). I also spend an average of roughly 300 quid a month on games across two consoles. Anyone telling me I am killing the industry can fuck off frankly.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Do it a favour; have it adopted.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Incidentally, the issue of Develop this column appeared in was released nearly 2 weeks ago - good to see EG right on top of the news as it breaks.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Maybe if you're starving but it sure as hell doenn't count for Killzone 3. Get a real job.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Someone might (because of hacking) cheat when playing against you, or gain access to info you don't want them to, or ban your account when you don't want them too, or force software/ hardware companies to react in a way that doesn't make life easy...or any manner of things they previously couldn't have done before.
Someone should come up with an analogy that covers all of that, and then teach people how to use it
Comment below viewing threshold Show
This is why people get annoyed with the anti-hacking stance and flame-wars erupt, even when the anti-hacking POV is reasonable.
He is implying that anyone that doesn't support his view is only interested in piracy (i.e condemn hackers or you are a criminal too). No matter how you feel, it should be obvious this isn't the case.
I do not even own a PlayStation 3, so I have no interest whatsoever in 'free stuff'. But I still agree with the right to run the code you choose on a machine you own.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
at least all the other hackers didnt come up with some crap to justify what they did. when geohot created the iphone jailbreak people were happy and praised him mainly, he just told people what he'd done rather than lie about the reasons.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Someone locks their keys in their own car and finds a way to pop the door to get the keys. They then tell someone else how to do it, and then get arrested for being a car thief.
That sounds logical to me right?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Like breaking into a car is it? Well if you break into your own car what's the problem with that, dickhead?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Spot. On.
I don't condemn what Geohot did, but did he really need to broadcast to the world; "Hey, I can run unauthorised code on a PS3!"
I don't think so.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Holy shit, would you look at that? That my friends is someone who understands. /sarcasm
The hardware, that's the box and all it contains, if the property of the owner. He can do what he likes with that and that right is protected under various trade laws. By all means if you want to modify the console that you own go for it, but bear this in mind:
The software, the GameOS, that's property of Sony Computer Entertainment and all PS3 users have to click a button to electronically "sign" the End User License Agreement which clearly states that features may be added/removed without notice and that any attempts to modify or circumvent the software is strictly prohibited and Sony have the right to take reasonable action against anyone who violates the EULA including barring/withholding services and legal action.
Let's leave the dumb analogies and comparisons to grand theft auto behind and look at hacking the PS3 for what it is. A violation of corporate property, nothing more, nothing less. And while GeoHotz' hack may not have directly enabled piracy, it is the important first step and he went public with his work, showed people how to get started and encouraged them to continue, what the hell did he think was going to happen? If/when piracy does become commonplace on the PS3 it will likely be based on his work, however you slice it he is at least partly responsible and should man up and face the consequences for his actions.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I find it strange that he has singled out a platform which until recently was the most pirate-free for games of the three current console platforms, a staggering achievement when you consider that it took mere months to crack the Wii and Xbox 360 (something that must have hurt Microsoft given how closed the Xbox 360's system is). Although I certainly do not condone what the hackers have done, they have exposed a security weakness that, from what I've been reading, is entirely their own doing. Perhaps this whole sorry episode will teach Sony to be more careful in future?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
So please if people can stop adoring the hackers, while one can argue what they do shouldn't be illegal, it for sure it not making anything better.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Anderson and his colleagues discovered the loophole in chip-and-pin security in October 2009 and told the banks about the flaw later that year. They revealed the loophole publicly on the BBC's Newsnight programme in February 2010.
"It is outrageous that the banking industry should try to censor a student's thesis even though it was lawful and already in the public domain," Anderson told the Guardian.
"It was particularly surprising for its chair, Melanie Johnson, to make this request; as a former MP she must be aware of the Human Rights Act, and as a former Cambridge graduate student she should have a better understanding of this university's culture.
"Her intervention was completely counterproductive for the banks who employ her: Omar's thesis will now be read by thousands of people who would otherwise not have heard of it," he said.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I can confirm that Elite 3's release date is.....
April 16th 1995
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Holy shit, would you look at that? That my friends is someone who understands. /sarcasm "
Buh? You just repeated what I said but in more words...
