GeoHot Was High When He Posted PS3 Hack

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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GeoHot Was High When He Posted PS3 Hack



The famous hacker offers a few dirty secrets from his past.

fair share of weed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/tags/geohot?] and popped a few pills.

"I'm the complete opposite of Anonymous," he told The New Yorker. "I'm George Hotz. Everything I do is aboveboard, everything I do is legit."

When Anonymous began #OpSony to fight for Hotz's rights, he was just worried that the Japanese would think he was somehow involved. "I hope to God Sony doesn't think this is me," he thought.

After the lawsuit between Hotz and Sony was settled [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109150-GeoHot-and-Sony-Settle-PS3-Jailbreak-Case], he was even invited to Sony's offices to divulge his methods for rendering the PS3 under his control. "If there were going to be lawyers there," he said, "I was going to be the biggest asshole ever." But the Sony engineering guys were "respectful" and just wanted to learn from him.

The picture that Hotz paints as a "white-hat" hacker or one that operates within his legal rights doesn't exactly jive with some of his behavior.

For example, while running a red light near his residence in Palo Alto, CA, he said. "Fuck these assholes. Stupidest red light ever. It makes no sense at all. I live by morals, I don't live by laws. Laws are something made by assholes."

He also has made his drug use pretty clear. Before a photo shoot celebrating Hotz's victory at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007, he admitted to smoking marijuana. "My eyes are bloodshot" in the photo, he said. "It's great."

Drug use also contributed to the public release of the PS3's master key. Hotz said he had taken Vicodin and OxyContin that day which may have made him a little freer with his hacking knowledge. "You just feel good about everything," Hotz remembered.

Still, George Hotz isn't a bad guy. He honestly doesn't believe he is doing anything wrong by hacking computers, phones or gaming consoles, even though major corporations like Sony and Apple may think differently. "This is the struggle of our generation, the struggle between control of information and freedom of information."

In that struggle, GeoHot fights to keep it all free.

Source: New Yorker [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/05/07/120507fa_fact_kushner#ixzz1tejPyYNd]

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mad825

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Mar 28, 2010
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And in the latest news: rebellious teenagers drink alcohol.

I wouldn't exactly call GeoHot Robinhood...Neither would I quote his pseudo-philosophy. Still, if he's willing to make fun and poke at the money grabbers I'm not going to get in his way.
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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Need I point out, like all his photos the Escapist use on stories about him, he still looks like a ponse.

And after the whole deal with Sony and jailbreaking the PS3, is he even still relevent to anyone?
 

dalek sec

Leader of the Cult of Skaro
Jul 20, 2008
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WanderingFool said:
Need I point out, like all his photos the Escapist use on stories about him, he still looks like a ponse.

And after the whole deal with Sony and jailbreaking the PS3, is he even still relevent to anyone?
Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks he looks like one in all his pics. Glad to know that the "hero" of our generation was whacked on pills the day he released the PS3's master key or he was baked when getting his picture taken for award... really bloody classy. Not to mention if things aren't his way he throws fits and acts like an asshole.

Even if he does any good it's pretty much overshadowed (to me) by the way he acts.
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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So he's a smart guy who's a dick about it? Isn't that pretty much any mentor character or cocky protege (is that the word?) in movie history?
 

Jaeke

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Feb 25, 2010
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A-Holes gonna be A-Holes.
At least he's not a malicious A-hole.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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Greg Tito said:
He was then sued by Sony, and perhaps unwittingly fanned the flames of a hacker revolution that spawned Anonymous attacks, LulzSec and the coining of the term "hacktivism" as a way for hackers to defend their digital rights.
I think the word "hacktivism" is a good bit older than that. Like L0pht/turn of the century old.

Greg Tito said:
Through it all, George Hotz never committed a crime, or engaged in malicious hacking to steal data or shut down someone's servers. But he might have smoked his fair share of weed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116340-Infamous-PS3-Hacker-Geohot-Arrested-For-Marijuana] and popped a few pills.
Does this surprise anyone? He never looked nor acted like someone who was entirely on an even keel.
 

dalek sec

Leader of the Cult of Skaro
Jul 20, 2008
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Jaeke said:
A-Holes gonna be A-Holes.
At least he's not a malicious A-hole.
But's that's only if things go his way. He said so himself that if any lawyer was gonna be there even if they just sat and did nothing he would turn into a total asshole. That doesn't exactly make me feel safe that someone like him is really good at tech stuff and he has that kind of mindset.
 

F4LL3N

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mad825 said:
And in the latest news: rebellious teenagers drink alcohol.

I wouldn't exactly call GeoHot Robinhood...Neither would I quote his pseudo-philosophy. Still, if he's willing to make fun and poke at the money grabbers I'm not going to get in his way.
That's funny. Because when I read the article, I was like, I'm using that shit.

"I live by morals, I don't live by laws. Laws are something made by assholes."-Geohot
 

razer17

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Feb 3, 2009
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Greg Tito said:
LulzSec and the coining of the term "hacktivism" as a way for hackers to defend their digital rights.
The term hactivism is much more recent than that, and the use of it in a human rights sense is equally as old, at least from 1999, and quite possibly before then. Not a major issue, but still.


Anyhow, this... must be a slow news day. Teenagers smoking drugs!? Sacre bleu.
 

evilneko

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Jun 16, 2011
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Greg Tito said:
He honestly doesn't believe he is doing anything wrong by hacking computers, phones or gaming consoles, even though major corporations like Sony and Apple may think differently. "This is the struggle of our generation, the struggle between control of information and freedom of information."
And he's right, so long as he's only doing it to his own stuff. Dude's clearly got skillz, probably has a bright future ahead of him in the IS industry if he doesn't do something really stupid in the meantime.
 

anthony87

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Aug 13, 2009
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"I live by morals, I don't live by laws. Laws are something made by assholes."

For some reason when I read that I thought of this:

 

KeyMaster45

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Jun 16, 2008
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Greg Tito said:
Still, George Hotz isn't a bad guy. He honestly doesn't believe he is doing anything wrong by hacking computers, phones or gaming consoles, even though major corporations like Sony and Apple may think differently. "This is the struggle of our generation, the struggle between control of information and freedom of information."
That Norwegian gunman and Hitler didn't believe they were doing anything wrong either.

*leans back in chair*

I await everyone's counter-arguments.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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[b/]For example, while running a red light near his residence in Palo Alto, CA, he said. "Fuck these assholes. Stupidest red light ever. It makes no sense at all. I live by morals, I don't live by laws. Laws are something made by assholes." [/b]

and THATS the problem..some jerk thinks he's smarter than "the systm" and somone will end up hit by a car...dress it up all you want running a red light is running a red light...no matter how "justified" you feel
 

wooty

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Aug 1, 2009
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Soooo am I supposed to support him? Forgive him? Cheer him?

I'd rather just hit him to be honest.
 

Mr.Pandah

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Jul 20, 2008
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Very tongue in cheek article. I approve.

As for the kid himself? He's a dick. That much is clear. He also looks like Brian Peppers. I don't care for his attitude about anything at all. Not a respectable person in my opinion.