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  • California Court Grants Sony Restraining Order Against Geohot
    by
    Michael Essany
    Published on 01-28-2011 09:45 AM
    73 Comments Comments


    The Washington Post is reporting this morning that a California court has approved Sony's restraining order against Geohot.

    Less than three weeks ago, the consumer electronics giant Sony proceeded to file the order against jailbreaker extraordinaire George Hotz, aka Geohot. Hotz and his team were in Sony's legal line of sight for allegedly bypassing "effective technological protective measures" in PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.55. Earlier this month, Geohot released a controversial jailbreak which enables PlayStation 3 hackers to run custom packages on the console.

    [Hotz] maintains that he never intended the hack to aid game piracy and, in fact, told the G4 network show "Attack of the Show" that he took measures to keep the code from being used in that manner.
    Sony has previously encountered some resistance in its pursuit of a temporary restraining order when Judge Susan Illston "expressed reservations over whether or not her jurisdiction extended to the case." The California court, however, ultimately sided with Sony. And the rest is now history.

    According to published reports, Sony's temporary restraining order (TRO) requires Geohot to stop putting hacker-related information and instructions on the web about the PS3 hack. Hotz has all but 10 days to comply with the court order and fork over his computers to the PlayStation maker. But as the Post notes, Geohot's hack is "readily available through mirror sites across the Internet." And Sony's restraining order is powerless to change that reality.

    So what is Sony trying to accomplish? Without question, Sony is trying to make an example out of Geohot. But will it work? As tech reporter Hayley Tsukayama observed in her Washington Post coverage, Hotz has "become something of a cult hero in the hacking community." Sony persecution will likely serve to only increase Geohot's celebrity status.

    Washington Post
    This article was originally published in forum thread: California Court Grants Sony Restraining Order Against Geohot started by Michael Essany View original post
    Comments 73 Comments
    1. coolguy742's Avatar
      coolguy742 - 01-28-2011, 02:46 PM
      I own a jailbroken PS3 and NO I do not have pirated games on it!!!
      And Sony is just trying to crucify Geohot and make an example of him...
    1. Mrteacup's Avatar
      Mrteacup - 01-28-2011, 02:47 PM
      apple will probably hirer sonys lawyer
    1. unison999's Avatar
      unison999 - 01-28-2011, 03:15 PM
      All this does is slow down the jailbreaking a tiny bit (minute maybe?), I am sure Geohot backed up his private data yet to be released at a location he can readily get to. Maybe this would piss him off and get him to release something before the deadline.
    1. awesomeSlayer's Avatar
      awesomeSlayer - 01-28-2011, 03:21 PM
      God dang you, California. You would side on Sony.
    1. steve-z17's Avatar
      steve-z17 - 01-28-2011, 03:23 PM
      This is a sad day.
    1. kevin.e.white's Avatar
      kevin.e.white - 01-28-2011, 03:40 PM
      george, if you read this i got ps3 youre welcome to have.
      its because of you and many other creative and intelligent people that im here in the first place.
      good luck to you.
    1. MetallicaFan1991's Avatar
      MetallicaFan1991 - 01-28-2011, 05:04 PM
      Don't hack consoles, it ruins it for everyone else eg PSP piracy and hacks eventually led to less games for it and it died. PSP2 however is a whole new beast.

      PS3 hacks ruined MW2 online, soon other games will be ruined too.
    1. JayQuint87's Avatar
      JayQuint87 - 01-28-2011, 05:14 PM
      Funny that one man can bring a multi billion dollar company to its knees

    1. GellBrake'rrrr's Avatar
      GellBrake'rrrr - 01-28-2011, 05:21 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by awesomeSlayer View Post
      God dang you, California. You would side on Sony.
      Quite funny how Cali is /SO/ lenient on most things that many states haven't even considered..... More or less approved. And they ruled in favor of Sony??? I'm beyond shocked!!!
    1. StealthBravo's Avatar
      StealthBravo - 01-28-2011, 05:23 PM
      So true
    1. steve-z17's Avatar
      steve-z17 - 01-28-2011, 05:43 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by GellBrake'rrrr View Post
      Quite funny how Cali is /SO/ lenient on most things that many states haven't even considered..... More or less approved. And they ruled in favor of Sony??? I'm beyond shocked!!!
      Seriously! If geohot got caught shoplifting in Cali they'd give him a slap on the wrist and send him on his merry. But apparently hacking into something you actually paid for deserves a restraining order...how does that work?
    1. LGgeek's Avatar
      LGgeek - 01-28-2011, 06:01 PM
      Geohot should ping EFF , I would contribute.

