Anonymous Splinter Group Targeting Sony Executives

[heydarguise]

Hi guys. My name is "heyguise" and I'm the administrator for the irc channel #sonyrecon (the one this article is about.) If you guys have any questions about what we are doing or the reasons for this I'd be more than glad to answer you.

Not to ask the obvious questions, but what are you doing and what are the reasons?

I mean, I don't see the harassment and pranking of Sony Execs or those involved in the legal process as contributing to Hotz's likelihood of winning the case, and I doubt that it's going to get Sony to drop the suit, so... why?

Hotz case is supposed to be decided by an impartial jury in respect to its self and not outside influences, right? Other wise the American legal system would be corrupt and that could never happen :>

I'm not sure I see your point. Yes, jury's are not completely impartial, but it doesn't sound like the people you're targeting are on the jury. And I don't see how this is sways public opinion in Hotz favor. Again, I don't see how it helps Hotz. I suppose that may not be your intent.

So, what are you doing, and why are you doing it?

Raising public awareness about the case, creating discourse, dropping Sony's stock, discovering information that may have been obscured. Here's some thing we discovered.

Sony (Sony Pictures, Columbia Records, Epic Records, Legacy Records, Playstation, Electronics, Individual TV Shows: Seinfeld, Mad About You, Jepoardy, Wheel-of-Fortune, etc.) 67% of their donations are to Democrats

The judge Susan Illston was nominated by Bill Clinton.

Klein is married to Nicole Seligman, General Counsel to Howard Stringer of Sony Corp. Seligman represented former President Bill Clinton during impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate.

Thats at least interesting.

 

[DJROC]

Raising public awareness about the case, creating discourse, dropping Sony's stock, discovering information that may have been obscured.

In that case, you seem to be doing quite well. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Svenparty]

Although Anonymous have turned harassment into an art form this is hardly going to help Geohot in the near future. What Sony are doing may be harsh but Anon are simply making all hackers look bad thus Geohot might get an even harsher sentence.

 

[Agayek]

Theres basically nothing right about that. If Sony didnt try to protect their IPs, then hackers torrenting and illegally copying games would basically bankrupt them, Microsoft, Nintendo, and any other software company. Whats the incentive to making a product if illegally downloading and copying games becomes legal.

The same incentive the thousands upon thousands of open-source projects that currently exist have. Look up the GNU Public License at some point. If everyone agreed with your thoughts here, that wouldn't exist.

All told, I'm with Anon on this one. The whole lawsuit is rather ridiculous. If someone wants to do something, regardless of what it is, with the hardware they bought and paid for, they damn well be able to.

That said, I do think it's over the line to harass the families of those involved. I can't speak to what they plan to do (and social engineering is one of the strongest tools a hacker has), but if it actually crosses into harassment territory, then the whole thing has gone too far.

 

[Misho-]

You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing. You fuck with their kids, their families... Shit starts to get REALLY creepy. Their families? Seriously? Since when has Anon decided "Tim fucked up, I'm gonna gather all the information I can on his wife and kids"? If one person fucks up, Anon usually attacks that person, not their entire family... This doesn't seem right, this doesn't seem like anon

This is the same group who will hack a website and post everyones password info on the web, and find info about a target and call them on the phone to leave threatening messages. You really didnt see this coming? There is nothing noble about what they do.

I don't know, but DDoS attacks and such are one thing, but going after the family... Take all the dirt and rumors and bullshit you want. but this is just too far

Still is a Splinter Cell of the group. If they get caught, Anonymous at large will deny any reponsibility on that rogue group actions and just keep on doing what they want.

I'm against cyber terrorism for liberty. Oops, I didn't meant to use that word... Well, I did now...

And seriously :"You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing." That's fucked up man...

 

[TheMadTypist]

-snip-

The phone number was found this way; his number was unlisted on the internet (big exec doesn't want that getting out) How ever his WIFES home number was listed. Since he and his wife live in the same house...we have his phone number. No looking into the family, no chocolate rain :<

Oh... I kind of figured you'd left it on his office voicemail, not the home number.

