PlayStation 3
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The PlayStation 3 (often abbreviated PS3) is the third home video game console created and released by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Sony wins another legal battle
Sony has won yet another legal victory over PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George “GeoHot” Hotz. Northern California District Court Judge Joseph Spero has granted Sony’s request to unmask visitors to various websites related to the PS3 hack, which allows people to install and run unauthorized software on the system, from homebrew applications to pirated games and custom firmware.
The court order, issued on March 3, stipulates that Bluehost, which hosts Hotz’ website, must turn over all documentation that can be used to identify anyone who visited the website. That information includes names and telephone numbers, as well as e-mail and IP addresses. Notably, the order gives Sony access to all the IP addresses that accessed the PS3 jailbreak download from Hotz’ website.
AWESOME.
Thanks for actually discussing it beyond saying awesome! Totally worth creating a thread over!
Edit: NEVER MIND! I see you've put in real info.
" @Slaker117 said:If this wasn't troll enough before..." Why is this awesome? "Because Sony wins. Do you see the color of my name? "
" @PatriotsAreGod said:Why? People don't want Sony to infringe on their rights? What's wrong with you?" @Slaker117 said:If this wasn't troll enough before... "" Why is this awesome? "Because Sony wins. Do you see the color of my name? "
" Oh, wait a minute......who has been to those websites? Fess up, now. "Everyone has been to the websites. Most news sites even linked to Hotz's site themselves, not that it matters anyway.
Before anyone else gets confused, let's be clear that Sony got permission to do this to help them judge the extent to which Hotz's site reached the public and in where most of these people lived. All they want is to get enough evidence to get the trial held in California because that's where they feel they have the best chance at winning. They aren't suing random people or anything like that, as I've seen people on other forums suggest.
" @PatriotsAreGod: Well I'm certainly not happy when Microsoft wins a legal battle that allows them access to people's private information. I don't have much sympathy for straight up pirates, but this is getting a bit too close to Big Brother for my tastes. Not alarmingly so, but nothing about this is "awesome" to me. "But.....nobody has a right to visit ANY website that MIGHT give you an idea how to hack. You are automatically guilty. Sony is smart and cool enough to know why you are on those sites. You thought you had freedoms? For SHAME!
" @Slaker117 said:You really don't have any idea what you're talking about do you?" @PatriotsAreGod: Well I'm certainly not happy when Microsoft wins a legal battle that allows them access to people's private information. I don't have much sympathy for straight up pirates, but this is getting a bit too close to Big Brother for my tastes. Not alarmingly so, but nothing about this is "awesome" to me. "But.....nobody has a right to visit ANY website that MIGHT give you an idea how to hack. You are automatically guilty. Sony is smart and cool enough to know why you are on those sites. You thought you had freedoms? For SHAME! "
Sarcasm. I was hoping some would pick it up. I think the fact they CAN do it is bad enough, actually." @PatriotsAreGod said:
" @Slaker117 said:You really don't have any idea what you're talking about do you? "" @PatriotsAreGod: Well I'm certainly not happy when Microsoft wins a legal battle that allows them access to people's private information. I don't have much sympathy for straight up pirates, but this is getting a bit too close to Big Brother for my tastes. Not alarmingly so, but nothing about this is "awesome" to me. "But.....nobody has a right to visit ANY website that MIGHT give you an idea how to hack. You are automatically guilty. Sony is smart and cool enough to know why you are on those sites. You thought you had freedoms? For SHAME! "
" @PatriotsAreGod said:He's pretty clearly being incredibly sarcastic." @Slaker117 said:You really don't have any idea what you're talking about do you? "" @PatriotsAreGod: Well I'm certainly not happy when Microsoft wins a legal battle that allows them access to people's private information. I don't have much sympathy for straight up pirates, but this is getting a bit too close to Big Brother for my tastes. Not alarmingly so, but nothing about this is "awesome" to me. "But.....nobody has a right to visit ANY website that MIGHT give you an idea how to hack. You are automatically guilty. Sony is smart and cool enough to know why you are on those sites. You thought you had freedoms? For SHAME! "
" How come jailbreaking an iPhone is considered legal, but hacking the PS3 is not? I haven't done either so I'm not sure, but aren't you just messing with the firmware in both cases? "Good question. I'm against piracy 100% but I seriously hope nobody (besides Sony) gives too much of a fuss about messing with their own stuff. Does anyone homebrew on the PS3 anyway?
If sony wins this lawsuit against Geohot that sets a terrible precedent about ownership. I should be able to do anything I want with my console, if I wanna install a linux kernel I should be able to. It's not really any different than hitting it with a hammer, I bought the damn thing. However, buying a console or PC doesn't give me the right to steal things I haven't bought.
