Geohot Claims He's Never Heard of Sony Computer Entertainment of America

[Declan Skews]

I don't know about America, but in the UK I'm damn sure that wouldn't fly. Ignorance doesn't shield you from the law. If Sony provided those manuals, it's his responsibility to read them.

Anyway, this guy seems like a right knob. Take the git down!

This. Ignorance doesn't protect you from prosecution for any other kind of crime so why should it protect him in this?

Also he is very obviously lying. I know about SCEA and SCEE etc. by the time I was 10.

 

[EGtodd09]

In Geohot's defence, I never knew Sony was in America or however it works. I thought it was entirely Japanese, so does everyone I know. It's completely plausible, likely in fact, that Geohot did not know there was a SCEA

 

[Declan Skews]

In Geohot's defence, I never knew Sony was in America or however it works. I thought it was entirely Japanese, so does everyone I know. It's completely plausible, likely in fact, that Geohot did not know there was a SCEA

Sony is a large company that has operations all over the world. It will therefore have several local management teams. That is essentially what SCEA's function is. Obviously they have the business side as well but the fact of the matter is that they have someone in America looking after their interests. It doesn't take a genius to work this out. Either he is claiming mental retardation (in which case he will get let off anyway) or he is lying. Oh and SCEA will be on the back of every PSX, PS2 and PS3 game he has ever bought.

 

[JDKJ]

As has been pointed out in this thread, it is physically impossible to use a PS3 without encountering multiple references to SCEA.

And while it is nothing more than my own opinion, I don't think it rises to the level of what anyone should call a "strong opening gambit." I think it's patently unbelievable and doesn't even get past the giggle test.

And yet, in the world of legalese, it's those "non-giggle test passing" things that usually win cases. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the case dropped because of this. The fact that it's taking more than one night for any update on this tells us something on its own.

What does the short passage of time after the recent filing of Hotz' reply brief without "any update" tells us, pray tell? I'm not at all seeing the relevance or import of that.

 

[Xero Scythe]

How in god's name does he think he can get away with playing stupid? The guy clearly is not that much of an idiot to not know that SCEA exists, he was smart enough to crack the PS3 so I'm 100% positive he is smart enough to know SCEA exists. Heck I knew it existed more than ten years ago!

Also thank you for using the rap video picture of him in any news related to this, it always makes me laugh.

Well, I've never heard of it. I don't think many people knew about it until this whole stupid argument.

I still don't see why he can't modify his own damn paid 'n' purchased property...

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Honestly, this thread was the first I had heard of it too.

 

[Quaidis]

Don't know what to say about the arguement outside of, "If he's facing a Jury he's screwed."

What I really want to say is in lines with how much I want to hit him when staring at that picture. Something about that picture... I don't even hate the guy.

 

[iliekmudkips]

Making an account for the sole purpose of this: http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/

Control+F "SCEA".

Yeaaaah, I do believe he knows what SCEA is. Dont know though, Just a random hunch.

 

[chanceisshane]

How in god's name does he think he can get away with playing stupid? The guy clearly is not that much of an idiot to not know that SCEA exists, he was smart enough to crack the PS3 so I'm 100% positive he is smart enough to know SCEA exists. Heck I knew it existed more than ten years ago!

Also thank you for using the rap video picture of him in any news related to this, it always makes me laugh.

Well, I've never heard of it. I don't think many people knew about it until this whole stupid argument.

I still don't see why he can't modify his own damn paid 'n' purchased property...

I compare it to homes. When you buy a house you still have to obey the rules (laws)of who owns the land. You can't do whatever you want to do to your house. Like when you make an addition you will most likely need to get permission and may have to pay more taxes.

I don't know if this is the best analogy but thats how I always looked at it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Under penalty of perjury or not, I'm not sure I believe him. Seems a long shot.

Actually it really doesn't. Last thing I remember seeing the name "SCEA" on was a DDR game from at least ten years ago. They don't put it on anything.

That said, even if he is lying, how are they going to prove that exactly?

Lawyer 1: "He totally knew."
Lawyer 2: "Nuh-uh."
Lawyer 1: "Bastard."

And the law rarely accepts ignorance as an excuse.

