PS3 Pirates Counter Sony's Anti-Piracy Counter-Update

[RvLeshrac]

The pirates obviously have some good programmers on their side. If those guys actually used their skills for something good (as Mr. Funk noted) they'd be sure to make tons of money. Enough that they could afford to pay for the games, and wouldn't need to pirate them in the first place (hell, they could buy copies for all their friends too). I'm genuinely starting to think people like this just get their jollies from pissing off electronics companies.

I'm partial to the belief that they most likely can afford the stuff, anyway, and are just doing it for the giggles and/or challenge of it.

Most of them work at low-wage jobs. Why? Because they don't have bits of rubbish hanging on the wall which state exactly how much they know.

Since most employers outside of Microsoft and Google will only hire you based on how many little slips of paper you've been given, rather than basing their hiring decisions on your skills and abilities, they're essentially stuck in mediocre positions until some security firm notices them.

There's also the fact that corporations layer so much crap on top of solid developers that they're no longer able to write a solid line of code without twelve thousand committee meetings the week before.

 

[Misho-]

If these determined pirates would only put their attention to other things, we'd probably be on Mars by now.

Dude... Seriously... Too True and sad at the same time... I fucking hate them pirates.

The Space Race finished..... ages ago. But, yes, space envy.

That large hadron collider thing would have worked 5 years ago if the Pirates had worked on that.

Lol yeah... Well I admit Space pirates are so awesome in my mind, they can divide by zero and all... But why won't they use their Gifts for humanity instead of sticking to the "man" like in World of Goo.

 

[Covarr]

Because it's only about piracy, right? I mostly just use my hacked PS3 to play SNES games which I've even dumped myself with my Retrode, since my real SNES broke a few years ago.

P.S Thanks

 

[John Funk]

It's a vicious circle. An exercise in futility that only shows that this method of DRM isn't working. Stop investing in this failed scheme and get to work on something better, Sony, if you don't want people hacking your system.

Actually, I'd say that a method of DRM that went unhacked for a good five years did a pretty good job, wouldn't you?

Put another way: A determined thief can break pretty much any lock you have on your apartment/house/whatever, just as a determined pirate can crack any DRM. But you wouldn't say that locks and home security are pointless, would you? They stop someone from just idly wandering in and walking out with your stuff. Similarly, DRM may not stop a determined pirate, but it probably does its job in dissuading some people who think "eh, cracking it is too complicated."

So no, I'd think that for this, it actually does its job pretty well.

 

[Jeronus]

Someday, this war will end and neither side will be happy with the outcome.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Build a better mousetrap, breed a better mouse. Who doesn't get this?

 

[PeePantz]

Back in September, Sony updated the PS3 firmware to version 3.42 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103273-New-PS3-Update-Kills-Jailbreak] in order to kill the functionality of PS Jailbreak, a USB mod tool that allowed users to play illegally copied games from the PS3's hard drive. It continued with version 3.50, which hit along with EA's Medal of Honor.

I'm not sure why Medal of Honor was mentioned. Very unnecessary. If it was for a time reference, the date or even late October would suffice.

I haven't touched my PS3 in a long time and this whole piracy update is a huge reason. I don't like how they keep downgrading their system with new "updates" that take soooooo long. I'd rather just turn on my XBox where the updates take from 2 seconds to 5 minutes (when they change their whole interface) and they don't actually take away anything from my system. I really wish I had the desire to play my PS3 because I did really like it.

 

[Popido]

Oh hey, another pirate threat..

Why cant these two sides just realise that they are not an threat to eachother and just live on in peace. Im ashamed that they actually let anti-piracy firms to toy them around and make them waste money by inserting fear of terror on them.

These things has been studied and proofed to be lies, but people still yet rather listens these fearmongers that just keep pushing false probaganda to this neverending war to make profit out of this confusion.

Use the damn Google!!

 

[SaturdayS]

There's no games on mars. I'd stick with piracy.

Not yet... Thanks to pirates...

We has them now thanks to pirates. Available in sandstorm free local.

 

[Misho-]

Aright... If you say so, still I rather side against pirates than with pirates, 'cause they are just being dicks at this point.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

It's a vicious circle. An exercise in futility that only shows that this method of DRM isn't working. Stop investing in this failed scheme and get to work on something better, Sony, if you don't want people hacking your system.

Dude I have not seen you post for months! Hey!

Anyway, meh. I don't know, I don't think the people that pirate stuff like this would be willing to put there skills to use elsewhere no matter how much you try to change them. That is of course if they are not doing anything else already.

