UPDATE: PS3 Hacker GeoHot Claims He's on Vacation

[MR.Spartacus]

This'll seem a bit off but looking at that picture...






...yeah that's a face you could punch. What all is he guilty of now? Violating the EULA, violating a court order, and fraud? Did I miss anything? Can't really say this surprises me though.

So Geohot made a Geohop when they put him on the Geospot

Well played.

 

[Korten12]

Hard to believe him. Honestly he is still a douche. Sure he may have planned this back in Novemember, but who would leave during a court case on vacation? What do Lawyers decide half-way through a court-case to go on vacation?

 

[Quaidis]

This'll seem a bit off but looking at that picture...






...yeah that's a face you could punch. What all is he guilty of now? Violating the EULA, violating a court order, and fraud? Did I miss anything? Can't really say this surprises me though.

You missed 'tampering with evidence' and 'fleeing the country under a criminal investigation'. Even if he did 'go on vacation', it's obvious he didn't warn the courts or hiw lawyers ahead of time. I personally believe he's bullshitting it.

 

[sunburst]

Ugh. ITT: People who have no goddamn clue how lawsuits work. A lot of you need to realize that GeoHot has not been charged with any crime. Sony has filed a civil suit against him seeking monetary compensation for damages. He has absolutely no reason to flee the damn continent. There's also no reason he shouldn't go on vacation whenever he feels like it. Remember, he's not under arrest. He can go wherever he wants. We didn't know where he was going? Awesome! I'm glad he still has his privacy. He doesn't owe you a heads up when he wants to take a trip.

As for the whole tampering with evidence claim, I don't have the slightest clue how true that is. You definitely cannot just take Sony's word for it. Accusing your opponent of any technical violations you can dig up is somewhere near the top of page 1 of The Big Book of Corporate Lawsuits.

So the only bit of relevant information is Sony's alleged proof that a PSN account was registered on one of GeoHot's systems. That is quite big. Given the current mood toward hacking in the legal world, I doubt they need to present anything more than that as proof he agreed to the TOS. Sony should have an easier time getting the case heard in California and now GeoHot will have to argue against the validity of EULAs as well. Everything has suddenly become more complicated for him. I do hope he's ready for this. He'll have to be in for the long haul if he wants to win.

 

[Aris Khandr]

So, does this mean that the Xbox 360 Headset I purchased at a GameStop today can be traced back to me by the store I bought it at, and without my consent?

If you bought it with a credit card, yes. It wouldn't even be that hard.

It's about time that a Judge declared that the EULA does not carry the legal weight of a signed legal document.

Why? Because you don't like what they say? So don't agree to it, don't use the products containing them, and all of your problems are solved.

 

[Scars Unseen]

What all is he guilty of now? Violating the EULA, violating a court order, and fraud? Did I miss anything? Can't really say this surprises me though.

What is he guilty of? Nothing. This isn't a criminal case, and no court decision has been made yet in any case. Unless you didn't mean legally, in which case I'd just say that he's mostly guilty of being unlikeable. It says so here in his file: unlikeable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikeable loner whose passing shall not be mourned. "Shall not be mourned." That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official. It also says he was adopted. So that's funny too.

One of these days I'm going to be able to use that word without quoting Portal. But not today, apparently.

 

[gundamrx101]

Rather than make an update I'll just post this right here. No matter what he says he's still a s*** disturber. Everything would have been fine if he didn't post the rootkey. Don't give me any of that 'It's on the hardware' bullcrap. It's software managed and ditributed by Sony for free to all of us, all they ask is that we don't, oh I dunno, tamper with it, or distripute it. This isn't about product freedom or how evil corporations are. It's about a silly douche, who obtained a piece of software and then illiegally distributed it. Some people would have used it to mod, others would have used it to pirate. Doesn't matter, it's the fact that he broke into software he doesn't have any claim over. We didn't buy it and firmware doesn't function the way an OS does. The way I really see this, is that people are supporting illiegal software distribution and then condemning a company trying to protect their product/investment.