The wife was under the same roof, and the information was publicly listed, so no real foul play there I guess. The kids, though, aren't they old enough now to live on their own?

Also, I suspect the ponies could use air rifles because they have magnetic powers. Like if Magneto had hooves, and a long flowing mane.

 

[Echo136]

Theres basically nothing right about that. If Sony didnt try to protect their IPs, then hackers torrenting and illegally copying games would basically bankrupt them, Microsoft, Nintendo, and any other software company. Whats the incentive to making a product if illegally downloading and copying games becomes legal.

The same incentive the thousands upon thousands of open-source projects that currently exist have. Look up the GNU Public License at some point. If everyone agreed with your thoughts here, that wouldn't exist.

All told, I'm with Anon on this one. The whole lawsuit is rather ridiculous. If someone wants to do something, regardless of what it is, with the hardware they bought and paid for, they damn well be able to.

That said, I do think it's over the line to harass the families of those involved. I can't speak to what they plan to do (and social engineering is one of the strongest tools a hacker has), but if it actually crosses into harassment territory, then the whole thing has gone too far.

Well lets put it this way. Whens the last time you bought music? Probably a long time. And yet you probably have tons of music on your harddrive. The music industry is all but dead, and the video game industry will follow swiftly if we allow people like Geohot to get away with what he did.


Edit: Also Id like to note that he wasnt just doing this to his own PS3. If that was the case he would have been left unnoticed. He publically posted the source code so the process could be repeated.

 

[Irridium]

So is this why Uncharted 2 is dropping me and others(you know who you are) out of matches?

 

[Irridium]

Well lets put it this way. Whens the last time you bought music? Probably a long time. And yet you probably have tons of music on your harddrive. The music industry is all but dead, and the video game industry will follow swiftly if we allow people like Geohot to get away with what he did.

And it won't get much better if we let companies do whatever the hell they feel like and hiding behind the EULA's.

I don't give a shit about Geohot, but I really hope his case opens up further cases about EULA's, and how bullshit and anti-consumer they are.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing. You fuck with their kids, their families... Shit starts to get REALLY creepy. Their families? Seriously? Since when has Anon decided "Tim fucked up, I'm gonna gather all the information I can on his wife and kids"? If one person fucks up, Anon usually attacks that person, not their entire family... This doesn't seem right, this doesn't seem like anon

... That was in jest, right? Are [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Mitchell_Henderson] you [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Porsche_Girl] new [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Jessi_Slaughter] to [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Alex_Wuori] this? (Warning: Links NSFW)

 

[HyenaThePirate]

All told, I'm with Anon on this one. The whole lawsuit is rather ridiculous. If someone wants to do something, regardless of what it is, with the hardware they bought and paid for, they damn well be able to.

No, they shouldn't be able to. To be quite honest, all PERSONAL feelings aside, the only real thing a consumer can do with hardware is decide to BUY it or NOT. However, companies have the right to protect themselves, especially from piracy and misuse of their product in criminal pursuits, provided they forewarn potential consumers before hand. And let's be clear, that is what the problem comes down to... people don't want to "modify" their hardware so they can make spreadsheets and edit their fan films. They do it to so they can play GAMES without paying for them. That is the ultimate end goal for 90% of modders. I remember back in the day during the PSP's early release, all the hackers defended their pursuits of hacking the PSP firmware as their desire to play homebrew programs, apps, and games. However, I don't seem to recall ANY homebrew games or programs anyone was really using beyond changing their background theme. ALL of the other "homebrew" consisted of emulators and pirated PSP game roms. So in essence, the "haxxors" community shot themselves in the foot, and got embroiled in a war with Sony who took more and more drastic, even draconian steps to prevent the piracy on the handheld. This lead to poor PSP sales I surmise, due to them trying so damn hard to stop pirates and not focusing on making the games for the system as enticing as they could have been. Nintendo went through a similar situation with the R4 cartridge, which they successfully got removed from market. Sure people CLAIMED they wanted it to 'backup' their saves and games, but in reality, everyone knows that it's main and in most cases ONLY use were to allow piracy of downloaded DS roms.

