Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

January 12, 2011

According to documents on the web sites of PS3 hacker George "geohot" Hotz and hacking group fail0verflow, Sony Computer Entertainment America has asked a court to issue a temporary restraining order against parties involved in circumventing its console's "technological protection measures." The motion further seeks to take those circumvention "devices" offline.

The websites of both parties feature court documents and a warning that "any legal fund donation things you see are 100% fake as of now, don't get scammed."

The complaint filed by Sony also accuses Hotz of gaining "financial benefit through his unlawful conduct" via a PayPal account. The motion also names group fail0verflow and its alleged members: "Bushing," Hector Cantero, Sven Peter and "Segher," as well as a number of "John Doe" defendants.

The motion further asks the court to impound the "computers, hard drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, USB sticks and other media" of the named defendants that "contain circumvention devices."

Sony's court action is a direct result of the aforementioned parties creating hacks and custom firmware for the PS3. Mostly, these groups did this to enable homebrew software and re-enable the OtherOS (allows users to run Linux) feature on the PS3.

Holtz's older web site is still available here.

Legal Documents:

Source: Kotaku

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Comments

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by Bennett Beeny on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 14:07.

I just want to play Codemasters' International Cricket 2010 on my console. I mean, surely it shouldn't be that difficult. I live in the most powerful nation in the world, a nation that has espoused consumerism for centuries.

But Sony won't let me. Neither will Microsoft or Nintendo. Not because the game won't work on the system - it works fine in England. My only option, if I want to play here in the US, is to hack the console.

This is not just about backing up media or DRM. It's about gaining access to media that should be available to everyone who owns a console, not just the privileged few who happen to live in the right countries.

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by Andrew Eisen on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 16:49.

"My only option, if I want to play here in the US, is to hack the console."

Just import it. The PS3 is region free so it should play just fine.

Andrew Eisen

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by SeanB on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 03:47.

Not all games are Region free. All games are capable of being region free, and it's up to the publisher weather it is or not.

So him blaming Sony for the region lock on his cricket game is wrong... unless of course it's a Sony made game, but I don't think so.

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by Andrew Eisen on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 12:43.

While that's technically possible, as far as I know, no game has done that (except maybe some Korean games or something) and International Cricket 2010 appears to be no exception.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/international-cricket-2010-game-1...

Andrew Eisen

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 16:26.

I know the PS3 works JPN-?USA and JPN/UK but I dunno if it likes UK/US I never did confrim that and I know the 360 is set to whatever the publisher sets it to.

But rather than that I'd like to use open soruce stuff to run more than 4 formats of media and store my games on the HDD for quicker acces.

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 12:04.

That didn't take long.

Re: Sony Fights PS3 Hackers in Court

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 11:24.

It dose not matter the individuals right of plying a backups and their own media supersedes any DRM scheme short of what is kept on someone eases sever. We already can not return bad media and tools to whack modded consoles even modded data thats a decent trade off to allow backups and mod chips regardless of what conglomerates and their fuck buddies want.

I hope sony loses big on this menavuer!

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/

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http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

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PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/ea-sports-developer-calls-wii-u-crap-and-nintendo-wa-508481261 EA Sports Canada Moron calls Wii U 'Crap' and Nintendo 'Walking Dead'05/18/2013 - 11:42am

E. Zachary Knight: If the videos are of sufficient quality that people subscribe and watch regularly, then those let's players are providing a service that people want. That is the heart of capitalism. That is not something that should be shamed.05/17/2013 - 8:06am

E. Zachary Knight: I have no idea who either of those people are. However, I still don't see why making a business out of creating let's play videos is somehow evil or wrong.05/17/2013 - 8:04am

MaskedPixelante: It sure is if you're just doing it for the money. See Tobuscus and/or Pewdiepie for what happens when people get into it just for the money.05/17/2013 - 7:30am

E. Zachary Knight: Why is it wrong to make money doing LPs? Why should that be something that should be shamed?05/17/2013 - 6:20am

MaskedPixelante: https://twitter.com/PsychedelicSA/status/335183893214924801 Now here's an interesting, glass half full thought about the Nintendo LP thing. It outs the people who are just doing LPs to make money.05/17/2013 - 5:56am

E. Zachary Knight: I responded in writing to all this "let's play" stuff Nintendo Started. No need for my permission, I won't give it. It's not mine to give. http://divineknightgaming.com/?p=29205/16/2013 - 2:21pm

E. Zachary Knight: Lars Doucet of Levelup Labs has a Reddit going on game companies that allow monetization of Let's Play videos. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1egayn/lets_build_a_list_of_game_studios_that_allow/05/16/2013 - 1:04pm

Sleaker: @Imautobot - yah I wouldn't use an emulator as a good first run test of how stable the console is, haha.05/16/2013 - 11:47am

E. Zachary Knight: The 50th person to jump off a bridge is just as dumb if not dumber than the 1st.05/16/2013 - 10:03am

MaskedPixelante: Yeah, let's all jump on Nintendo for doing this, even though they're hardly the first company to do this...05/16/2013 - 9:47am

E. Zachary Knight: Wow Nintendo, this is wrong. http://kotaku.com/nintendo-forcing-ads-on-some-youtube-lets-play-video-50709238305/16/2013 - 8:44am

Imautobot: @Sleaker, further gameplay has revealed that the controller button do stick under the faceplate. Also, The NES emulator (Emuya)keeps crashing on me, though I think a bad ROM is causing it.05/16/2013 - 7:10am

Papa Midnight: AE: I wonder if any other publishers will follow suit.05/15/2013 - 8:12pm

Andrew Eisen: EA is ditching Online Pass. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/15/ea-kills-its-controversial-online-pass-program/05/15/2013 - 7:20pm

Avalongod: @Zach and quicnkold...I've read the bill and the intent of it is to fear-monger. It's not a balanced message. I don't recall the ESRB being mentioned at all. It's more "keeps your kids away from these movies/games or they'll become violent"05/15/2013 - 4:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: quiknkold, The big problem with that legislation is the amount of misinformation out there. Who is going to ensure that the information in the pamphlet is accurate?05/15/2013 - 3:25pm

quiknkold: REBeardogg : I'm on the fence about this. on one side, I want parents to be aware of the ESRB, and even Movie Ratings. On the other hand, I feel this will be used for nothing but Propaganda. The ESRB does a good job.05/15/2013 - 3:07pm

IanC: Frostbite is coming out on iOS devices. Yet the Wii U cant handle it? *coughbullshitcough*05/15/2013 - 2:31pm

BearDogg-X: http://www.politickernj.com/65515/lesniak-ruiz-bill-limit-children-s-exposure-media-violence-clears-senate - Bill requiring schools to publish pamphlets with anti-fake media "violence" propaganda clears NJ Senate05/15/2013 - 2:03pm

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