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Does it hurt the guy that has a job? Does it hurt the guy that runs around all day? Does it fuck (except when it’s YOU)! I could pirate games too I'm just not ignorant enough to ignore someone else's hard work. Go fetch your dole money you sponging scum.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Not sure if that was in response to my post, but that doesn't apply in either of my examples:
"It is the publication of this level of detail which we believe breaches the boundary of responsible disclosure. Essentially, it places in the public domain a blueprint for building a device which purports to exploit a loophole in the security of chip and PIN," the letter states.
-----------
A spokesman for NXP, which was formerly a division of Philips, the electronics manufacturer, said: "We don't mind them publishing the effects of what they have discovered to inform society. I think this is absolutely fine. But disclosing things in detail including the algorithm ... is not going to benefit society, it will create damage to society."
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Hacking and piracy are different things but they are entwined, as piracy can't work with all the piracy proof around but only once they have been hacked apart, then the piracy can thrives.
People drumming on about X360 piracy existing but does no harm, it's more about the ease of piracy and the extent of it, X360 piracy can be done but such a bother and MS's banhammer make it challenging.
I would happily get two of my PS3 get hacked and downloads all the pirated games if I believe that it's actually harmless and only a question of smaller profits for the greedy and evil publishers like Acti... But that is fortunately not my naive world view.
Grow up, if you decide to pirates games, please at least be mature and fully own up to yourselves if not others about the responsibilities and on how it's not a positive contribution to the industry and our beloved hobby.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Are your consumer laws as shit as they are in the states? If not then EULAs can say you have to give away your first born, it still wont make it legal. Tad happy i live in Norway, where the removal of the Linux feature will most likely grant buyers a refund (case pending).
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Get back to making good games and shut that dick holster you call a mouth Braben !!!
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Sounds like a dull kinda life. That's coming from a programmer.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I'm not sure on this but when you buy a product dont you agree to it's terms and conditions of use? E.g in the ps3 case you won't hack it and run custom code otherwise that terminates the conditions of use of in which it was sold?
Therefore you are actually breaking the terms on which the sale was based. Glad this is going through the courts leave them to sort it out
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I think that's fine, as long as it's code you legally are allowed to.
So you can't modify the OS but you should be able to run your own OS. That you made from scratch including all the device drivers. You just can't use Sony's software...
Comment below viewing threshold Show
/super sad panda
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Sorry, I know that's not the trendy answer to give.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
That much is true. The question is whether those terms are valid in the first place, and what Sony can reasonably do if you break them.
Remember when you buy a console game, you also agree to terms and conditions that say it cannot be sold on to anyone. This obviously doesn't hold much traction in the real world.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I almost choked on my brew
Comment below viewing threshold Show
PS3 game prices increased above the 2.5% VAT increase in the UK? (Yes, look at Killzone 3's online price)
PSP/PS3 firmware that doesn't add new features (eg a better web browser for both for reading EG), but just security patches? (Yes)
So Braben's comments are on the money in my book; PS3 hacking has cost me the price of a new 250gb slim when OtherOS was removed(which is inferior to my 60GB original by features & appearance ), and now the couple of things I'd like Sony to improve in thier consoles are looking more distant. Divert more of their efforts to security rather than features to improve the PSP/PS3 is the big cost to all of us.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
"Sony is shit. Crime is to blame." there you go, makes more sense now
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Consumers are basically raging at hackers for discovering how vulnerable the machine is and then telling everyone, instead of keeping it secret. For all we know, darker hackers could have compromised credit card details or developed a bricking utility they could deliver to any PS3 that's online, format the machine's HDD, make PSN purchases without user consent and so on.
This is why the only reasonable way forward when a machine is cracked open is to make the entire info public - it shifts the emphasis onto the manufacturer to be held accountable for what is, ultimately, negligence on the manufacturer's part. It's only when information like this is made public that anyone can objectively assess risk, as was the case with the chip and pin hack.
The car analogy is only correct if the car manufacturer sold a car it claimed was secure, but had locks you could open with a paperclip once you knew how to jiggle it. Who's at fault in that case? The paperclip jiggler or the lying/deluded manufacturer?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
*edit: I'm trying to add sources in the spirit of keeping this debate logical rather than emotional:
Lock picking: [link url=http://uk.lifehacker.com/#!5672326/learn-to-pick-locks-for-fun-and-an-increased-understanding-of-security
]http://uk.lifehacker.com/#!5672326/learn...[/link]
Breaking into a car: [link url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-break-into-a-car-without-the-alarm-going-of/
]http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-b...[/link]
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I buy a console and not a subscription service when I go to a shop and buy a PS3.