It's a situation where the few, VERY FEW, legitimate modders are overshadowed by the greedy, selfish individuals who somehow have the skewed perception that they should be allowed to play games for free because games are too expensive for them to buy... as if it is some sort of human right to be able to play the latest Final Fantasy game whether you can afford to buy it or not.

At the end of the day, THIS is why project $10, rootkits, and all these other disastrous programs are the focus of gaming companies instead of making their products better... because making consoles and games is expensive business, and when people don't buy them (even though they apparently still want to PLAY them) it prevents them from making other things, and investing in newer IP's. There's probably a great deal of cool, inventive, fresh games that we'll never get to play because they never got made because Sony had to spend its money stopping people stealing their games rather than investing in some new game companies with bold fresh ideas.

 

[Agayek]

Well lets put it this way. Whens the last time you bought music? Probably a long time. And yet you probably have tons of music on your harddrive. The music industry is all but dead, and the video game industry will follow swiftly if we allow people like Geohot to get away with what he did.

Actually, I can't remember the last time I didn't buy a song that I listen to regularly. I rarely hop on Pandora and listen to that for free, but when I find a song or whatever I like, I pay for it, usually off of the iTunes store. If it's not on the iTunes store, I'll find a version on YouTube and download that until it is up on iTunes. Not really that complicated.

That whole debate is largely irrelevant though. The fact of the matter is, Hotz is being sued for modifying his own property. That strikes me as more than a little ridiculous.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

See, there was this thread the other day that asked if Anonymous was the good guys or bad guys. I said they sound like thugs to me, and people said, "Well, it all depends on which side of the fence you're on." Bull shit. What did the children of the Sony employees do? What did the average employee at Sony do? What the hell did I DO for them to mess with my connection to the PlayStation Network? The fence isn't even in my freaking YARD. Thugs.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing. You fuck with their kids, their families... Shit starts to get REALLY creepy. Their families? Seriously? Since when has Anon decided "Tim fucked up, I'm gonna gather all the information I can on his wife and kids"? If one person fucks up, Anon usually attacks that person, not their entire family... This doesn't seem right, this doesn't seem like anon

This is the same group who will hack a website and post everyones password info on the web, and find info about a target and call them on the phone to leave threatening messages. You really didnt see this coming? There is nothing noble about what they do.

I don't know, but DDoS attacks and such are one thing, but going after the family... Take all the dirt and rumors and bullshit you want. but this is just too far

Still is a Splinter Cell of the group. If they get caught, Anonymous at large will deny any reponsibility on that rogue group actions and just keep on doing what they want.

I'm against cyber terrorism for liberty. Oops, I didn't meant to use that word... Well, I did now...

And seriously :"You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing." That's fucked up man...

I figured te standard DDoS attacks to be honest. I don't like the idea of handing out cell phone nubers, getting people to call oters at 3AM, sending them voicemails, BLAH BLAH BLAH.... but a simply DDoS attack... it gets fixed, as long as there are no long lasting effects.

What I should have said is "Why ar eyouo getting personal, don't get personal"

 

[Misho-]

You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing. You fuck with their kids, their families... Shit starts to get REALLY creepy. Their families? Seriously? Since when has Anon decided "Tim fucked up, I'm gonna gather all the information I can on his wife and kids"? If one person fucks up, Anon usually attacks that person, not their entire family... This doesn't seem right, this doesn't seem like anon

This is the same group who will hack a website and post everyones password info on the web, and find info about a target and call them on the phone to leave threatening messages. You really didnt see this coming? There is nothing noble about what they do.