 

[mcnally86]

"It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. If the - if the - if 'is' is and never has been, that is not - that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement." ~ Bill Clinton, Who was not impeached as a result of this trial.

And that's the president people liked! I should correct that they like him now that they don't remember him embarrassing our country by having his female employees smoke cigars with their "sideways smile." I give it 1, 2 years tops before people miss Bush 2 and about a decade before people talk about how great Obama was again.

My prediction for the future. Our next president will be terrible in the office but infinitely better than the next one after him, according to public opinion. Aslo, Geo will have his lawyers successfully argue America doesn't exist though the judge will still rule you don't own physical property you buy. Heartened by this McDonald's will successfully sue me for millions in lost big mac revenue because I revealed that the special sauce tastes like 1000 island dressing. And anyone who tells you "Solent green is made of people" will be jailed for sharing proprietary information.

 

[iliekmudkips]

Oh, And, let me add to the fact that the same page his donation thing was on, aka http://geohot.com/ Yeah, Control + F "SCEA" on that too.

Seriously, Lawyer's should at LEAST look at the dudes page.

 

[chanceisshane]

Making an account for the sole purpose of this: http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/

Control+F "SCEA".

Yeaaaah, I do believe he knows what SCEA is. Dont know though, Just a random hunch.

On a side note, I love how he complains about the SCEA's Terms of Service when it looks like almost every single social networking site's Terms of Service. Haven't looked at Blogspot's yet but assuming it's similar he just proved he's a lier and deleting the posts wont save him. Again, he makes the stupidest moves.

 

[Gindil]

???
How so?

Please. Don't insult my intelligence with 'burden of proof' arguments.
I could easily say to you 'how is Geohotz now in the right?'.
He modified a private console in direct conflict with a ToS and a EULA that he allegedly agreed to. He then proceed to release said console modification tools onto the internet - where they have been used to pirate Sony-affiliated products.
Those are the slightly abridged facts of the case.
Sony have the legal upper hand.

Look, I was asking a valid question and it's no reason to get uppity about it.

But what Geohotz does shouldn't be conferred to others simply because it's a tool.

I'm not exactly positive if EULAs and ToS are supposed to be binding at this stage so I guess that's what the jurisdiction debate will be about. Regardless, I don't have a PS3 so I couldn't check the validity of the statement.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I love this guy, he's saying loads of shit that's really hard to disprove. Very funny. Also, the picture of him now has a totally new meaning.

 

[Galliam]

Hes starting to remind me of Charlie Sheen. I see him and its always Geohot does "random strange something or other"

 

[SinisterDeath]

Shoot a niebhor in the face.
When the cops come to you, tell them you didn't know shooting a random person in the face was 'illegal'.

Same difference.

As for SCEA, uhh. durr? Can't tell me this guy has never played a single sony game, even back to the original PSX?
I know for a fact that the Ps3 box lists SCEA on it, and I'm pretty sure that while Japan/(china) Produces all the PS3's, SCEA distributes them through-out america, infact I'm damned sure they are responsible for localizing the software of the PS3, and reading or not reading a manual is pretty much pointless to the entire thing.

Its like with a contract, just becuase you don't read it and Sign it does NOT mean you can get out of that contract...

 

[Niccolo]

I don't know about America, but in the UK I'm damn sure that wouldn't fly. Ignorance doesn't shield you from the law. If Sony provided those manuals, it's his responsibility to read them.

Anyway, this guy seems like a right knob. Take the git down!

Unfortunately, that's not the mai crux of his argument so it's really a by-the-by issue. The main issue at hand is SCEA - whether or not he's heard of them - claim jurisdiction. He says that all documentation on the PS3 itself, including the box, says that the PS3 copyright is property SCEJ, so SCEA have no jursidictional claim.

As strange as it is, that's actually a pretty strong defense for him.

 

[Double A]

He's probably lying, but in his defense, I honestly hadn't heard of SCEA. I knew there was a US Nintendo division, but it never occurred to me that there would be one for Sony.

Derp.

 

[Flauros]

So im supposing that "ignorance of the law is not an excuse" doesnt apply here? So..you can steal from a computer company and say "oh, i didnt know they had that company here in America....so its ok then, right?"

weird.....