Those guys are fucking impressive. However, i'm glad i'm not them. Can't imagen getting much chicks with skills such as those, huh?

Actually, I have been posting: in forum games in forums that have fallen out of the queue for some reason. Anyway.

I was mainly referring to Sony in my post, but the people who are hacking this should be able to put their skills to use to create systems that are more protected from hacks like this. And you don't know if they're getting girls or not--not all programmers conform to the stereotype of pasty white nerd living in mom's basement. >.> Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

It's a vicious circle. An exercise in futility that only shows that this method of DRM isn't working. Stop investing in this failed scheme and get to work on something better, Sony, if you don't want people hacking your system.

Actually, I'd say that a method of DRM that went unhacked for a good five years did a pretty good job, wouldn't you?

Put another way: A determined thief can break pretty much any lock you have on your apartment/house/whatever, just as a determined pirate can crack any DRM. But you wouldn't say that locks and home security are pointless, would you? They stop someone from just idly wandering in and walking out with your stuff. Similarly, DRM may not stop a determined pirate, but it probably does its job in dissuading some people who think "eh, cracking it is too complicated."

So no, I'd think that for this, it actually does its job pretty well.

Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that DRM's useless. If the DRM on the PS3 served it's purpose for five years, then that's fantastic--it means we're slowly moving towards the ideal goal of unhackable software/firmware. I'm just saying that Sony's probably going to be better off accepting the fact that the PS3 has been hacked and putting that knowledge to use when they craft the DRM for the PS4 or the next PSP.

To extend your analogy, a lock on a house that works for five years might have served its job admirably, but you're not going to keep using it once someone breaks it. Sure, you can fix it, but unless you start replacing parts, it's going to be structurally weaker than it what it was before it broke. Sony's response to the hacks seems to just be slapping duct tape on the lock and hoping that that's enough to stop people from breaking into their home.

It did it's job well, but now it's finished. It's been hacked. Unless the programming behind the DRM is completely rewritten, the pirates are just going to keep finding their way in.

 

[DTWolfwood]

the article reads like the Pirates are losing. That is news to me! Go Sony.

So they figured out how to de-patch a PS3 but still havent figured out how to get 3.42+ to work. Interesting development indeed.

 

[Loonerinoes]

The pirates obviously have some good programmers on their side. If those guys actually used their skills for something good (as Mr. Funk noted) they'd be sure to make tons of money. Enough that they could afford to pay for the games, and wouldn't need to pirate them in the first place (hell, they could buy copies for all their friends too). I'm genuinely starting to think people like this just get their jollies from pissing off electronics companies.

*Shepard Renegade voice* You assume everyone on this planet wants to get rich and have money. That's cute.

 

[lacktheknack]

There's no games on mars. I'd stick with piracy.

What a stupid statement.

If we got to Mars, we'd need computers everywhere. Where there are computers, there are games.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's a vicious circle. An exercise in futility that only shows that this method of DRM isn't working. Stop investing in this failed scheme and get to work on something better, Sony, if you don't want people hacking your system.

Actually, I'd say that a method of DRM that went unhacked for a good five years did a pretty good job, wouldn't you?

Put another way: A determined thief can break pretty much any lock you have on your apartment/house/whatever, just as a determined pirate can crack any DRM. But you wouldn't say that locks and home security are pointless, would you? They stop someone from just idly wandering in and walking out with your stuff. Similarly, DRM may not stop a determined pirate, but it probably does its job in dissuading some people who think "eh, cracking it is too complicated."

So no, I'd think that for this, it actually does its job pretty well.

When I was younger, I remember seeing a couple of places rate locks in terms of time it takes to break in. The idea was that any lock could be broken into, but those which took more than 60 seconds (I think) were the safest because of the time constraints of breaking in without being detected.

Just came to mind. there's certainly an argument for the deterrent effect.

 

[pretentiousname01]

This was as inevitable as both the zombie apocalypse and the robot uprising.

The only question I have is which will come first.

 

[TheMadJack]

If these determined pirates would only put their attention to other things, we'd probably be on Mars by now.

I find that ludicrous.

Imagine what would Windows 7, software in general, even hardware, if it weren't for those pirates exposing security leaks, forcing manufacturers and software companies to code PROPERLY! To think outside the box.

Now, imagine if humanity hadn't had those tinkerers and side-thinking individuals that, throughout history, going far back when saber-tooth tigers roamed the land, decided that it wasn't worth it. That it was just a feeble attempt, not worth the issue or work, that it just was good the way it is. Yeah. Maybe we'd be out of our trees by now.

