Geohot Hints at Plans After Sony Settlement

[JDKJ]

The Entertainment Consumers Association?! Are you kidding?! Those guy have a worse record for screwing over their members than Sony has for screwing over their customers. Don't believe me? Then just google "ECA" AND "Amazon" AND "discounts" AND "renew" and take a look at your search results (e.g., http://consumerist.com/2009/12/eca-tries-to-prevent-members-from-canceling.html).

I'm actually well aware of that but if I may ask you a question. Are you really going to let one mistake be the judgement point to prevent the only organization that is trying to promote a positive face on gaming and the rights of gamers to not give them or anyone else a second chance? Would you not pursue love if your first experience was a bad one? Or give a food that you hate due to bad cooking?

Also do note that what you are so angry about started as a promotion gone awry. When Amazon offered memberships there was a flood of gamers that signed up. However the current system the ECA had was admittedly archaic because the ECA is still something very new. So when the free memberships wore off fellow gamers were not pleased that unknown to them that they suddenly had money take form them after putting in credit card information supporting an organization that advocates consumer rights for gamers.

I will admit that mistakes were made but also note that with the ECA's growth and now that the ECA can actually offer such promotions the system has improved and gives a lot more control to members should they wish to continue their membership.

Nothing is perfect the first time around and in order to grow sometimes mistakes like that will happen and hopefully not repeat themselves. One mistake over an attempt for the first time to actually offer discount memberships should not be the judgement point to support or not support an organization like the ECA.

I can agree that the ECA was not prepared. I can respect that if you don't agree with supporting the ECA over their goals or philosophy that you would choose not to support them. However, a mistake in an effort to grow should not be the point where you should make that critical judgement call. What is the Escapist membership made the same mistake where supporters of the escapist could only cancel by mail. Would you stop going to this website? Something tells me you wouldn't stop.

OK, then here's a simple question for you:

Can you point me to a single accomplishment of any significance that the ECA has ever achieved on behalf of consumers of electronic entertainment? And standing on the steps of the Supreme Court in cosplay holding up signs during oral arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA ain't what I'd call a significant accomplishment, so don't even try to take me down that road.

 

[KjellKanon]

This makes me want to get two more PS3's.
That way, I'd have THREE PS3's.

 

[Macrobstar]

This guy is awesome! Why do you guys dislike him so much?

Sony has got some big fucking issues when it comes to DRM and the likes, so it is only good when someone calls them out on their crap; especially if they also hack their products.

Since when did PS3 have DRM?

 

[Aris Khandr]

Hotz promised more information would be forthcoming, but he asked everyone to trust him for now. "It definitely was not a waste, I assure you," he said. "I am fighting your fight, in the best way I know how. You'll just have to trust me."

I love that he says "You'll just have to trust me." Seeing as last time the community trusted him, he said :

What if SCEA tries to settle?
Lets just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it. It'd be good PR for Sony too, lord knows they could use it. I'm also willing to accept a trade, a legit path to homebrew for knowledge of how to stop new firmwares from being decrypted.

And we all see how well that went.

 

[JDKJ]

This guy is awesome! Why do you guys dislike him so much?

Sony has got some big fucking issues when it comes to DRM and the likes, so it is only good when someone calls them out on their crap; especially if they also hack their products.

Since when did PS3 have DRM?

Since initial launch. Although that's not what SCEA calls it, they call it "TPN." But six o' one, half dozen o' the other. Same thing: software code that thwarts, at least in theory, the ability to play pirated materials with a PS3. That would be the thing that SCEA claimed the Hotz hack circumvented.

 

[Fox242]

Well, now I'm gonna go out and buy more Sony products because he's a little con artist who trciked people into thinking he was going on a moral crusade. If he doesn't give the money he got for his defense fund back or at least donate all of it to charity, then it just proves that he's a thief and a liar.

 

[st0pnsw0p]

"That's one way to look at it," George responded. "Another way is that they are saving their strength for games where the refs aren't biased and that actually have much more importance to the rest of the season."

Nice defence, Geohot.
"If I'd have lost, it's not because what I did was wrong. It's because Sony cheated"

 

[Baradiel]

This is getting interesting. It might end up with Hotz turning all his supporters against him.

Sony may have done him more harm this way, than making him a martyr.

 

[JDKJ]

This is getting interesting. It might end up with Hotz turning all his supporters against him.

Sony may have done him more harm this way, than making him a martyr.

