UPDATE: PS3 Hacker GeoHot Claims He's on Vacation

[Liiizard]

I respect his move. He was fucked. What he did was illegal... and awesome. I am glad that I contibuted to his "flee the country" fund, and I hope he manages to make a life for himself in his new home.

I'm sorry, but after saying it so many tmies...

What part of tampering with evidence and denying a court order is legal in your mind?!

He is referring to modding his PS3 that was NOT under legal contract. As far as i am concerned when you hit accept you are bound not to tamper with THAT console the one with the account. Tampering with evidence; again another claim from sony an evil being i would not trust with helping my grandma bake cookies simply because she likes mario and is yet to be proven as is the statement from sony that he fled to south America. If he fled to south America how did sony find out? Did they kidnap him and put out the message to win a case they were unsure about? Again unfounded, unproven statements so until we have proof shut up instead of reinforcing "Guilty until proven innocent"

This happened on Thursday didn't it? So if Geo hadn't gone to South America, or if he didn't wipe the drive, or if ANYTHING contrary to SONY's claims had arisen, why is that not reported on either? He's had a week to respond and say "Not in South America" or "I'm here for this reason" or "I didn't deny a court order"

I'm saying this is suspicious and I'm willing to bet it's all true based on the circumstances.

So no, I don't think I will shut up, and my thoughts are mine to reinforce as I wish, whether or not you want to see/hear them

I'm not saying it wasn't illegal. I'm saying I support what he did. This isn't suspicious - it's basically an admission of guilt. And you know what? I respect the fact that he didn't play by the rules, that he refused to work within a system that's based around who can pay what lawmakers the biggest bribes, where copyright law is designed to stifle innovation and entrench the profits of the established companies.

He broke the law, and the law is idiotic and written by corrupt fools. Good for him. I hope he gets away with it, and I hope he inspires others to do the same.

 

[SovietSecrets]

Good luck hacking stuff in South America. Honestly good luck. Looking forward to whatever he might produce next if anything at all.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I respect his move. He was fucked. What he did was illegal... and awesome. I am glad that I contibuted to his "flee the country" fund, and I hope he manages to make a life for himself in his new home.

I'm sorry, but after saying it so many tmies...

What part of tampering with evidence and denying a court order is legal in your mind?!

Please keep in mind that his move to "South America" was a claim by Sony and has no clear substantiation in article. His motives are also unknown, but of course Sony lawyers are going to inject their bias into the allegation.

Yes, his motives are unknown, but look above. If he just moved to South America, or told the court her had to leave or something, that's one thing. What makes me wonder are those two distinctly illegal actions he performed that I mentioned above.... Yeah, doesn't cast his actions in the best of light without SONY's help

I'm going to refer to my previous posting, but I would like to point out two things.

1. The deposition court date to appear in CA is set for the 21st of April, 2011. We won't find out if he's fled or not until then. If he doesn't show up on the 21st, then he's hammered.

Source(Justia, with captured .img of papers) http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2011cv00167/235965/100/

2. The trip to South America might be a stalling tactic. He might be stonewalling Sony wasting time and money before he hands over his hardware as a way to give them less time to look at it. It may be shady as hell, but it's not actually illegal.

3. The PSN account doesn't mention if Hotz is still the legal owner of the used PS3. In fact, we don't even know if the PSN account was ever created, much less by Hotz himself. Sony hasn't provided proof of that.


I'm going to remain skeptical of Sony. Some of the things they did were good, but some of them were just downright stupid. Granted, I'm also not going to buy any of their products new.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Uhh Guys, HE DIDN'T RUN! IN FACT, SONY KNEW HE WAS GOING TO SOUTH AMERICA Sony is trying to pull shit while he is out of the country.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26663445&postcount=4090

Your concerns are completely unfounded. To the contrary, Mr. Hotz has gone above and beyond what he has been required to do. Mr. Hotz was ordered to provide his hard drives and storage devices on which any circumvention devices were stored-- nothing more. As your co-counsel is aware, Mr. Hotz is currently out of the country, so your unilateral demand to have him provide the controllers by noon tomorrow is not only unreasonable, but simply not possible. No explanation is necessary as Mr. Hotz fully complied with the terms of the Court's order.

If it was actual flight, Sony would have been crowing about it.

Yeah, SONY knew he was out of the country, the reason SONY is pissed is because he removed components from the evidence, THEN left the country,m so when they go to look through the evidence, they sit there and go "Fuck, he's gone and we have in complete evidence"

 

[Gindil]

...

This battle was already won, GeoHot. It was already won, because the idea of leasing somebody a console or a game is absurd.

But you fucked it up. You fucked it up by running away and tampering with evidence even though the truth would have set you (and all of us) free without a doubt. You have set fair use back by doing this. You are making us look like cowards and criminals.

Come back. Fight your battles. Listen to your attorneys.

Come back and we will support you. Keep running, and you'll only hurt us all.

It is really doubtful with everything that Shapiro was allowing...

 

[justnotcricket]

Uhh Guys, HE DIDN'T RUN! IN FACT, SONY KNEW HE WAS GOING TO SOUTH AMERICA Sony is trying to pull shit while he is out of the country.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26663445&postcount=4090

Your concerns are completely unfounded. To the contrary, Mr. Hotz has gone above and beyond what he has been required to do. Mr. Hotz was ordered to provide his hard drives and storage devices on which any circumvention devices were stored-- nothing more. As your co-counsel is aware, Mr. Hotz is currently out of the country, so your unilateral demand to have him provide the controllers by noon tomorrow is not only unreasonable, but simply not possible. No explanation is necessary as Mr. Hotz fully complied with the terms of the Court's order.

If it was actual flight, Sony would have been crowing about it.