Ofcourse the company is going to go crazy (hahaha! fo cereal).
As for his 'TEH FURDIM' attitude. He's not in it for the freedom. No shut it. You know how to cover the fact you illiegally obtained a product and then illiegally distributed it? For freedom. It's amazing how you can make anything a 'freedom' fight.

As for the future of console gaming? Either way, whoever wins means negative changes. Goergey wins? People cane function the console like a PC now, cool! Oh hey an email from some woman lemme just open that *?*&$&?*()$%?# VIRUS. If Sony wins, hell we'd be lucky if they don't go Big Brother on everyone.

I don't support either side as Sony is whinning and he started all this by disturbing teh s***

 

[Nerdygamer89]

Tampering with evidence... violating court order... yeah, that's a couple felonies right there. If he's in Cuba though, it doesn't matter. The Cuban government usually gives a big "fuck you" to extradition requests by the U.S. from my understanding.

 

[xXDeMoNiCXx]

Who would EVER take a picture of themselves that.. douchéy?

Cause he knows that only idiots judge people by their pictures.

 

[Echo136]

I thought the Escapist would support the rights of gamers.
Yeah he fled, but that's not the point. Sony is still in the wrong.

"Sony has proof that Hotz created a PlayStation Network account and therefore agreed to the PSN User Agreement"
So what? The PSN UA is BS!

The point of this article is that he's not a gamer he's a cock. I think he's a cock because he took advantage of people like you who believed Sony was wrong and that the case should go to court and be won.

But because of this he won't ever win, people won't listen and things won't change because he acted like a criminal. and that's what people will remember after all this.

SONY is wrong, him being a dick or fleeing the country doesn't change that... just adds it to SONY being wrong.

That makes absolutely no sense. Half the people in this thread seem to be just painting a target on Sony's head calling them wrong and basically saying they are evil on the basis that they are a big corporation and all big corporations by definition dont deserve the money they have and will always shit on the little guy. It makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. They are protecting their property. Anyone who says that Hotz is in the right in doing what he's doing is either a hacker, in denial, or just stupid. He's breaking the law on multiple accounts, and now he's committed fraud.

 

[PrototypeC]

No, it actually doesn't look good still for this guy to-holy shit... Justin Timberlake? Is that you??

 

[FogHornG36]

Never mind

 

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

Well, let him enjoy his vacation then. That doesn't change the fact that he tampered with the evidence.

 

[city cider]

Making a fake header that lies, just so people will read your topic is bad. just saying.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Hey Sony I'm such a cocky douche that I'm going to go on spring break and not even present to care about our case. Lawl, I troll you.

yeah If I had a pending court case I think I might cancel my travel plans. I don't what your opinion is on him being so confident that he goes to South America on vacation as schedule not even missing at beat at court proceedings says just how cocky this guy is.

 

[Nurb]

He legally owns the hardware. He doesn't legally own all the software available to it. Jailbreaking should be treated like attempted robbery, imo, for anything in which jailbreaking gives you free access to services that should be payed for. It's like robbing the goods from a store. Just cause you only slugged the cashier and opened the vault and let everybody in to do what they want doesn't mean you aren't fucking breaking the law.

EDIT: Paying for a service does not entitle you to every service the provider has to offer. Going behind a provider's back to take more than what you payed for should get your sorry ass thrown in jail, whether it's stealing real items, or hacking a game console

What the hell? What's with people just bending over for these companies? Even after all this technological development, the PC is still the only device that the customer has 100% control over. Do you LIKE the fact no mobile devices let you decide how you want to us them and that a company dictates what is the acceptable use of a product you paid 100-300 bucks for, then limit what sort of software you can and can't have on it? People are just rolling over and accepting this limited use proprietary bullshit. I paid for it, I'm jailbreaking it, and I'm using my own damn property how I want.

 

[RA92]

He didn't address the specific claims of tampering with evidence, but I'm sure that is probably best left to his lawyers.

