Unsurprisingly, George 'GeoHot' Hotz has Some Thoughts About this Whole PSN Hacking Thing

Hahahaha nice.

 To the perpetrator, two things. You are clearly talented and will have plenty of money(or a jail sentence and bankruptcy) coming to you in the future. Don't be a dick and sell people's information.

"The fault lies with the executives," wrote Hotz, "who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts. Alienating the hacker community is not a good idea." 

My Personal stunner from the comments section.

  Sony got as they deserved, the only bad thing is the credit card information shared. 

Let us pray this invidual has been neutered to save future generations from his 'stoopid gene'.

Did anyone else see the claims that Sony are actually data-mining more information about their users than their EULA gives them right to?

" Before some dumbass says George was responsible for what happened to PSN, George only does hardware.  Network hacking requires advance knowledge of encryption and cryptology, both of which George has stated he cannot do.  People who do network hacking are some of the smartest people in the world, and make a very rate percent of the population.  

People who did this are the ones who go to DEFCON every year, post on the PartyVan IRC, and are constantly tracked by the FBI and NSA in the hopes the hacker fucks up, so the government can make a deal to work for them to drop charges or bail them out.

Hardware breaking =/= Network Cryptology 

George had NOTHING to do with PSN, he doesn't have the brains for it.

"

I like George.

" @pornstorestiffi said:

" Some one needs to hire him!!!! no, just no... some one needs to kick his face in. Thats pretty much all there is to it.
"

God, please let that person be Dana White.  I'd pay good money to watch Jon Jones get his hands on him. 

Geohot:  But I'm not 204 pounds!

Ok, maybe Jose Aldo instead, but only if they reallow kicks to the head of a downed opponent.

"

" At least this Hotz fellow realizes that it's "not cool" to steal credit card info and stuff. I guess not all hackers are completely bad. But they're all at least mostly bad.  "

"
                @ryanwho said:

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                    @CL60 said:

"

                    @ComradeKhan said:

"

                    @Krakn3Dfx said:

"
                It's too bad one of the stipulations in the settlement wasn't that George Hotz would stop talking.
            "

BOOM!.. Thank you sir, we're all done here.

                   

                "

No we're not, because I still need an explanation on how he is being annoying or a dick, by pointing out the obvious, and pointing out how the guys that did this are dicks.

                   

                "

CL stop being a gadfly.

                   

                "

Yeah, I'm the one being annoying. Not the people in this thread consistently posting 3 word responses after they clearly did not even read what Geohotz said. Or read it and failed to comprehend anything he said.
            "

You and I have both been a part of the Giantbomb forums since Giantbomb was born (I was previously known as crusnchill).

I remember reading a few of your 3-4 worded outburst comments about Bobby Kotick, whilst unrelated to this matter in context this still stands, even though Bobby made it clear through statements to the press, and the through them to the public, so too does GeoHotz state to the public through his blog, that he is against such and such a thing or simply wants people to understand him, you simply responded to the articles about Bobby Kotick saying basically that "He's still a dick", even though he'd defended himself and his comments on the Activision workplace quite well.

Even though Kotick had specifically explained his angle and why he'd said the things he'd said.

And now, here you are text-shouting at everybody that nobody has actually read into what Geohotz is saying and that leaving 3 word comments simply exacerbates the problem of misunderstanding this whole sitaution. Maybe take a step back and chill, the foot is simply on the other and you're the one being rather over-sensitive to this issue, almost like you have a vested interest in the hacking community.

So I ask you; Are you a hacker too? Or do you simply follow that community quite closely?

Yep, still hate this total twat. 

this guy is fucking awesome 

Geeks vs Nerds ... no one wins (it's the meek you have to watch out for apparently).

" He actually uses "noob" without irony in a context unrelated to the Mortal Kombat character?Does he ever leave his basement when either not present in court or running around South America? "

ZeroCool this kid Isn't.

Password was 1...2...3...4...5...

I always had a affinity for Hackers I dunno why, but this is all on Sony, it's like a bank that leaves it vault doors open and then gets robbed and all their costumers money are gone, yes the Bank robbers were the ones taking it but the clear incompetence of the bank is surely at fault here aswell.

Prick

GeoHot is an asshole. While I agree with the base motivations for hacking the PS3 (i.e. removing a once touted function, even though virtually no one used it and it was so slow it had no real value), what he did (and knew he was doing) was enabling massive piracy and cheating in online games. It's very convenient that he does that (something which ruins the experience for those of us who don't steal content) but then sticks his head and the sand and goes "Well I didn't WANT it to be used this way so clearly I'm not responsible at all!" There are legitimate uses for a hacked console but anyone who looks at the situation realistically knows that virtually everyone with a hacked console uses it to steal games. Just look at your local online classified site and see how many people out there include a stack of burned games with every console mod.

