PS3 Hacker Raised All the Legal Funds Needed to Beat Sony in a Weekend

[internetzealot1]

This man needs to win if I ever want to convert my toaster into skeet shooter.

 

[0p3rati0n]

In all honesty what I read almost felt like I was reading the story line for a movie.

OT- I could pretty much care less about legal issue with the PS3 seeing how I don't own one. Then again I could careless about legal things about the 360 as well. But this sounds like a very interesting case and it will be interesting on how this turns out.

 

[ecoho]

You pay for it, you agree to the rules and to abide by them. Don't like it? Don't do it.

ok to be fair if it used to let you put what ever OS you wanted on it then sony got greedy and took it away. While i myself have no reason to put a different OS on my PS3 i reserve the right to do so. Hell microsoft had this happen with the 360 mods and that was fucking hardware all you do is void the warenty and go on with your life. Hope this guy wins and wins big.

Blame George Hotz, Sony didn't care about it until Hotz started publicly hacking the OS with that very functionality. When you misbehave, you typically lose priviledges as punishment, no? George Hotz misbehaved, and this is the consequence. If he was doing it for his own personal use, he shouldn't have published the access keys.

uhm ok were to start. first unless he charged money for this key he didnt do anything illegal or even questionible. Next sony shouldnt have any problems with this; remember if it didnt have the capibillity then this wouldnt be possible (and it was advertised as being able to put a different os on it which i beleave would make them guilty of false advertiseing) Now to your word misbehave.......first bad word choice it makes you sound like a 5 year old try "did something wrong" which brings me to my next point he did nothing wrong in the eyes of the law what he did was jailbreak the PS3 and then told others how to do it weve had this case before when apple took people to court for jailbraking the i phone same bloody case man. this is simply sony getting pissed off that someone can and will challenge them. If anyone at sony ends up reading this grow up and get back to just makeing your system fun

 

[ThisNewGuy]

I hope he wins, it is our right to do what we want to the PS3 after we buy it, I remember one time when I was delivering Pizza, the people were playing Super Mario All stars on their PS3. They looked like they were having lots of fun, now they can't cause Sony are asshoes

This "right" should be limited. My principle has always been that I should be allowed to do whatever I want as long as I don't affect other people. If I want to affect other people in any way, then that action is susceptible to judgement and is no longer an absolute right. This means I should be allowed to break my PS3, blend my PS3, eat my PS3, w/e. But this also means that if I opened the security to allow for piracy, then this action should not be tolerated since it's actually harmful to the people working in the industry and just video games in general.

This is just my principle though, so I personally don't support his behaviour.

 

[megapenguinx]

I hope he wins, it is our right to do what we want to the PS3 after we buy it, I remember one time when I was delivering Pizza, the people were playing Super Mario All stars on their PS3. They looked like they were having lots of fun, now they can't cause Sony are asshoes

Uh, no they have no right to be playing SMAS on their PS3. No matter if the game is fun, they pirated the game and hacked the console? Thats like double the offense.

If someone pirates a game and says they're having "fun" doesn't suddenly pardon them.

Exactly. Also as much as I hate to say it, a EULA is a friggin contract. If you breach it, Sony has the right to take you to court.
Homebrew is fine, but most of the time all it seems to be used for is pirating games :/

I hope Sony wins (also doesn't help that Geohot seems like a kind of a douche.)

 

[LeonLethality]

I'm sorry, but no matter how much cool mods and hacks you offer me, I don't want PSN to end up like Stick Arena.

Oh god I used to have so much fun on that game until the hackers came along... You made me have some sad nostalgia...

 

[Pendragon9]

I'm all for people doing whatever the hell they want to their consoles, as long as it doesn't ruin clean online fun for the rest of us who wanna play things legit (talking mainly CoD here as an example)

That's the problem.

Geohot publicly told everyone to use this as a way to hack and cheat online, AND he wanted people to ban legit users from PSN.

I can't believe people support this. Oh wait, it's something involving Sony. And EVERYONE here hates Sony. -_-

 

[Illyasviel]

Sony eventually had to take a stand. What else is there to it? And hopefully GeoHot loses.