Speaking of the tampering of equipment, according to GeoHot's attorney (talking to IGN), the missing components have been delivered as per requested by Sony, so the "point is moot" apparently.

Linky links: http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1157239p1.html

If all of this is true, then really its Sony who's painted as the bad guys (again) here, using every excuse to try and convince the court that GeoHot is actually evil...

You know, people are probably going to ignore your post and go back to saying he deserves punishment because of that douchey photo... -_-

 

[RA92]

Well, let him enjoy his vacation then. That doesn't change the fact that he tampered with the evidence.

So says Sony's lawyers. <url=http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1157239p1.html>Oh wait...

Who's the douche now?

 

[ZephrC]

That makes absolutely no sense. Half the people in this thread seem to be just painting a target on Sony's head calling them wrong and basically saying they are evil on the basis that they are a big corporation and all big corporations by definition dont deserve the money they have and will always shit on the little guy. It makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. They are protecting their property. Anyone who says that Hotz is in the right in doing what he's doing is either a hacker, in denial, or just stupid. He's breaking the law on multiple accounts, and now he's committed fraud.

See, what you don't seem to get is that a lot of people view this case as protecting their property, and most of us see Sony's definition of who owns what as stupid, unethical and dysfunctional, and we would like to have a court agree with us even if it means supporting a guy who's kind of a douche-bag in the process.

We have just as much right to defend what we think is ours as Sony does. Why do you want to take that away from us?

 

[Nurb]

Fuck Sony.

If they weren't dicks to begin with and telling a customer what they can and can't do with their own damn property, he wouldn't be in this mess.

Corporate greed and control of customer actions is the crime here, so yea, fuck Sony. They deserve to be pirated.

Once again. This isn't about "Telling people what they can do with there property" this is about "Releasing security information to the public"
......

He bought the hardware, it's his property, he has every right to take it apart, see how it works and tell others how to do it too. That "Security information" was on his hardware. People can share info on how to crack cable boxes and cable company DVR consoles, and it's perfectly legal in that case (So long as you don't steal cable service and they own the box).

And Modding has the same effect as releasing "security info": it curcumvents company supplied software to make it do what you want. It's the same damn thing

So yes, this is a company dictating what a person can do with their legally bought hardware and software on it, and dragging them into court over it is wrong.

He legally owns the hardware. He doesn't legally own all the software available to it. Jailbreaking should be treated like attempted robbery, imo, for anything in which jailbreaking gives you free access to services that should be payed for. It's like robbing the goods from a store. Just cause you only slugged the cashier and opened the vault and let everybody in to do what they want doesn't mean you aren't fucking breaking the law.

EDIT: Paying for a service does not entitle you to every service the provider has to offer. Going behind a provider's back to take more than what you payed for should get your sorry ass thrown in jail, whether it's stealing real items, or hacking a game console

What the hell? What's with people just bending over for these companies? Even after all this technological development, the PC is still the only device that the customer has 100% control over. Do you LIKE the fact no mobile devices let you decide how you want to us them and that a company dictates what is the acceptable use of a product you paid 100-300 bucks for, then limit what sort of software you can and can't have on it? People are just rolling over and accepting this limited use proprietary bullshit.

So, do you go into a restraunt, eat your meal, and then start beating the waiter because he didn't go give you all the food in the kitchen as well? If you want the services, pay for them. If not, shut the f--- up. You're not impressing anybody with your crap about it's apparently wrong to need to pay for a company's goods

Edit: Jeez, the only thing worse than a pirate or a theif is a moralising pirate or theif. It's one thing to steal. It's another thing to convince yourself that your stealing proves some sort of superiority

This is quite possibly the most idiotic hyperbole I've heard yet. Why don't you compare REAL robbery to the holocaust while you're at it? How old ar you anyway? No, if you want to use a real life comparison, it's going into a resturant, ordering a meal, paying up front and being told how to eat it.

EDIT: By the way you can say "Fuck" here if you want. Either go for the gold or don't use it at all.