Sony Vs Anonymous

Technology and Gaming
#1

As you may or may not heard, Recently Sony has filed a lawsuit against Geohot, also known as George Hotz. Reasons for filing this lawsuit seem to be Geohot owning and modifying a PS3, and then uploading information on how to do it to the internet. At the same time Geohot claims to not even know SCEA and uses that as proof that he did no wrong. Not long after he left the country claiming to be on Vacation during a law suit.

In responce to the Lawsuit a cyber group known as Anonymous has attacked Sony’s servers with DDOS for the last week and have stopped.

Now I’ve heard alot of excuses that there is no case, that Geohot did nothing wrong, That sony went too far, and thus Anonymous’s attacks on Sony are justified.

I find all this info to be false. Though I’m not here to start a flame war, I’m here to share my opinion and get opinions on all of this.

So first off, I think Sony’s lawsuit is justified. You can’t buy 3 PS3s with out knowing theres a difference in versions. If you go into any gaming store you’ll see them on the shelves for the version area you’re in, such as America’s model in America.

Secondly I believe there is a case. Geohot exposed Sony’s technology when he posted how to modify PS3s to get a feature back that Sony disabled to prevent Piracy in their games. Sony has a right to keep their stuff secure. As does Microsoft and Nintendo. But at the same time if Geohot really wanted to Jailbreak his system, he could have done it and kept quiet about it if he had no intention to pirate games. He simply did it to do it.

I’ve also heard that Sony Requested the IP addresses of the people that have visited his website. Many people think this is a step too far. It’s not. As it is just for reference on who visited the website and saw the post Geohot has made. Untill they break the law Sony cannot and will not touch those that visited Geohot’s site.

Now, I’ve heard several different places from different people that Geohot went to. But If I’m right, don’t quote me on this, that it’s illegal to leave the country while a lawsuit is going on. Thats concidered fleeing the country. Whether it’s a vacation or not. I know he’s not on house arrest. But at the same time if he leaves the country, the country has no jurisdiction anymore and need him to come back. Right now he’s un touchable.

Lastly the attack by Anonymous. Are they justified? I don’t believe so. They’ve more acted like kids this past week as they shut down Sony’s server. I don’t even believe they’re the true Anonymous. The True Anonymous wouldn’t mess with the innocent period. Collateral or no, they wouldn’t do it. They’d hit in other ways first. By shutting down the servers they hurt the consumer first and Sony last. While the true Anonymous was able to knock a Security firm CEO on their ass, the fakes weren’t able to budge Sony.

Thats my thoughts and opinions on the situation. Like I’ve said before. I’m not trying to start a flame war, I would just like thoughts and opinions. I’m not a fanboy. Never have been. I play on the other consoles just as much as the PS3 and enjoy each in their own ways.

#2

Sony has the right to protect their merchandise. However, when you buy the system and it should be yours to do with as you please. If you want to jailbreak it, that’s your prerogative. If you pirate games, then you will be prosecuted if you’re caught.

Just making the tools available doesn’t mean that you’re forcing anyone to do anything…or even telling someone to do it.

That said, Geohot did not do anything wrong. Sony has the right to sue anyone (doesn’t mean they’ll win). Anonymous was wrong.

#3

It’s obvious Anon is using this as an excuse to do what they do best: shit.

#4

sony is overpriced and I hate them for making the NGP so damn ugly

the PSP design was perfect, why did they need to add so many gimmicks like dual cameras or a useless touchscreen on the other side that has no screen? To make it more expensive.

#5

I’m sorry, since when is this thread called “What’s your opinion on Sony’s products?”

This is about the “war” between Sony and Geohot and how Anon is using this as an excuse to attack Sony.

Hating Sony’s stuff does not give you the right to attack it.

#6

#7

I used to love playstation, I really wanted to get a ps3 and make it into a linux media center.

This whole thing has disillusioned me, sony is being a pretty big ass to their customers, removing features from their products just because it made it somewhat more possible for some people, some of the time to pirate games. Who is going to pirate whole PS3 games by copying them to a hdd? PS3 games are huge. Then they sue this guy just for making it possible for people to use the feature as it was originally intended by sony themselves.