The fact is, even if I don't agree with the way they do things, they do things. That's what matters. They have a passion to "break" those barriers and in some sort of way, we should be grateful to them for forcing those people to come up with new way of protecting their investments. Now, I agree that some came up with some pretty bad ideas (look at Ubiscrap), but the fact remains that if it weren't for those pirates we'd be gouged even more and mark my words, things will only get "better".

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

The pirates obviously have some good programmers on their side. If those guys actually used their skills for something good (as Mr. Funk noted) they'd be sure to make tons of money. Enough that they could afford to pay for the games, and wouldn't need to pirate them in the first place (hell, they could buy copies for all their friends too). I'm genuinely starting to think people like this just get their jollies from pissing off electronics companies.

*Shepard Renegade voice* You assume everyone on this planet wants to get rich and have money. That's cute.

If only I got that reference...
kidding.
Anyway, there's hobby tinkering, and then there's helping pirates. I don't agree with the latter.

Assuming paragon voice: "Some relevant Com. Shepard quote."

 

[galaxygamer]

[em]Honestly, this comes as little surprise - it's part of the ongoing war against piracy (or, if you're on the other side, the war against copyright law).[/em]

Or rather: One other side to this argument: How about being on the side of "just wanting to make my PS3 more functional for me?" You know, that system has upgradeable memory, and Sony is telling me I don't have the right to use the system [em]like a computer[/em] and simply copy my PS3 games to the system? Instead, I have to swap games continually. The reason I haven't added any variety to my game-play is because I have to swap disks and wait for the system to load them...slowly. I know that is a minor gripe, but that system is a really advanced *computer*, so shouldn't I be able to use it like one? Hell, Netflix opted-out of swapping in the Netflix DVD when you want to watch streaming content through the PS3 because [em]it was more efficient[/em]. Why can't Sony allow its loyal users to simply copy games to the system?

[em]Given that the release of FW 3.50 was rumored to be one of the reasons behind the eleventh-hour delay of Gran Turismo 5, it's entirely possible that an emergency firmware update might crash the racer's impending release date into a wall. Which, given how often that game has been delayed thus far, would just be part for the course, really.[/em]
AND
[em]If these determined pirates would only put their attention to other things, we'd probably be on Mars by now.[/em]

There is a two-pronged solution to this rat-race: Sony should instead focus on making a better first-party games, and start telling third-party game makers to make better games, too. Sony should also allow people to copy games to the hard drive. Seriously. Computers have been able to do that for decades now. If Sony did this, there would be less reason for people to "pirate games" by copying them to the system. Sony would have less to worry about if they tried a hands-off approach to how they treated its own loyal customers. In turn, they wouldn't risk releasing a "patch" (DRM software) that would ruin the functionality of a random assortment of games.

Come on Sony (And MicroSoft and Nintendo), there will always been pirates. There always will be pirates. If you all actually made stable, reliable systems (which you three do), offered quick firmware updates that were not focused on DRM, and made better games, you all will pretty much reduce piracy.

 

[John Funk]

It's a vicious circle. An exercise in futility that only shows that this method of DRM isn't working. Stop investing in this failed scheme and get to work on something better, Sony, if you don't want people hacking your system.

Actually, I'd say that a method of DRM that went unhacked for a good five years did a pretty good job, wouldn't you?

Put another way: A determined thief can break pretty much any lock you have on your apartment/house/whatever, just as a determined pirate can crack any DRM. But you wouldn't say that locks and home security are pointless, would you? They stop someone from just idly wandering in and walking out with your stuff. Similarly, DRM may not stop a determined pirate, but it probably does its job in dissuading some people who think "eh, cracking it is too complicated."

So no, I'd think that for this, it actually does its job pretty well.

Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that DRM's useless. If the DRM on the PS3 served it's purpose for five years, then that's fantastic--it means we're slowly moving towards the ideal goal of unhackable software/firmware. I'm just saying that Sony's probably going to be better off accepting the fact that the PS3 has been hacked and putting that knowledge to use when they craft the DRM for the PS4 or the next PSP.

To extend your analogy, a lock on a house that works for five years might have served its job admirably, but you're not going to keep using it once someone breaks it. Sure, you can fix it, but unless you start replacing parts, it's going to be structurally weaker than it what it was before it broke. Sony's response to the hacks seems to just be slapping duct tape on the lock and hoping that that's enough to stop people from breaking into their home.

It did it's job well, but now it's finished. It's been hacked. Unless the programming behind the DRM is completely rewritten, the pirates are just going to keep finding their way in.

Ah, fair enough. I see your point now.