Spanish Law Sets Jailbreaking Precedent

[Michael Essany]

In case you missed the story this past week, a big victory was delivered to the jailbreak community in Spain. While the news has nothing to directly do with Apple or its products, the news stills serves to advance jailbreaking overall - a reality most in our community would celebrate regardless. In this particular instance, however, a court in Barcelona ruled that - despite the best arguments to the contrary by Sony - owners of the PlayStation 3 should not be prohibited from jailbreaking their consoles.

Part of the reason the court ruled against Sony, according various Spanish language blogs, is because Sony disabled the “OtherOS” functionality earlier this year. As many readers are likely aware, the “OtherOS” feature allowed you to install a Linux OS into your PlayStation 3.

No only did the Spanish court establish a legal precedent that one may own, sell, or advertise a jailbroken PS3, Sony was ordered to pay all legal fees associated with the jailbreaking witch hunt that targeted a number of retailers that eventually became involved in the legal skirmish. Despite all of Sony's best efforts - efforts that have previously succeeded in similar situations around the world - the Spanish ruling may ultimately represent the wave of the future, not a thing of the past.

Sony still has a shrinking window of time in which the court's ruling can be appealed.

TFTS

[plcrules]

wasnt musclenerd working on a ps3 hack that would b deployed from an iphone or ipod touch thro usb?

[xrhsths]

already done for a month now or more...

Older iphone or ipod for now, a bunch of android phones and all other kinds of devices on top of the special USB keys you can buy.

Personally I got the USB because who wants to be plugging an ipod or phone to the PS3 every time you boot ?

But all is good nonetheless. Finally we can do more with our devices..

[whereswaldo]

Good news, now for the Canadian government to do the same

[cypherpunk]

**** Sony. It's not their place to tell people what they can do with hardware they've bought.

And **** Microsoft too for that matter, they're no better.

[cedwards0823]

witch hunt that targeted a number of retailers

im thinking this is an issue. while i completely agree that an owner has the right to do whatever they want with their purchase, i dont think a retailer should be permitted to. if they want to offer some sort of service to jailbreak or alter, fine, but i dont think its kosher for them to sell a "new" device thats been tampered with. imagine what a company could install without the customer's knowledge.

[Rob2G]

Consumer Rights Rebalancing. (CRR)I have rebalanced all my idevices my ps3 and xbox 360. It everyones right who owns the product to use it how they want. People wouldn't do this if Sony, Apple, etc. Would just give us the option to install what we think is fun and useful, not just what they think is useful. My PS3 xmb should play MKVs but it doesn't I jb my ps3 just for when some one brings mkv to the PS3.

[vruls]

YAY, this is good news for me since I live in Spain :-)

[Gyngabread Man]

Glad to see Sony finally got shot down after winning in other countries.

[CaptainChaos]

I miss having the option to boot into Ubuntu on my PS3. I wish they would bring it back in a future firmware. I don't see the harm in it.

[Armored]

Thank you to everyone for not bashing essany for posting a "non apple" article. I love news like this. It influences us all.

[EskimoRuler]

this is great news, has to start somewhere, but i have a feeling apple will always fight for there way

[NooK]

Regarding the retailer thing I don't see any issue. If the customer wants to buy something that is modified and offers no warranty (at least not from sony) it's their right is it not?

[CynicalDriver]

Regarding the retailer thing I don't see any issue. If the customer wants to buy something that is modified and offers no warranty (at least not from sony) it's their right is it not?

Privilege, yes, I agree.

Nobody has the "right" to purchase anything, it's a privilege they earn by having the money. Once they have paid for it though, they should have the right to modify it as they see fit. They should also have the right to sell it after modification, provided they explain those changes to possible buyers.

[Jahooba]

More great news today. I don't own a PS3, but these closed systems and walled gardens created by large corporations to protect their sales only serves to limit our options as consumer and ultimately results in our purchases being 'loaned' to us if the manufacturer retains the right to tell us how to use it.

It's a shame if the company loses money, but a company's imperative should be to the consumer, not to their own greed. I'm not an anti-Capitalist (on the contrary), but I believe it's a company's job to serve the people, and not the other way around.

[blkcadi]

Great news, a step in the correct direction.

[CynicalDriver]

More great news today. I don't own a PS3, but these closed systems and walled gardens created by large corporations to protect their sales only serves to limit our options as consumer and ultimately results in our purchases being 'loaned' to us if the manufacturer retains the right to tell us how to use it.

It's a shame if the company loses money, but a company's imperative should be to the consumer, not to their own greed. I'm not an anti-Capitalist (on the contrary), but I believe it's a company's job to serve the people, and not the other way around.

I agree 100%.

I don't think consumer freedom hurts these companies, or their sales. Yes, Apple will lose some sales to outside publishers, but the higher number of people buying hardware (and using the app store) will more than make up for it.

In the case of Sony, they're only failing at preventing game piracy. Why not just load Linux from the start and sell a PS3+ for an extra $30? People will pay it, because realistically game systems would make pretty good computer alternatives!

Imagine Facebook games on the Wii, 360 Kinect, or PS3 Move... Would be a lot better than a mouse for some of them.