Yes, but why leave the country when you're in the middle of a huge court case where you might still be required to supply evidence etc? Perhaps Sony is taking the opportunity to make his life difficult right now, but might he not equally have left the country because he *knew* they were going to ask for what they have, and wanted to get out of having to give it to them?

 

[Asehujiko]

So, on top of the crimes he committed against Sony, he has now tampered with evidence, disobeyed a court order, and committed fraud? Nice. I hope he gets thrown in jail for a while and then joins that small list of crackers who are banned from using computers ever again.

All while setting the legal precedent that you do not own physical property in your house and it's new owner can retroactively claim that whatever you did was illegal, can sue you under whatever jurisdiction suits them best and can get an injunction against the computer and phone you use to contact your lawyer as well as the address, IP and internet history of anyone you ever met for further punitive charges against them.

The only "crime" committed against Sony by Geohotz is telling them "lol pwned" on behalf of fail0verflow, which he is NOT directly affiliated with. And it hasn't been established that California has any jurisdiction at all over Geohotz(who isn't from California) so until then all court orders from there are null and void.

 

[Dragonpit]

He scammed and he scammed hard. Now all the people who supported him are out money with nothing to show for it, and this jack@$$ is going to show up on America's Most Wanted.

Now to be fair...I cannot say it was wrong to support him, especially since it meant hitting one of the leading electronics manufacturers hard, but really? I wonder if that idiot really intended to fight Sony at all.

 

[The Breadcrab]

Were it not for Hotz's being completely unlikeable, this story could become the next Social Network.

Also, I find it hard to feel bad to those who donated to his "cause". If they actually bought into his lies, it's their problem. This guy didn't fool me for a second. Hackers are always bad news.

 

[Mxrz]

Lets see,

States under oath he has no PSN account. Sony finds one. Oops.
Court orders him to turn over HDs. He wipes them, then gives them to someone else. wut oh.
Suddenly takes a vacation to South America after running a donation for legal funds. D'oh.

I'd say he has bigger problems now. Just remember, don't drop the soap, brah.

 

[ImprovizoR]

Of course he fled. He knows he can't beat a corporation as big and powerful as Sony. Even if he is right and I still think he is. He bought the PS3, he can do with it as he pleases. If people use his mod to pirate games it's not his problem. No one forced them to pirate these games or to mod their PS3. It's like blaming the gun manufacturers for all the murders. I actually hope he finds some peace in South America.

 

[Echo136]

I dont feel sorry for all those people who donated to getting him legal defense only to have the money pay for his plane ticket. What sweet irony.

 

[Icehearted]

Really? Owned? We still using that? I'm just busting your chops...

Anyway, I didn't think Sony's iron fist was so all destroying, and to be frank I still don't. This is a case of the little guy being overpowered by the corporate machine. Sony's fleet of lawyers want of make an example of one guy for doing what most of us feel is actually right; using hardware he paid for as he sees fit. Hacking a system is one thing, piracy is another, and I'm not suggesting that piracy was the point. All I'm saying is this demonstrates more and more the mentality that even though we pay to own a system, companies, fanboys, and apologists are quick to tell us that while we pay to own, we never really own. He's more than just the underdog here, he's a consumer demonstrating how the industry has almost completely abolished consumer rights.

 

[luckycharms8282]

All I can say is it sucks to be him. He skrewed the pooch and now it's chased him out of the country. Hope the people who donated money to him are glad to know it's being put to good use.

 

[Shadie777]

Good. Nail his ass... he's just a little black hat cracker. Hope his supporters will now see what an ffing douche he really is.

Hacking his own PS3 = fine (srew the DMCA)
Posting the root security keys publicly just to screw with Sony = crime.

I agree with this 100%.

When you buy a product you should be allowed to do whatever you want with it, that includes hacking your own ps3.

But this hacker deserves to get busted, he posted Sony's root keys. Sony owns these root keys, they own psn. The only thing the customer owns is the actual ps3 itself.If he didn't post these security keys Sony wouldn't have a problem.

 

[Icehearted]

Really? Owned? We still using that? I'm just busting your chops...

Anyway, I didn't think Sony's iron fist was so all destroying, and to be frank I still don't. This is a case of the little guy being overpowered by the corporate machine. Sony's fleet of lawyers want of make an example of one guy for doing what most of us feel is actually right; using hardware he paid for as he sees fit. Hacking a system is one thing, piracy is another, and I'm not suggesting that piracy was the point. All I'm saying is this demonstrates more and more the mentality that even though we pay to own a system, companies, fanboys, and apologists are quick to tell us that while we pay to own, we never really own. He's more than just the underdog here, he's a consumer demonstrating how the industry has almost completely abolished consumer rights.

i think you will find a fair bit of "hotz" hate round these parts. And with good reason. Its all fine moaning about consumer rights, if he had just done it to his machine, nothing would have happened, but he spread it round the internet fully aware people were going to use it for pirating. And thats what people have an issue with.

(oh and the whole "consumer rights" line is bs, like maybe 10% of ps3 users actually used linux, and most of those didn't use psn, so never had the functionality taken away, its a null point)

I wasn't referring to the linux removal issue. I meant that in gaming as a whole we, the consumer, have no real rights at all. No ownership, nothing without permission, even for the product we've already paid for, and even then if the product is used completely within the limits of the elua, which often has loopholes intentionally created to "reserve the right" to change or modify any part of the elua in any way they decide.

Being able to shut a guy out of playing his own copy of a game because he says something unflattering on a message board, for example. May or may not have been intentional, but it certainly shows how our rights and control are being strangled.

Nothing I'd said was bs, but it seems you misunderstood my point.

 

[Iwata]

If after all this you're still sticking up to the guy, let me know how the weather's like in your planet.