      I am concerned about "...and fork over his computers to the PlayStation maker", this is crap no trial and the government , oh sorry Sony confiscates his computers. BS.

      Well I was looking at a new Sony TV , looks like LG will be getting my business.

      I think we should start a "boycott Sony campaign" .

      send Sony email letting them know you don't like their Gestapo tactics, cease and desist ok, confiscation is not.

      Sending them a copy of this.

      Update: no email Sony doesn't accept it according to their web site. So I guess I have to use snail mail:

      Sony Corporation of America
      550 Madison Avenue,
      New York, NY 10022
    1. phreakwenci's Avatar
      phreakwenci - 01-28-2011, 06:08 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by OleBayCrab View Post
      He had to go and pick a gaming system. They are considered CPU's. Geo needed to just stick with the smartphones. They are protected. Now he's SCREWED. SONY ain't gonna just take it. They have more lawyers, they will make his life miserable. The "intent" doesn't matter, its the end result that's got him in hot water.
      Dude, I just moved to L.A. from MD.. lived in the 'Dena near Glen Burnie. Saw your name and lol'ed. well done bro. well done.
    1. blueblaze4444's Avatar
      blueblaze4444 - 01-28-2011, 06:09 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by MetallicaFan1991 View Post
      Don't hack consoles, it ruins it for everyone else eg PSP piracy and hacks eventually led to less games for it and it died. PSP2 however is a whole new beast.

      PS3 hacks ruined MW2 online, soon other games will be ruined too.
      Game-hacking is different isn't it? Sorry, I don't own a PS3, but to me it sounds like he created a "jailbreak" which leads to piracy (in the exact same way it did for iProducts). I don't think it has anything to do with in-game hacks.
    1. Effenpig!'s Avatar
      Effenpig! - 01-28-2011, 06:09 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by GellBrake'rrrr View Post
      Quite funny how Cali is /SO/ lenient on most things that many states haven't even considered..... More or less approved. And they ruled in favor of Sony??? I'm beyond shocked!!!
      I don't think Cali is necessarily lenient on /most/ things. What does this mean exactly? I don't get it. I mean, I guess they are lenient on pot, but not so much any other "drugs". They have very restrictive firearms laws, etc.

      I suppose you could say their court system is more liberal than some others but I don't see how this would translate into /lenient/
    1. thetoothfairy's Avatar
      thetoothfairy - 01-28-2011, 07:16 PM
      I feel sorry for him.
    1. DRFP's Avatar
      DRFP - 01-28-2011, 07:47 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by steeda763 View Post
      I don't understand what turning his computers over to Sony is going to accomplish. What's to say he can't delete information? Or copy it all to his next computer?
      I know Geo knows how to properly Shred his info but your statements hints of naive understanding, you can recover most deleted files unless certain measures are taken, putting files in the delete trash many times does not even erase the info, its there on the HD, and at times partial is over written, but you need to use a good shredding program to completely get rid of it.
    1. cranie's Avatar
      cranie - 01-28-2011, 07:48 PM
      "Cult hero" is putting it mildly. "F'n genius" more like it.. as is the entire dev team. I never cared about the PS3 hacks but without Geo and people like him my iPhone would have been far less useful.
    1. DRFP's Avatar
      DRFP - 01-28-2011, 07:56 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Turb02 View Post
      They(Apple) sure will. This is the nail in the (JB)coffin.
      No its a different issue, I love how people jump from one thing to another and say these things.

      the feds already said ( their Iphones they have already JB) that its legal.

      Plus this action is
      According to published reports, Sony's temporary restraining order (TRO) requires Geohot to stop putting hacker-related information and instructions on the web about the PS3 hack. Hotz has all but 10 days to comply with the court order and fork over his computers to the PlayStation maker. But as the Post notes, Geohot's hack is "readily available through mirror sites across the Internet." And Sony's restraining order is powerless to change that reality.
      The reason for this is easy to understand, the court wants Geo to stop until the case can be decided. This is temporary, unless Goe looses.

      People calm down, its the way courts do things at times.
    1. ohthatguyagain's Avatar
      ohthatguyagain - 01-28-2011, 09:14 PM
      You go g-dog!!!
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