I can do with that thing whatever pleases me as it's mine.
Otherwise provide me the option of a rental with the possibility to return the console once the next gen comes out.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
OK, eventually I'm going to have to resist the urge to correct so many ignorant posts on here, but I couldn't let this one slide.
*George Hotz has won multiple awards and prizes at various International Engineering and Science Fairs, and had interviews with the Today Show and Larry King because of it
*He's been named a Top 10 Overachiever under 21 by PC World magazine
*He's travelled to Sweden to talk to schools about science and engineering
*He produced a 3D imaging invention that earned him a $20,000 scholarship from Intel
*He's an alumnus at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
Agree or disagree with his morals or personality, that's fine, but telling him to 'get a life' when he has achieved more under the age of 21 than probably anyone on this comments thread, and when you can barely string a sentence together, is hypocritical and misinformed.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
You buy a Ford Mondeo Diesel (PS3 in this case) - shelling out good money.
You normally buy Diesel at the filling station (Legal Software from the retailer of your choice) - because that is what you need for the primary purpose of your purchase.
Now you decide to tinker with the engine (Hack it) so it can run on Red Diesel (cheap pirate software bought from a car boot sale or Dodgy Dave down the pub)
This is illegal as the revenue is compromised (iresspective of whether you agree or not) for HM Govt (Sony in this case)
So when caught you feel the wrath of HM cosntabulary and co (Sony's Banhammer)
Can people still whinge it's wrong for Sony to protect their investment ?
Just my tuppence worth fellas.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
BTW, it annoys me with all these twats saying you can do whatever you like with something you buy. That's not true in many cases. To labour the original car analogy, you can't just rip it apart and stick spikes on it or whatever, it has to be roadworthy and safe for the driver and other road users. I see the PS3 thing as similar - hacking and modding machines can lead to problems for other users - for an example, look at how hacking has ruined COD4 online.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Thanks to anyone who read my posts with an open mind
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Only cloud technology has a chance of beating the pirate problem and it cannot come soon enough.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
I tried too - but thanks for doing exactly what I was complaining about, i.e. focusing on something irrelevant (in this case, a clearly outrageous off-hand comment about putting spikes on cars) to dismiss or ignore the point being made.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
If you have paid for something, you can do whatever you like with it.
However, that DOES NOT mean: "If you have paid for something, you can do whatever you like".
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Not ignoring the issues, just assuming that some of you are getting sick of me in this thread. I don't blame you, I have a tendency to get a bit righteous but I stick by all my comments
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Then by the same logic, you shouldn't have a problem with people who are modifying game data for titles such as MW2 as these people have purchased their games, so they can also do what they want with the content right?
Comment below viewing threshold Show
You can mod your own machine to your heart's content but you should NOT disclose that you did so - certainly not in a public Hacker's Fest and show off about it.
If you're cheesed off about Sony removing the "Other OS" option, then simply sell your console and boycott the machine altogether. Having agreed to the license at the start and then moaning about it won't get you anywhere, I'm afraid.
When Sony delayed the PS3 in Europe, decided not to offer proper BC and put an extortionate price tag on the console, I simply went back to the GAME shop and got my deposit back and boycotted the PS3 altogether.
I love my PS2 and PSP - they keep me happy enough. I accept this is not the same for everyone else/not possible but hey, you still have a choice of consoles and choosing another one is the best way to hit back at Sony.
If everyone had done that rather than moan, bitch and give car analogies, they'd have put "Other OS" back (and maybe even BC back) before you could say "how much for the launch price?!!!"
Over & Out.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Didn't help much for Julian Assange!
OK I'm done
Comment below viewing threshold Show
when geohot hacked the ps3 hypervisor through linux, did anyone expected sony to keep quiet and shut up?
geohot and his punk ass hackers have no rights taking about other OS since geohot's own actions led to other OS being taken away.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
For us, not $ony.
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show
/sarcasm
Comment below viewing threshold Show
Comment below viewing threshold Show