This reminds me of the whole HDDVD AACS ecryption key thing which somehow the whole internet got behind, even though that was way more questionable than this.

So basically everyone is just mad that they’re fags who couldn’t play ps3 online for a few hours while sony ruins that dudes life and goes around fucking its customers in the ass.

#8

Sony hasn’t been the best to their customers, that’s true, but it still doesn’t give anyone the right to bombard Sony’s servers. As stated, that only hurts the consumers more than anyone anyway.

I don’t think Geohot had a reason for releasing this exploit other than to be an ass. I agreed with him when he did it for Apple, because then it allowed people to buy apps at third party app stores instead of being forced to use only Apple’s app store.

I know Sony shouldn’t have removed the ‘other OS’ feature, but the system exploit was going too far just to get it back.

Also, Sony has a right to patch their systems to avoid exploitation.

#9

Which they did, he just jailbroke it to make it so you could have that feature back.

I don’t see how it’s any different what company he jailbreaks for.

#10

I dont know if anybody actually follows the case closely, but new evidence has come up that the Sony branch that sued Geohot had no legal right to do so, and has no actual evidence against him. The only branch that could sue Geohot is Sony Japan.

#11

Sony claim that Geohot broke the PSN terms of service when he needed to agree to when you sign up, and that is the reason that they are trying to sue him (They just assume that everyone needs to agree to the TOS). Geohot never signed up for a PSN account though, so he never agreed to the TOS meaning that Sony has no base on which to sue him (The TOS contained the stuff about not jail-breaking the console)

#12

That wasn’t relevant, at all.

To compete with the iPod touch, which has killed the original PSP’s market.

#13

I dislike apple more than sony but the ipod still exceeds where the NGP fails more than the PSP series: small size and light weight

#14

It’s a metaphor. Trust me

#15

There’s a reason why Microsoft and Nintendo don’t pursue jailbreakers of their systems and that is becasue neither Microsoft nor Nintendo ran themselves into the ground financially making their systems. the PS3 has always been a subject of negative profits for Sony as it originally costed the company roughly $750.00 per machine and they were selling it for $400.00. Thats not even factoring in the fact that the first year sales were terrible. Do the math lol. Frankly i’m really not surprised that Sony is jumping on any chance to milk some revenue out of a consumer via a law suit.

#16

they were expecting it to sell as well as the PS2 did, and the PS2 is still ahead lol

#17

Sony, in general, is pathetic. I appreciate every way of making Sony’s life a little less comfortable.

#18

Well, i do have to say that during their lifetimes, the PS2 had many more good titles than the Xbox did. When i say better titles, i mean gameplay-/story-wise, not graphics-wise.

#19

Too much hate for Sony here. The guys were finally having a good break after a few years of struggling to get the PS3 to move ahead at good speed and now all this shit happens. Geohot breaks a code he wasn’t supposed to break and now Anon is hacking their shit.

I think this is just unfair for Sony.

#20

A really good point. The same discussion has been with providers who put SIM locks on mobile phones before they send them to customers, and customers who remove those SIM locks.

The bottom line of that whole discussion was, and still is: “Before the provider gives you the phone, they are free to do with it what they want. They can put a SIM lock on it. After they give it to you, you are free to do with it what you want. Which means that if you want to remove the SIM lock or have it removed, that’s fine. It is, after all, your phone.” There are shops in the Netherlands which assist people in removing SIMlocks from phones. I don’t know how it is in the rest of the world, but imagine we’re not unique in that way.

I think the same principle applies to this Sony case. Someone buys a computer from Sony. Whatever they want to do with it, is up to them. They can replace the wiring, hack the software, paint the casing… whatever they want.

Hey, if there can be instructions on the internet on how to build an atomic bomb, I’m sure there can be instructions on how to modify a computer. :slight_smile:

While I’m an advocate of freedom on the internet, and often support the same causes Anonymous does, I find myself disagreeing with the method anonymous uses. Anonymous is fighting for freedom on the internet. They do this by DoS’ing websites; essentially taking away someone’s freedom on the internet. This seems very illogical.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.