The thing is GeoHot is fully aware what his endeavours will lead to. Piracy. He can say whatever the hell he wants, but time has shown us again and again that most people are not honest and his tools will be used for dishonest purposes. What's more? Those dishonest purposes hurt the industry that we love. Sony has every right to defend its products, and by doing so, defending the industry. The industry's stagnation is a separate topic altogether.

I've heard countless arguments about how Sony should instead up their game and make their online features indispensable or how developers should simply make their games better to thwart piracy. The thing is those people will never be satisfied. Free will always be king. They will say anything and jump on any bandwagon as long as it mentally allows them to justify their actions. You can give them more and more, and instead of being satisfied, they'll just nitpick or ask for even more. I have a cousin who is exactly like this. There is nothing you can do to satisfy them except make your product free. Nothing at all. They will always grasp onto any straw at all and cling ever tenaciously onto that straw, building their "bastions of justice" onto that straw until that world is burnt to a crisp. Then they'll move onto the next straw.

Besides, let's look at the big picture and the implications of this court case instead of just focusing on what GeoHot wants us to focus on. GeoHot wants to focus everything on the tiny, tiny detail that he purchased and owns the PS3 and therefore should be allowed to do whatever he wants with it, ignoring all the resulting implications. GeoHot isn't your friend. Don't play his stupid game and don't buy into that stupid "I'm the personification of freedom" crap.

 

[Nikolaz72]

1: Basis of his case is flawed. In most Western countries "buying" a system does not mean you own it; the PS3 is still Sony's system, you're just allowed to use it until they catch you doing something not-above-board with it, at which point they are allowed to stop you or sue you. Also, he might not "support" piracy, but his actions directly support and enable it, and his attitude is not that of a person out to see what the system can do, but rather one of someone who will blatantly exploit the works of others for own profit as soon as their backs are turned?

2: Is there a "Donate to Sony" option, so that this man's chances of winning go down further down the drain? Maybe the shock of seeing Sony's own legal team get a big help from customers who think he is bullshit we be enough of a wake-up call.

Heh. . Theres a little thing called pride youknow. Even companies have it.. Some anyway.

 

[infohippie]

I lost any and all support for the kid when he did a rap video.

I lost any and all support for Sony when they tried to infect PCs with a rootkit and then lied about it until they were presented with the evidence. Google "sony rootkit" if you don't know what I'm talking about. Sony have a history of treating their customers like garbage. It boggles the mind that people still give them money.

 

[slipknot4]

He deserves it for all I care.
His hacks have ruined my online experience for ever in Cod 4 and 6.

 

[Epicspoon]

I hope he wins, it is our right to do what we want to the PS3 after we buy it, I remember one time when I was delivering Pizza, the people were playing Super Mario All stars on their PS3. They looked like they were having lots of fun, now they can't cause Sony are asshoes

Uh, no they have no right to be playing SMAS on their PS3. No matter if the game is fun, they pirated the game and hacked the console? Thats like double the offense.

If someone pirates a game and says they're having "fun" doesn't suddenly pardon them.

The game is so old now though, if you bought it at a pawn shop the only one getting money would be the pawn store owner, the companies would no longer be getting the money 9I mean, that's the problem isn't it? With piracy for new things, the creators, like apple or microsoft, or Gearbox or whoever don't get their money?) and they bought it so I think they have every right to hack their PS3, also Hack is such a strong word, like rats, or ****

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Mario-All-Stars-25th-Anniversary/dp/B004AE1V6O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298311141&sr=8-1

They have had a recent re-release on the Wii, so you can support the companies.

Yes but if you don't have a Wii or a super nintendo or other old console and the Wii doesn't have the game you want to play, roms are the next best thing

not only that but its was a very limited release so you already cant get it new anymore.

 

[Jack Macaque]

Good for him, seems like a decent guy.

It's like buying a car, oh what, after I buy my car I'm not allowed to make any changes that the dealership doesn't want me to do to make the car how I want it to be?

The other year someone released a mod for Hummer's H2 that made it much more efficient on gas, but those people were told by GM that anyone who would do such a thing would lose their warranty and be told to piss off when they came in to get their monster looked at. (I don't know the specifics of this mod, possibly made them explode into cyanide and that's why GM frowned upon it, but that's as likely as the cyanide)

I buy it, I can do what I want with it.