I think Sony's heavy-handed legal approach with him was stupid and likely inspired whoever hacked PSN. They're stupid for pursuing the way he did. But this guy is no saint, he screwed up the PS3 experience for a lot of legitimate customers, refused to acknowledge his part in that and then sits back and smugly insults the situation (and indirectly, those affected) because of a movement he started. Fuck you GeoHot.

" Password was 1...2...3...4...5...

"12345? that's a kind of password that some idiot would put on his luggage!"

"

" @pkjr92:Geohotz cracks it because he wants to prove he can and even though he doesn't do anything bad with that information...k. "

" why give this idiot any newsspace "

" @ComradeKhan said:

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" It's too bad one of the stipulations in the settlement wasn't that George Hotz would stop talking. "

BOOM!.. Thank you sir, we're all done here. "

No we're not, because I still need an explanation on how he is being annoying or a dick, by pointing out the obvious, and pointing out how the guys that did this are dicks. "

" @CL60 said:

" @ComradeKhan said:

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" It's too bad one of the stipulations in the settlement wasn't that George Hotz would stop talking. "

BOOM!.. Thank you sir, we're all done here. "

No we're not, because I still need an explanation on how he is being annoying or a dick, by pointing out the obvious, and pointing out how the guys that did this are dicks. "

I honestly think given his recent history with Sony and the outcome, he just shouldn't be able to comment on anything related to Sony, and even if he can, I think the less he says, the better it is for him personally.But it's become pretty obvious that George Hotz has become kind of an media whore, so I expect at any point he will make a statement or do something that will end up with him at the receiving end of another lawsuit because he doesn't seem to be very good at leaving well enough alone. "

I found Alex's tone to be equally as smarmy and disdainful of Hotz as Hotz is of Sony.  That amused me.    

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" @CL60 said:

" @ComradeKhan said:

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" It's too bad one of the stipulations in the settlement wasn't that George Hotz would stop talking. "

BOOM!.. Thank you sir, we're all done here. "

No we're not, because I still need an explanation on how he is being annoying or a dick, by pointing out the obvious, and pointing out how the guys that did this are dicks. "

I honestly think given his recent history with Sony and the outcome, he just shouldn't be able to comment on anything related to Sony, and even if he can, I think the less he says, the better it is for him personally.But it's become pretty obvious that George Hotz has become kind of an media whore, so I expect at any point he will make a statement or do something that will end up with him at the receiving end of another lawsuit because he doesn't seem to be very good at leaving well enough alone. "

Jealous much? "

" @SeriouslyNow said:

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" @CL60 said:

" @ComradeKhan said:

" @Krakn3Dfx said:

" It's too bad one of the stipulations in the settlement wasn't that George Hotz would stop talking. "

BOOM!.. Thank you sir, we're all done here. "

No we're not, because I still need an explanation on how he is being annoying or a dick, by pointing out the obvious, and pointing out how the guys that did this are dicks. "

I honestly think given his recent history with Sony and the outcome, he just shouldn't be able to comment on anything related to Sony, and even if he can, I think the less he says, the better it is for him personally.But it's become pretty obvious that George Hotz has become kind of an media whore, so I expect at any point he will make a statement or do something that will end up with him at the receiving end of another lawsuit because he doesn't seem to be very good at leaving well enough alone. "

Jealous much? "

Yeah, obviously that's it. "

does Sony also have "noob" lawyers who didn't make this kid sign an NDA and/or a confidentiality agreement with the release from the civil suit? 

"
                GeoHot is an asshole. While I agree with the base motivations for hacking the PS3 (i.e. removing a once touted function, even though virtually no one used it and it was so slow it had no real value), what he did (and knew he was doing) was enabling massive piracy and cheating in online games. It's very convenient that he does that (something which ruins the experience for those of us who don't steal content) but then sticks his head and the sand and goes "Well I didn't WANT it to be used this way so clearly I'm not responsible at all!" There are legitimate uses for a hacked console but anyone who looks at the situation realistically knows that virtually everyone with a hacked console uses it to steal games. Just look at your local online classified site and see how many people out there include a stack of burned games with every console mod.I think Sony's heavy-handed legal approach with him was stupid and likely inspired whoever hacked PSN. They're stupid for pursuing the way he did. But this guy is no saint, he screwed up the PS3 experience for a lot of legitimate customers, refused to acknowledge his part in that and then sits back and smugly insults the situation (and indirectly, those affected) because of a movement he started. Fuck you GeoHot.
            "

" does Sony also have "noob" lawyers who didn't make this kid sign an NDA and/or a confidentiality agreement with the release from the civil suit?  "

Dude, that's awesome! I'm totally changing all my passwords to 4 now! It's so leet!

" @SeriouslyNow: I thought part of the settlement was that neither party claimed responsibility for the settlement? I.E. it wasn't Sony settling with GeoHot or the other way around.

If I was the kids lawyer whether he had a shot of winning or not I would have said, "Look Sony is going to fight this longer than you can take, even if you win you lose the best thing for you is to settle. Find some term you want and take it outside of that you're in over your head." Happens all the time.