I don't know, but DDoS attacks and such are one thing, but going after the family... Take all the dirt and rumors and bullshit you want. but this is just too far

Still is a Splinter Cell of the group. If they get caught, Anonymous at large will deny any reponsibility on that rogue group actions and just keep on doing what they want.

I'm against cyber terrorism for liberty. Oops, I didn't meant to use that word... Well, I did now...

And seriously :"You wanna fuck with the people involved, you do that, that's one thing." That's fucked up man...

I figured te standard DDoS attacks to be honest. I don't like the idea of handing out cell phone nubers, getting people to call oters at 3AM, sending them voicemails, BLAH BLAH BLAH.... but a simply DDoS attack... it gets fixed, as long as there are no long lasting effects.

What I should have said is "Why ar eyouo getting personal, don't get personal"

No, don't worry. I don't like getting personal either, it just that it sounds really fucked up... Glad you clarified that bit.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

bunch of cowards if you ask me. Seriously attacking the family members of Sony exec. To me that's just crossing a line. Besides who gave these 14 year old shut ins with a computer the authority to deal out justice (if you want to call it that)?

So, we should just bow down to corporations? There is no line when it comes to freedom from big business.

Theres basically nothing right about that. If Sony didnt try to protect their IPs, then hackers torrenting and illegally copying games would basically bankrupt them, Microsoft, Nintendo, and any other software company. Whats the incentive to making a product if illegally downloading and copying games becomes legal.

That isnt what this is about, you know what sony did? They ADVERTISED that their product could install linux. Then AFTER people bought this product they removed it. Thats theft. They said technically you dont own your ps3, you rent it, and they can remove/add anything they want.
No... its my PS3, i can buy one, smash one, take my PS3 and throw it out of my window. I can do whatever i damn well please with it. Installing linux wasnt a crime, it wasnt illegal, THEY ADVERTISED IT! But now its gone, and to play games i need to update, an update that removes this ability. This isnt fair.

Imagine this scenario. I sell you a chocolate bar. I tell you it is tasty. You raise it to your mouth and take a bite. Its pretty damn good. You try to take another bite before i grab it out of your hand, throw it to the floor and stamp on it screaming "NO IT IS NOT FOR EATING, YOU RENTED IT! IT ISNT YOURS AND I DECIDE WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO!" I then incinerate the remains and make sure you cant buy any more edible candy of the same viarety.

I sell you a care that has 5 doors. While you sleep i creap over to your house, rip the door off your car, remove half the steering wheel and leave. I then sue the persons selling the halves of steering wheels i stole.

 

[heydarguise]

See, there was this thread the other day that asked if Anonymous was the good guys or bad guys. I said they sound like thugs to me, and people said, "Well, it all depends on which side of the fence you're on." Bull shit. What did the children of the Sony employees do? What did the average employee at Sony do? What the hell did I DO for them to mess with my connection to the PlayStation Network? The fence isn't even in my freaking YARD. Thugs.

You may have a look at this.
http://anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=797

 

[Agayek]

No, they shouldn't be able to. To be quite honest, all PERSONAL feelings aside, the only real thing a consumer can do with hardware is decide to BUY it or NOT. However, companies have the right to protect themselves, especially from piracy and misuse of their product in criminal pursuits, provided they forewarn potential consumers before hand. And let's be clear, that is what the problem comes down to... people don't want to "modify" their hardware so they can make spreadsheets and edit their fan films. They do it to so they can play GAMES without paying for them. That is the ultimate end goal for 90% of modders. I remember back in the day during the PSP's early release, all the hackers defended their pursuits of hacking the PSP firmware as their desire to play homebrew programs, apps, and games. However, I don't seem to recall ANY homebrew games or programs anyone was really using beyond changing their background theme. ALL of the other "homebrew" consisted of emulators and pirated PSP game roms. So in essence, the "haxxors" community shot themselves in the foot, and got embroiled in a war with Sony who took more and more drastic, even draconian steps to prevent the piracy on the handheld. This lead to poor PSP sales I surmise, due to them trying so damn hard to stop pirates and not focusing on making the games for the system as enticing as they could have been. Nintendo went through a similar situation with the R4 cartridge, which they successfully got removed from market. Sure people CLAIMED they wanted it to 'backup' their saves and games, but in reality, everyone knows that it's main and in most cases ONLY use were to allow piracy of downloaded DS roms.