 

[Retosa]

I hope he wins, it is our right to do what we want to the PS3 after we buy it, I remember one time when I was delivering Pizza, the people were playing Super Mario All stars on their PS3. They looked like they were having lots of fun, now they can't cause Sony are asshoes

Uh, no they have no right to be playing SMAS on their PS3. No matter if the game is fun, they pirated the game and hacked the console? Thats like double the offense.

If someone pirates a game and says they're having "fun" doesn't suddenly pardon them.

The game is so old now though, if you bought it at a pawn shop the only one getting money would be the pawn store owner, the companies would no longer be getting the money 9I mean, that's the problem isn't it? With piracy for new things, the creators, like apple or microsoft, or Gearbox or whoever don't get their money?) and they bought it so I think they have every right to hack their PS3, also Hack is such a strong word, like rats, or ****

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Mario-All-Stars-25th-Anniversary/dp/B004AE1V6O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298311141&sr=8-1

They have had a recent re-release on the Wii, so you can support the companies.

Yeah, except it's absolute bullshit that they didn't include Super Mario World, OR any of the newer Mario games like they EASILY could have. There was Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World for SNES. 3 Generations ago they fit more games onto one cartridge than they put on their 25th anniversary release. If we pay for absolute crap, we'll continue to get absolute crap. If I own SMAS+SMW, I'm gonna play it on whatever the fuck I want. And no, I'm not going to pay for the 25th anniversary, BECAUSE they didn't add anything to make it WORTH it. If they had added SMW and a couple of even the GBA games it would've been worth it. If they had added SM64, it would've DEFINITELY been worth it. But they tried to rip everyone off by putting the absolute LEAST amount of effort into this they possibly could, and ripped everyone who bought it off.

 

[drbarno]

I hope he wins, it is our right to do what we want to the PS3 after we buy it, I remember one time when I was delivering Pizza, the people were playing Super Mario All stars on their PS3. They looked like they were having lots of fun, now they can't cause Sony are asshoes

Uh, no they have no right to be playing SMAS on their PS3. No matter if the game is fun, they pirated the game and hacked the console? Thats like double the offense.

If someone pirates a game and says they're having "fun" doesn't suddenly pardon them.

The game is so old now though, if you bought it at a pawn shop the only one getting money would be the pawn store owner, the companies would no longer be getting the money 9I mean, that's the problem isn't it? With piracy for new things, the creators, like apple or microsoft, or Gearbox or whoever don't get their money?) and they bought it so I think they have every right to hack their PS3, also Hack is such a strong word, like rats, or ****

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Mario-All-Stars-25th-Anniversary/dp/B004AE1V6O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298311141&sr=8-1

They have had a recent re-release on the Wii, so you can support the companies.

Yeah, except it's absolute bullshit that they didn't include Super Mario World, OR any of the newer Mario games like they EASILY could have. There was Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World for SNES. 3 Generations ago they fit more games onto one cartridge than they put on their 25th anniversary release. If we pay for absolute crap, we'll continue to get absolute crap. If I own SMAS+SMW, I'm gonna play it on whatever the fuck I want. And no, I'm not going to pay for the 25th anniversary, BECAUSE they didn't add anything to make it WORTH it. If they had added SMW and a couple of even the GBA games it would've been worth it. If they had added SM64, it would've DEFINITELY been worth it. But they tried to rip everyone off by putting the absolute LEAST amount of effort into this they possibly could, and ripped everyone who bought it off.

Your rage is misdirected. If you're angry that they didn't include the SMW on the game, tell nintendo, not me. And also, I bought it, and I was pleased with it, especially the music CD that came along with it, which had 20 tunes on there of the mario series from the beginning to the current. If you decide to pirate the game, you're sending a message to the developers/publishers "Yeah, I wanted the game, and I wasn't willing to pay the money for it." which also gives them the mentallity of "Well, if you're not going to pay for it, why bother putting any effort into it."
Plus, If you have a copy of SMAS+SMW, you play it on the SNES, the console it was made for, or on a console that actually can play SNES games, not on whatever you want.

