GeoHot asks for donations to fight Sony’s PS3 hacking lawsuit

[borkbork]

Richy2k9 said:
yeah it's me, anti-hacking, anti-piracy, anti-stupidity ... & all i can see that this site isn't what it used to be, with some exception, a lot have gone the wrong side of the road & think they are defending THEIR rights while being totally biased by THEIR immoral taste.

First of all here you are saying you are "anti-stupidity". Yet you have guts to say that people who don't share your point of view are immoral and "totally biased". Maybe you could start using those anti-stupidity methods to improve yourself before posting such crap.

Richy2k9 said:
1st - GeoHot did something wrong to some...

2nd - If he wanted this so bad, he could have kept it for himself, not release to the public, to this he's as stupid man as he may be intelligent hacker.

3rd - STOP IT with i buy it, i OWN it...

Apparently because you don't seem to know: PS3 used to include Other OS option. It was one of the reasons why I bought the machine. This option was removed from the device. Now I do not claim to own the technology, but you can't really claim, that after I buy something the manufacturer has all the rights to remove valuable features from the device. You would prolly go all out nerd-rage if after buying a box of M&Ms the sales person comes to you and decides to remove all the blue colored ones.

George didn't do anything wrong. He's defending our rights to have access to those features we have already paid.

Richy2k9 said:
4th - I see a lot of hypocrite, well SONY, like any other big business is E.V.I.L,..

I think it's pretty evil to sue someone over few lines of base16, threaten everyone posting the said strings and trying to force Google to hand over the private information of those persons.

Richy2k9 said:
NO ONE OWNS anything, we are here to live our life by doing the less bad things towards others, if you don't understand this, i don't feel like you will ever understand anything, so flame me & show how pathetic you are.

So you're basically arguing that everyone who doesn't share you point of view is not just immoral and hypocrite (as stated above) but also pathetic. What a funny anti-stupidity person you are. Megainternets to you sir!

Richy2k9 said:
Anyone who donated to this guy, really should learn what are priorities ... even if i had that much money to waste, i wouldn't send a penny to him, he's getting what he deserves, i don't want him to be imprisoned or going broke... Again in my part of the world, we do make donations to help, not far than this morning was touched by our solidarity to help a 7 year old kid, he's got leukemia & being treated in India..

to this, please do yourself a favor, do think about all this & when you will be the one being exploited by future GeoHot look-alike, come & say that he is right.

People do have priorities. Some people also can afford supporting more than just one good cause, for example donating money to both: cancer research and to support the unjust claims of Sony against the George Hotz.

Other than that your argument is pretty lame: throwing in a touching story about a cancer patient in India to draw attention from the point that your only argument was that the money given to someone is away from the someone else. And the context of this article was?

 

[Sarcasm]

ramonsterns said:
Sony and their overpriced **** need to burn.

Apple and their overpriced **** need to burn.

*fixed*

Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with this topic.

Anyway, I don't get how some of you can justify Geohot's actions. Regardless of what he's trying to claim (especially on top of his ridiculously immature rap video), the guy is responsible for opening up the can of worms of piracy on the PS3.

All you guys keep saying "but but but its so that you can actually own your device!" well guess what, the PS3 was meant to play games, movies and whatever else it was designed for, not for you tinker with. If you did decide to tinker with it, fine, that's your decision. But to open the doors for hacking (which has completely made games like Modern Warfare 1 and 2 unplayable FOR EVERYONE ELSE) is just completely f***ed up and irresponsible.

 

[Sarcasm]

Richy2k9 said:

4th - I see a lot of hypocrite, well SONY, like any other big business is E.V.I.L, because all they want is make money, so what is the purpose of making business according to you !? Big corporates are made up with humans, some rich, some not that much, they bring jobs, they create stuffs we like, without them what would life be ? If you don't support a product, don't say it's bad, just state your taste & don't mix-up with opinion, for an opinion to exist must also have a wide acceptance.