"

 @EpicSteve: George is good at what he does.  Lawyers will leave him alone, the government will ask for stuff in return, he'll go to DEFCON to talk to the masses about hardware cracking, etc.  He's more valuable to companies and the government outside of jail.  People like George are very rare in the States and everyone will do everything to get him to work for them.

Why would Sony settle at all?   Oh that's right, they had no case.   Brute Force Lawyering is all they had. "

Err, SONY offered a settlement and Geohot took it.   Geohot had also promised to carry the fight until SONY apologized and restored OtherOS, that didn't happen.

I read the settlement and it was all in SONY's favor, looks to me that Geohot didn't have a chance of winning and didn't want to risk losing to SONY and screwing himself and his hacker clique by setting a precedent.   So he caved and ran away

How is Geohot a hacker? :o
Swinging that term around a bit don't ya think? :O

These problems matter~♫

The Gibson!

Ladies and Gentlemen, George Hotz

People still say noob?

" @SeriouslyNow: There is a litany of reasons they would want to settle, save lawyer fees, save PR face, their point was already made they will persecute hackers. I mean you don't know who settled with who, or who came out on the raw end of the deal. If anything what did Sony lose by settling? Geohot can't touch a Sony product and had to write an apology. Sony had to...not continue doing something that was starting to garner bad PR? Maybe there is something else maybe Sony had to pay out a fat sum of money that no one knows about.

At the end of the day if GeoHot's case was rock solid and Sony was going to go down; the suit would have gone on. If only to make a point that big bad Sony can be defeated by someone who uses 'n00b' in everyday speech. 

"

" If they had no case, why did George Hotz settle?  Seems like his Hacker harem had no problem sending him money to finance his case, so why not stick it out and beat Sony like he had claimed he was going to do?Seems like he jumped on an offer pretty quickly instead of "fighting the good fight" and taking down Goliath.Not saying that Sony isn't scum as well, they obviously have corporate interests at heart, we're all just a number to them at the end of the day.  I just think dismissing Sony as not having a leg to stand on also dismisses the fact that George Hotz threw in the towel pretty quick on his campaign to beat The Man.And no, I'm not jealous of some guy who is hated by millions that, at the end of the day, just want to get online and play their games without having to worry about people like George Hotz screwing it up because he's the bitter, self appointed leader of a handful of hackers that want to create anarchy for their own personal recognition. "

Sony needs to save legal fees?  Sony, a giant lumbering multinational corporation does not have to save legal fees, they have legal teams on retainer.  Sony wants to save PR face?  The same Sony that told people to get a second job to afford a PS3?  I think not.  Every company says they will persecute hackers.  We don't need to know who settled with who and you're avoiding my point - all that's important is that Sony settled at all.  If their case was rock solid they would've pursued him through the courts and won - they had no qualms in going to lengths that stretch right to the boundaries of the American Constitution when subpoenaing hosting companies and ISPs for people's IP addresses who visited GeoHotz' site.Your last sentence completely ignores my Brute Force Lawyering comment.  George just could not afford to bring as many lawyers to the table as Sony would so there's no way he would win but for him not to lose in this case means that Sony could not have LEGALLY won the case. "

" @vidiot said: 

"
So my personal information has been compromised, in-order to counter a grudge? -_- "

" That's about it, yeah. "How dare you not allow people to do things that are technically illegal so we are going to do worse illegal activities in response."


At least George admitted that what Sony really needed was some good security experts working for them and not that the should just allow people to hack into everything they have because hacking is "cool" which is what his previous comments have been. Even if he was smarmy with everything else he wrote. 

And the number of hacker sympathizers on here saddens me. 

"

" @SeriouslyNow said:

Sony needs to save legal fees?  Sony, a giant lumbering multinational corporation does not have to save legal fees, they have legal teams on retainer.  Sony wants to save PR face?  The same Sony that told people to get a second job to afford a PS3?  I think not.  Every company says they will persecute hackers.  We don't need to know who settled with who and you're avoiding my point - all that's important is that Sony settled at all.  If their case was rock solid they would've pursued him through the courts and won - they had no qualms in going to lengths that stretch right to the boundaries of the American Constitution when subpoenaing hosting companies and ISPs for people's IP addresses who visited GeoHotz' site.Your last sentence completely ignores my Brute Force Lawyering comment.  George just could not afford to bring as many lawyers to the table as Sony would so there's no way he would win but for him not to lose in this case means that Sony could not have LEGALLY won the case. "

So what did Sony lose from settling? Did they have write an apology? Reinstate "Other OS?" Oh yeah they didn't have to do anything.

P.S. for future reference just because you have the most lawyers doesn't mean you win the case. This isn't a Zerg Rush.

"

"
And the number of giant multinational corporation sympathizers on here saddens me. They have plenty of money and lawyers (and judges and politicians on their side as well), they don't need you to white-knight them. Such good little consumers. "