I don't think Sony could possibly do more harm to Hotz than he's done to himself. Every time that kid opens his mouth, a shotgun magically appears from it and discharges a load of double-oh buckshot into his foot.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Yeah buddy, I work in PR and I'm well aware that you and the less that .005% of the people who buy sony products that intend on following you probably will give in after 5 years. Since I love my PS3, Plus what SCEO produces. Go ahead and shoot yourself in the ass I'm going....to just be over here watching...

What good has ever come of someone shooting him--- Who has ever shot himself in the arse?

 

[fenrizz]

i never liked this guy. he's smart enough to jail break the ps3 but not smart enough to relise pirates will use it to pirate games?

so what if other people use it to pirate games?

It is his legally bought hardware, and he ought to do what he damn well please with it.
Which in his case is installing Linux on it.

Which was an advertised feature that Sony later removed.

Thank the gods I live in a country where my personal property is mine to do with as I see fit.

What you don't see sony in the right for trying protect there business from piracy? Also if you bought a PS3 just to run linux then you're a bit of an idiot

Sure they have the right to protect their buisness from piracy.

But that right does not in any way override the right I have to do as I see fit with my legally bought hardware.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Who has ever shot himself in the arse?

Drunk rednecks. Likely immediately preceded by "Hey, ya'll! Watch this!"

 

[Innegativeion]

wow... just Wow. I knew this guy was an asshole.

This just in: Geohotz tries to make himself look like some sort of rebellious hero going against the big bad evil corporation and...


Seriously, I think the sale of Sony products just shot straight up. Boycotts work when you're fighting for something worthwhile, not when you're trying to make yourself look like less of a douche.

I hope this is the last we see of Mr. Hotz and his infernal beard.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Damn it Sony!

You should've hung, gutted and left this bastard out in the field for the crows, not settled with him. This man should be left a pariah, not some sort of douche-hero.

 

[Emergent]

Sure they have the right to protect their buisness from piracy.

Except GeoHot wasn't, and isn't, a pirate.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Damn it Sony!

You should've hung, gutted and left this bastard out in the field for the crows, not settled with him. This man should be left a pariah, not some sort of douche-hero.

No, this was best. If they wrung him out, he'd be a martyr. People would say "He took the fight to Sony for as long as he could." By settling early, everyone sees him for what he is, a pansy who couldn't be bothered to fight for what he "believed in".

 

[IamQ]

So pretty much if you do something you know will be used illegally but that wasn't your your intention, that makes it OK. Too bad the law doesn't feel that way. Just ask Limewire.

Dammit, you're right. We should totally outlaw VCRs, DVRs, CD and DVD burners, and the internet. They can all be used for illegal purposes, so we should hold their creators, developers, producers and distributors liable.

The difference is that, CD burners, DVR's and the Internet compensate that by having great features. Some people being able to install Linux on their PS3's doesn't compensate for hundreds of thousands of games in lost sales.

 

[killamanhunter]

This sounds familiar...

MOMMY MOMMY (The internet)SAMMY(Sony) BEAT ME UP(sued) IN THE PLAYGROUND(Courtroom) AND TOOK THE LUNCH MONEY YOU GAVE ME!(donations) SO I COULDN'T BUY LUNCH AND GIVE YOU BACK THE CHANGE(give back the donations since he doesn't have need for them now) I'M NEVER TALKING TO THAT STUPID JERK AGAIN!(Boycott)

 

[InsomniJack]

OMB, I so totally CARE!!! [/sarcasm]

Seriously, this guy's fifteen minutes have been up since he booked it to South America. He needs to disappear now before he gets slammed by the law again.

Or maybe not. It'd probably be more entertaining if he didn't.

A commenter by the name of WoW wasn't satisfied with the settlement and used a football analogy to describe Sony and Hotz. "When I pay to watch my favorite team play soccer, I give the club the money and I expect the team to go out there and do their best. What I hate to see is them rolling over and giving up before the final whistle."

"That's one way to look at it," George responded. "Another way is that they are saving their strength for games where the refs aren't biased and that actually have much more importance to the rest of the season."

So... By refs, I'm guessing he means judges? A jury?

Cause, I can think of a very good reason why they'd be "biased".

 

[JDKJ]

Sure they have the right to protect their buisness from piracy.

Except GeoHot wasn't, and isn't, a pirate.

No, there doesn't appear to be any evidence of that. But there does appear to be a truckload of evidence that he facilitated piracy.