 

[Retosa]

Sony eventually had to take a stand. What else is there to it? And hopefully GeoHot loses.

The thing is GeoHot is fully aware what his endeavours will lead to. Piracy. He can say whatever the hell he wants, but time has shown us again and again that most people are not honest and his tools will be used for dishonest purposes. What's more? Those dishonest purposes hurt the industry that we love. Sony has every right to defend its products, and by doing so, defending the industry. The industry's stagnation is a separate topic altogether.

I've heard countless arguments about how Sony should instead up their game and make their online features indispensable or how developers should simply make their games better to thwart piracy. The thing is those people will never be satisfied. Free will always be king. They will say anything and jump on any bandwagon as long as it mentally allows them to justify their actions. You can give them more and more, and instead of being satisfied, they'll just nitpick or ask for even more. I have a cousin who is exactly like this. There is nothing you can do to satisfy them except make your product free. Nothing at all. They will always grasp onto any straw at all and cling ever tenaciously onto that straw, building their "bastions of justice" onto that straw until that world is burnt to a crisp. Then they'll move onto the next straw.

Besides, let's look at the big picture and the implications of this court case instead of just focusing on what GeoHot wants us to focus on. GeoHot wants to focus everything on the tiny, tiny detail that he purchased and owns the PS3 and therefore should be allowed to do whatever he wants with it, ignoring all the resulting implications. GeoHot isn't your friend. Don't play his stupid game and don't buy into that stupid "I'm the personification of freedom" crap.

No, just no. Why should we support a company that has treated consumers like crap for years, and is continually worsening their product? I'm sure there are people out there that you describe, but they are NOT the majority. And your own argument proves something; that no matter what, that person doesn't want to pay for the games and will do everything in their power NOT to. So will they buy the games? Chances are, most of those people won't, they'll stick to whatever free crap they can get their hands on it. So their sales were never guaranteed, and therefore while they don't help the industry, it's not a big loss.

People are dishonest, yes. But that also goes for companies and corporations who are out to screw the consumer out of every cent they can get their hands on. We have corporate price fixing on games. Ever wonder why almost every new game comes out at $60? Ever wonder why the prices of some games NEVER drop until the next iteration of the series comes out, and even then it barely drops at all?

As for him knowing it would lead to pirating, that wasn't his intent. And in the wonderful world of justice, criminal intent has to be proven. He opened the system up so that people could enjoy it to its fullest. He wasn't the one who programmed any of the piracy tools. The Pirates did it after he opened the system up. Blame the fucking pirates for being douchebags, not the guy who's hard work and effort has enabled people to enjoy their systems.

He's fighting so that we are no longer told that WE don't own our own consoles. Consumers are given fewer and fewer rights every year with regards to IP and Copyright. And it's all because of decrepit business models that need updating, but the companies are too slow and lazy to properly figure out how to push forward into the next era. Instead they want everyone to stay behind in the old era, because it was so damn fucking profitable. Music publishers had a monopoly, and made millions off the sweat, blood, and soul of musicians. Currently, game publishers use and abuse the blood, sweat, and souls of game developers. And we're supporting them abusing and using US for our hard earned money, by overcharging, price fixing, and telling us we don't own what we purchase. They're telling us we PAY to use it for what THEY deem fit. Fuck that bullshit, I'm sick of it, and we shouldn't support it. And I'm sick of people telling me that we SHOULD support their right to tell us what to do with THEIR "Intellectual Property".

I understand what this man is saying, he wants to use his PS3 to do crazy things like give everyone cowboy hats and play Mario and the likes on his PS3, and I think that's great.
But all that's stopping him from pirating and hacking the PS3 online into unplayability is a damn pinky promise. GeoHotz may have no intention of pirating his ass off, but there's easily 100 other people for every one like him who is willing to. And he and others like him are giving them the power to.
I can't support him in that respect. I'd rather Sony act like some damn dictator than have stuff end up like Modern Warfare 1 and 2...

You DO realize that there were hacks for MW2 and etc BEFORE the PS3 was broken open? Yeah, it's more prevalent now, but that's not HIS fault. He opened the system so people could enjoy the system to its fullest capacity. Assholes will always take people's work and do things with it that no one wanted. Also, do you honestly want a legal precedent that states that WE don't own our consoles?

