Sony and Hotz settle PS3 hacker case
- Posted April 11th, 2011 at 18:38 EDT by Eric Blattberg
- 13 Comments
Sony Computer Entertainment America and hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz today announced a settlement in the controversial PlayStation hacker case, in which Sony sued Hotz for posting information about how to bypass the PS3's security system. To resolve the lawsuit, Hotz agreed to a permanent injunction (a final order of a court that a person or entity permanently refrain from certain activities, like fiddling with PS3's security settings).
“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz. “I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”
“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” echoed Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”
Sony alleged that Hotz's posting violated U.S. federal law (specifically, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, among other copyright infringements), encouraging people to pirate PS3 games. Hotz, who also jail-broke Apple's iOS platform, denies any wrongdoing in exploiting security flaws through an exploit in the system's "OtherOS" functionality.
The lawsuit spawned a number of attacks on Sony's websites and PlayStation Network service by the hacker group "Anonymous," with which Hotz is not related.
“We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network,” added Russell. “We appreciate Mr. Hotz’s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.”
Sony and Hotz reached an agreement on March 31, 2011.
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dragonflyjones
- 3:05pm EDT - April 11th, 2011
- 3
so he just got a slap on the wrist? lol.
@2 goes back to hacking...but at his friends house now. haha
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5_Minutes_of_Funk
- 4:18pm EDT - April 11th, 2011
- 6
Sony was smart to let this go and settle, it would have gotten very uncivil. Right or wrong Sony was losing the PR battle by looking like a bully towards a kid, and having its "you only rent, not own" user agreement looked at in detail. Besides the hack just opened the doors, nothing more.
DISCLAIMER: One sided user agreement are standard practice which few read let alone understand. Every company in the world uses them to protect their interests, i.e. bottom line, and control how their IP is used. Nothing wrong with that, I use them daily myself.
However, you can be right...yet still be wrong!
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SolidSnakeUS
- 4:28pm EDT - April 11th, 2011
- 7
Like the neutral outcome. I wouldn't doubt if he was still hacking, but never ever mention it.
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Matt |
hyp3rstrike_- 6:14pm EDT - April 11th, 2011
- 8
I'm glad they settled this in a civil fashion. Things were turning ugly really quick.
I have a feeling that Anonymous are not going to let this slide though, and may see it as treason by Hotz (although he was never in league with them in the first place).
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Petra_Kalbrain1
- 10:44pm EDT - April 11th, 2011
- 11
Maybe now that this lawsuit is over with, perhaps SONY can put the effort that was being spent on GEOHOTZ into bringing down ANONYMOUS. After all, ANONYMOUS will not see this settlement as something that applies to them. They will continue their crusade to bring down the "evil corporation that is violating consumer rights" despite the fact that almost all PS3 owners are more then content with the way their systems are being managed/supported by its manufacturer.
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coverton341
- 12:21pm EDT - April 12th, 2011
- 12
@5
Don't worry too much about number 4. From his previous posts he fancies himself as a part of "the elite taskforce for justice": anonymous. In all actuality he's probably just some NF that trolls /b and thinks it's still good.
Just so you know #4, /b was never good, and you're not a super l33t h4x0r or whatever.
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pizzamonkio
- 8:16pm EDT - April 12th, 2011
- 13
Hackers just need to get laid/have girlfreinds. End of story.
This will permanently ban this user and delete all associated comments. This action is irreversible, are you SURE you want to do this?!
