GeoHot Donates Leftover Legal Funds to EFF

[Tom Goldman]

GeoHot Donates Leftover Legal Funds to EFF

PS3 hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz has donated his leftover legal defense funds to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

PlayStation 3 hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz faced a serious situation when settled the case [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106865-Sony-Breaks-Out-the-Lawyers-Over-PS3-Hacks], but those donated funds won't go to poor use.

Instead of GeoHot using the funds to buy a 60-inch 3DTV, he donated every penny to the Electronic Frontier Foundation [https://www.eff.org/]. The EFF works to defend digital rights in various areas such as free speech, innovation, and privacy.

On his blog, GeoHot posted an image of his receipt for the $10,000 donation to the EFF, and says it's "all left over legal defense money, plus a little to bump it to a nice number." He thanks everyone for their donations, saying the lawsuit could have been much worse without them.

GeoHot adds that he won't be anonymously continuing his work on Sony products out of respect for the court system. He still expects others to work on the PS4, NGP, and other future Sony products, because as he says: "If you piss [Sony] off enough for them to pull out the legal team and their million dollar checkbook, worst thing that happens is you have to super swear to never do it again." If you're GeoHot, maybe.

Source: GeoHot's Blog [http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/2011/04/10000-to-eff.html]


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[The_root_of_all_evil]

Can you imagine Sony doing that?

Difficult difficult case...BUT...that's a hell of a PR move for GeoHot at the end of it.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

Can you imagine Sony doing that?

Difficult difficult case...BUT...that's a hell of a PR move for GeoHot at the end of it.

arguably he needed something like that, cause I doubt many people were happy with him settling with Sony

 

[viranimus]

It is logical. Prolly about the best means to distribute the money outside of reimbursing all the original donors. It helps promote the cause and future defenses. Decent move.

Still I would rather have seen the money be used and give a big FU to sony and continued the fight, cause really this ordeal didnt solve the problem, it just delayed it to be fought again later.

My question is, what exactly was the settlement? Ive yet to find out the details

 

[Jumplion]

I'm pretty sure he stated when he got the money that he would donate any leftover funds to the EFF, so no new news here. Just people knee-jerking at his actions.

Honestly, this case has been twisted, manipulated, and skewed so much on both sides that it's come to the point where I don't think anybody even knows what the original lawsuit was about.

 

[matrix3509]

I really doubt that this is going to help.

It's not like the EFF can't pursue their goals because they don't have enough money.

I love when people pull this fucked up logic to hand-wave a good deed no matter what it is.

OT: At least Sony didn't make him pinky swear with no finger crossies.

 

[SaintWaldo]

GeoHot adds that he won't be anonymously continuing his work on Sony products out of respect for the court system. He still expects others to work on the PS4, NGP, and other future Sony products, because as he says: "If you piss [Sony] off enough for them to pull out the legal team and their million dollar checkbook, worst thing that happens is you have to super swear to never do it again."

There's that whiff of contempt, again. Using the qualifier "super" on the term "swear" seems to me to be sarcastic in nature. Hey, GeoHot, can the snark, at this final point. It was a draw, and if I were you, I would be double careful to keep the braggadocio to a minimum, lest you come up against something far more binding than a EULA.

"Patient like a spider. Zen spiders."

 

[KeyMaster45]

OT: At least Sony didn't make him pinky swear with no figher crossies.

That's probably the part he can't talk about. After all Sony wouldn't want to be seen as a child throwing a hissy fit now would it?

Oh wait...

 

[drbarno]

you've changed the picture, I prefer the previous one, at least it gives the impression of his character.

 

[Layzor]

Oh, I guess he's a nice man after all. Hooray for him!

 

[matrix3509]

GeoHot adds that he won't be anonymously continuing his work on Sony products out of respect for the court system. He still expects others to work on the PS4, NGP, and other future Sony products, because as he says: "If you piss [Sony] off enough for them to pull out the legal team and their million dollar checkbook, worst thing that happens is you have to super swear to never do it again."

There's that whiff of contempt, again. Using the qualifier "super" on the term "swear" seems to me to be sarcastic in nature. Hey, GeoHot, can the snark, at this final point. It was a draw, and if I were you, I would be double careful to keep the braggadocio to a minimum, lest you come up against something far more binding than a EULA.

"Patient like a spider. Zen spiders."

In all honesty, Hotz kinda earned a few bragging rights. He took on a multi-billion dollar corporation and his punishment was to pinky swear to never do it again. I don't really care what the settlement said otherwise, he won.

 

[viranimus]

It is logical. Prolly about the best means to distribute the money outside of reimbursing all the original donors. It helps promote the cause and future defenses. Decent move.

Still I would rather have seen the money be used and give a big FU to sony and continued the fight, cause really this ordeal didnt solve the problem, it just delayed it to be fought again later.

My question is, what exactly was the settlement? Ive yet to find out the details

Settlement was that Sony drops the case as long as Hotz promises to never again decompile or disassemble another Sony product.

Seriously, that's it. Well, that, and he will be fined $10,000 for each time he is discovered to be tampering with a Sony product. Whoop-dee-doo. One hacker down, thousands to go.

Ahh, ok, well Then I stand by my original assertation... He should have hung in their and continued to fight, because this accomplished nothing. Just a matter of time before it comes up again.

OT: does anyone else think this picture of him makes it look like hes going to be bald before 30?

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Hmm, I thought he said we would be pleasantly surprised with what he was going to do with the money? Doing what any decent person would do isn't surprising...pleasant yes but not surprising.

 

[Emergent]

Pretty much what he promised to do, and he did it. All is well.

In reflection, I'd say if you take on a multinational corporation essentially by yourself and end up with a draw, you could call it a pretty good day.

 

[JDKJ]

I really doubt that this is going to help.

It's not like the EFF can't pursue their goals because they don't have enough money.

I love when people pull this fucked up logic to hand-wave a good deed no matter what it is.

OT: At least Sony didn't make him pinky swear with no figher crossies.

That's pretty much what it is. It's a PR stunt. It's not going to help much. This isn't some goddamn cancer foundation that needs supplies and funds. It's a group of people who argue for consumer rights.

Even if what he was "fighting for" wasn't already bullshit, he's not really doing much to help his case. It probably would have been better for him to see this case through instead of dropping it out of court.

Actually, if you think the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a misguided piece of legislation, the EFF's not a bad organization to support. They've done a lot to carve out exceptions to the DMCA's prohibitions. I'd rather give them money than that useless Entertainment Consumers Association.