If that legal precedent is set, what happens if they decide that they want to start TAKING AWAY consoles after they release the next generation of console? THEY own the console, not us. We are 'leasing it' for the playing of games. All they have to do is add a clause (which is easy, because every update they have, they force you to accept the new agreement, and NO ONE reads those anyways) that states "this lease expires upon the release of the next generation of gaming platforms". Yeah, it's very far-fetched. But they want more and more control over their consoles.

Yes, piracy is a problem, but it's not going to be fixed by cheating your cash-paying customers out of features, and telling your consumers that you don't own your own console. I'm sick of reading posts by people saying things like "OMG Sony is going to destroy everything we enjoy because of you! GO DIE!". Why should it be HIS fault that Sony is breaking their system? Sony is doing it because they DEMAND control of everything in their system. When dealing with a control freak do you allow them to control your actions if you're a well adjusted person who wants their own freedom? Fuck no! So why the hell do we think that it's suddenly okay because "Sony just wants to protect their IP".

Come to think of it, the whole IP shit is going way too far. I'm sick of being told what I can and can't do with something I buy. IP is a forced attempt to protect horrible business models that need reform BADLY. Copyright no longer protects and fosters innovation like it was originally intended to do back when it was first brought into effect. Instead, it stifles it. Our society is rotten to the core with concepts and ideals like this that people seem to think are the way things should be. People who are being downtrodden by these ideas and ideals are promoting them like they BENEFIT the people in question. I see so many examples of this whenever large corporations are in question that it's absolutely ridiculous. People rush to the defense of companies and promote the innovation stifling, consumer raping, atrocious business propositions that very rightly create a public backlash because of how anti-competitive or profit mongering they are.

I'm going to stop before I continue ranting on about other examples of where we're being fucked by corporations trying to undercut consumers and force them to overpay for what they're getting, or trying to prevent them from getting the most for what they pay for.

TL;DR - We have to stop defending corporations trying to undercut consumer rights, and we have to defend people fighting for consumer rights. We shouldn't just accept being told that we don't own something we paid for. IP and copyright laws do not protect us, and only harm innovation. End rant, thanks.

 

[Moustafa Chamli]

I still can't believe the amount of ignorance about the term 'hacking' going on around the web.

People: Hacking is the equivalent of a guy opening up the hood of his car and taking out the engine works to to see how it works.

Another example: Hacking my phone allowed me to install a better image that greatly improved functionality, speed and functionality. In fact: many programmers start as hackers in the sense that they would find the source code and change it to suit their needs.

Any time you see someone create a custom theme for OSX or Windows or even the PS3, they're basically hacking.

Cracking, on the other hand, is the illegal practice you guys disdain. To go back to the mechanical example: cracking would involve someone breaking your car's window, ripping out and connecting the proper wires and taking off with it.

Where hackers would get past the FBI's security locks to tell them 'if I can do it, someone with bad intent will', crackers will do the same to find out the President's preferred guacamole recipe (or worse).

Hackers are oftentimes paid large sums of money to test and ensure your operating systems and browsers remain secure from large vulnerabilities crackers would use without a second though.

So, please, before dismissing GeoHotz' case as 'some idiot gaming pirate trying to get internet fame', consider what he's attempting to do: Use a very powerful machine to do things it should be able to do.

Plus, you'd have thought with all the discussions about how piracy is basically inevitable on any medium, you would think intelligent people would react in only one sensible manner: "I won't pirate games. I won't buy used games. I will encourage an industry I love."

Case in point: People pirated the Humble Indie Bundle, even though you could just get the games for free or dirt cheap.

If you are unable to think in such a way, you need to refocus your priorities and intent to the right areas. Piracy isn't a problem when more of us buy games, but having companies waste time and resources on defending something that will get pirated by people with bad intent produces games that aren't as good as they could be. This only produces restrictive DRM, games with glaring bugs and even system crashes.

So, please: Grow out of your media-fed definitions of 'right' and 'wrong' and fight piracy the right way: Buy your damned games.