Sony Hackers, Beware. You must login or register to view this content.
According to BBC News, Sony has been granted permission to acquire the information of people who downloaded the mandatory files required to hack the PlayStation 3. A judge from San Francisco, California, approved Sony a subpoena: A legal order demanding evidence. This order gives Sony access to a list of IP addresses. The software used to breach Sony’s PS3 operating system was placed on the website of George Hotz, infamously known as Geohot. George Hotz is being sued by Sony with the claim of Mr.Hotz breaching copyright laws, ultimately allowing users the access to pirated games. As stated by the BBC News, “Court documents, obtained by Wired magazine, show that the company successfully petitioned to obtain IP addresses from the web-hosting company Bluehost.” Such information can be used to indicate the geographical locations of the many users which accessed Mr.Hotz website, Gehot.com. BBC also marks that legal action against the masses of people who downloaded the software crack may not be Sony’s aim.
Many sources don’t support the likelihood of elongated and costly legal challenges. Instead, Sony want’s to discover the number of people that downloaded the software crack as well as their locations. Sony’s intentions with such information is to establish jurisdiction in the case against Mr.Hotz. The document states, "SCEA [Sony Computer Entertainment America] needs to determine how rampant the access to and use of these circumvention devices has been in California in order to rebut Mr Hotz's suggestion that his illicit conduct was not aimed at the forum state.” This legal order also allows Sony to access information alleged with the case from sites such as Twitter, Google Blogspot, and YouTube.
Sony previously settled with a restraining order against Mr.Hotz. That order banned Mr.Hotz from revealing any methods of manipulation to the PS3’s Operating System. Mr.Hotz, in conjunction with a group of individuals, is being charged with violating various copyright laws, including The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: You must login or register to view this content. He is also charged with violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Mr.Hotz claims that he in no way supported piracy, but rather praised the ’Home Brew’ community, which are users that write their own software for the PS3 system. In conclusion, Sony boldly stated that they are now able to identify users who are running a hacked PlayStation 3 system. Sony also noted that they will strip the right of online usage from such offenders if the hacking proceeds.
All Sony does from what I can see is make stupid commercials to sell their products. This IP thing is just going to get even more hackers against Sony. All this is going to lead to is more bad things. It's like Sony just keeps digging there grave even further. All this is going to do is to try to scare us all. What are we all going to get sued? I don't think so. I will be 90 if and when they find me. All this is for is to push GeoHot more into the court and find out a good Idea on how many people downloaded this custom firmware. I think Sony just needs to move on and instead of taking there time on this why not get better security and take care of their things more.