" @PatriotsAreGod said:I'm all for Sony cracking down on Piracy but again, I wonder how many are really pirating PS3 games. Isn't it a royal pain in the ass to do all this crap to your system or something?" @Slaker117 said:I love PC's, but if one came to my house and tried to burn it down, I wouldn't be the least bit happy about it. "" Why is this awesome? "Because Sony wins. Do you see the color of my name? "
Hacking a PS3 is legal, they can't sue you over it, they're just making an example of Hotz because they've been bleeding about the amount of piracy with all of their products even though it hasn't been till recently that they're even making an attempt to show interest in DRM. So Sony gets a big thumbs down from me for being a douchebag just to spark fear.
Edit: Also they haven't won shit yet, they've just been given the right to obtain information on who has accessed the website and jailbreaked their PS3. I highly doubt that Hotz will lose this case because this isn't the first time a company has tried to bully its way through a lawsuit over jailbreaking, and lost.
A lot of people support Sony in trying to protect their IP (although they seem to be turning the stable into fort knox after the horses already bolted imho). It doesn't hurt that this GeoHot guy comes across as a legendary asshole. However if they start going after everyone who downloaded the licence keys then I can see public opinion turning against them. It is like how I can broadly support movie studeos for being anti-piracy but find it distasteful when their lawyers are chasing some 14 year old's parents for stupid amounts of money 'cause their dumb kid downloaded Hurt Locker (watched 5 minutes and turned it off for being way boring).
" @Jasta said:It would depend how much you intended to pirate on the system, £40 saving on every title you don't buy would mean alot to some people." @PatriotsAreGod said:I'm all for Sony cracking down on Piracy but again, I wonder how many are really pirating PS3 games. Isn't it a royal pain in the ass to do all this crap to your system or something? "" @Slaker117 said:I love PC's, but if one came to my house and tried to burn it down, I wouldn't be the least bit happy about it. "" Why is this awesome? "Because Sony wins. Do you see the color of my name? "
" If sony wins this lawsuit against Geohot that sets a terrible precedent about ownership. I should be able to do anything I want with my console, if I wanna install a linux kernel I should be able to. It's not really any different than hitting it with a hammer, I bought the damn thing. However, buying a console or PC doesn't give me the right to steal things I haven't bought. "This seems like the only really reasonable opinion to have on the matter. Unfortunately the law has trouble when it come to digital rights. There is too much gray zone in the fact that allowing open platforms leaves the door to piracy wide open. Corporations want it all locked down and their aren't many people willing to fight against that.
I believe the DMCA has a clause in it that makes circumventing a copy protection scheme illegal - as in a federal crime. Over the years people have chipped away at this to allow for circumvention in certain, very specific cases. Phone jailbreaks are one example.
stacks of money > justice.
I believe I visited his website once to see a post that he had made about something, I think it was his rap or whatever, that was in a news article. Well guess Sony now has my IP address....good thing I don't own a Playstation right now or I would feel really screwed.
" @PatriotsAreGod said:Thanks." Oh, wait a minute......who has been to those websites? Fess up, now. "Everyone has been to the websites. Most news sites even linked to Hotz's site themselves, not that it matters anyway. Before anyone else gets confused, let's be clear that Sony got permission to do this to help them judge the extent to which Hotz's site reached the public and in where most of these people lived. All they want is to get enough evidence to get the trial held in California because that's where they feel they have the best chance at winning. They aren't suing random people or anything like that, as I've seen people on other forums suggest. "
I think this is good.
@PatriotsAreGod said:
" @Crixaliz said:Because the PS3 is struggling even now, and never was super successful (compared to the PS2, or any current generation consoles), and they can't afford assholes hacking their games, pirating as easily as they would on a PC, etc etc etc. Apple is going to be fine no matter how much piracy happens. Look at what Piracy has done to the PC market. Fewer games are made for PC every year, especially big budget games, and more and more shitty ports come from devs more than capable of putting out good ports. The PC market has taken a huge hit thanks to piracy (which leads to more piracy!) and it's not really getting much better. Steam helped, but things are still worse than they could be. Sony can't really afford that happening to their platform until at least the next generation and they release a reasonably priced, competitively times console and can forget the struggle that was keeping the PS brand afloat." How come jailbreaking an iPhone is considered legal, but hacking the PS3 is not? I haven't done either so I'm not sure, but aren't you just messing with the firmware in both cases? "Good question. I'm against piracy 100% but I seriously hope nobody (besides Sony) gives too much of a fuss about messing with their own stuff. Does anyone homebrew on the PS3 anyway? "
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