It's a situation where the few, VERY FEW, legitimate modders are overshadowed by the greedy, selfish individuals who somehow have the skewed perception that they should be allowed to play games for free because games are too expensive for them to buy... as if it is some sort of human right to be able to play the latest Final Fantasy game whether you can afford to buy it or not.

At the end of the day, THIS is why project $10, rootkits, and all these other disastrous programs are the focus of gaming companies instead of making their products better... because making consoles and games is expensive business, and when people don't buy them (even though they apparently still want to PLAY them) it prevents them from making other things, and investing in newer IP's. There's probably a great deal of cool, inventive, fresh games that we'll never get to play because they never got made because Sony had to spend its money stopping people stealing their games rather than investing in some new game companies with bold fresh ideas.

First, your assumption that if they didn't have to spend the money to protect their business they would instead spend it on their products is laughably naive.

Second, what is done with a mod is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is, Sony is saying you can spend $400 on hardware and then be completely unable to modify it, in any way, shape or form. And that's ridiculous. If you want to modify something you bought and paid for, you damn well better be allowed to, regardless of what you plan to do with the end result.

I'm all for bringing litigation against pirates, but this is ridiculous. Find someone who played a pirated game and slap them with a lawsuit, I'm fine with. Targeting someone because they fucked around with their own property is well over the line.

One should be allowed to do anything they want with one's own property, regardless of all other concerns. The entire problem I have with this lawsuit is that that's what it's targeting. Piracy isn't even peripherally involved. Some schmuck wanted to mess with his property and Sony didn't like it. That's the whole lawsuit in a nutshell.

 

[Echo136]

bunch of cowards if you ask me. Seriously attacking the family members of Sony exec. To me that's just crossing a line. Besides who gave these 14 year old shut ins with a computer the authority to deal out justice (if you want to call it that)?

So, we should just bow down to corporations? There is no line when it comes to freedom from big business.

Theres basically nothing right about that. If Sony didnt try to protect their IPs, then hackers torrenting and illegally copying games would basically bankrupt them, Microsoft, Nintendo, and any other software company. Whats the incentive to making a product if illegally downloading and copying games becomes legal.

That isnt what this is about, you know what sony did? They ADVERTISED that their product could install linux. Then AFTER people bought this product they removed it. Thats theft. They said technically you dont own your ps3, you rent it, and they can remove/add anything they want.
No... its my PS3, i can buy one, smash one, take my PS3 and throw it out of my window. I can do whatever i damn well please with it. Installing linux wasnt a crime, it wasnt illegal, THEY ADVERTISED IT! But now its gone, and to play games i need to update, an update that removes this ability. This isnt fair.

Imagine this scenario. I sell you a chocolate bar. I tell you it is tasty. You raise it to your mouth and take a bite. Its pretty damn good. You try to take another bite before i grab it out of your hand, throw it to the floor and stamp on it screaming "NO IT IS NOT FOR EATING, YOU RENTED IT! IT ISNT YOURS AND I DECIDE WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO!" I then incinerate the remains and make sure you cant buy any more edible candy of the same viarety.

I sell you a care that has 5 doors. While you sleep i creap over to your house, rip the door off your car, remove half the steering wheel and leave. I then sue the persons selling the halves of steering wheels i stole.

They advertised taht their product could use linux for 2 fucking weeks. Get over it.

 

[gundamrx101]

Like the cleaning of a house. . . . . .It Never Ends.
(ha simpsons reference).

OT: So this went from bad to OMGWTFBBQ? Really? I've already said about this subject what I wanted and I don't like repeating myself (repition does help kids learn though) so I'm just gonna shake my head at this and enjoy some PC gaming.