I'm with you on this. Why is it such a bad thing for a company to protect their rights? Everybody keeps forgetting that those Evil soul sucking corporations employ thousands of jobs. Imagine if these companies cant stay afloat, guess what, more layoffs to an already crappy global economy. You dumb ****s don't think outside of the box and automatically point fingers. If every single corporation in the entire world doesn't exist, guess what? We might as well give up everything and be back in the stone ages.

 

[Archean]

The guy should fry for what he did. If he was such "an advocate against mass piracy" he would have just implemented the key into his software, or submit it to Sony for distribution on the PSN and could have at least been making some money, but no, he had to give the key to every hacker out there to ruin online gaming forever. He didn't even consider the consequences or how he would defend himself. Now he hopes there are enough hackers out there to thank him by donating.

To put it politely, these are very in-considerate comments. Do you think Sony going after him will stop others ? I do not and next time they will not even know who hit them as a result of this case. Remember, no software no matter how much their maker 'tout it to be safest' is actually safe and it never will be.

He could have posted the information anonymously and nobody would be the wiser. If you want credit for what you have done, you'll have to accept the consequences.

Couldn't agree with you more, I think his eagerness to claim the credit of doing this is costing him dearly.

 

[yRaz]

I'm seeing a lot of dumb comments on this article... I don't know who wants to pay for something they don't own. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I like to own things I pay for. I'm very confused as to how anyone can defend sony in saying, "you pay for this but we still own it."

The courts already see jailbreaking as legal, nuff said. Only a matter of time before the same is said for the PS3. Geo will get some enormous fine and maybe some jail time. Sony will ruin his life because he did something that will most likely be legal when all this is said and done with anyway.

 

[cwo715]

ANONYMOUS really needs to bring down the SCEA servers maybe leak some confidential information through wiki leaks or what not, just to show a point that we're not to be fuh with. Seriously, this is a common case of Big Business vs. Consumer, Sony in turn is damaging there image. I'm a 360 fan but I do own a PS3, mainly for blu-ray purposes.

Anyways, sent over 40 bucks

 

[cwo715]

Richy2k9 said:
Anyone who donated to this guy, really should learn what are priorities ... even if i had that much money to waste, i wouldn't send a penny to him, he's getting what he deserves, i don't want him to be imprisoned or going broke... Again in my part of the world, we do make donations to help, not far than this morning was touched by our solidarity to help a 7 year old kid, he's got leukemia & being treated in India..

I sorry im not a bad person as if i had the extra money or a ton of money to piss away, i wouldnt send it to a kid who has leukemia esp. in india. no offense or anything but my priorities are paying off bills and living, than sending 50 bucks to akhmad over in india. I'm not attacking you i'm just setting my priorities straight, and supporting fellow tech. As far as buying something and "owning", Microsoft had done this same thing with modded 360 consoles and guess what, it was thrown out in court (http://www.techeye.net/security/prosecutors-drop-xbox-mod-case).

 

[Darkshadoe]

Like I said before, I can't wait till other companies adopt this "you don't own it" business model.

 

[taimuraly]

Whats with the the crying about the "PS3 removed the OS so this is why this happened blah blah blah"
The linux feature was barely used by most PS3 users. I agree that we had the feature and now we don't but this doesn't effect what the PS3 was made to do. It was made to play games and most people bought it for that reason. Don't think "people" bought it just for linux and saw the gaming as a plus. Even when the extra OS feature was there, linux didn't actually wow anyone, it was mostly seen as an experiment.
The feature wasn't removed but was made an update. We could choose if we wanted to keep the feature but this than meant not being able to use most of the other features. True it was more like an ultimatum rather than an alternative but for the people who wanted to keep linux they could. I didn't update my PS3 and kept the feature for 4 years (60GB PS3)

Sony say they removed the feature cause of security issues but we know that they removed it because they saw it as a back door for piracy. Well GeoHot went through the front door and screwed them which is why they are so pissed. If only he had worked on with other devs and used his code to bring back linux on the PS3 rather than just posting it. Sure it could have had been reversed coded and then made open but at least it would have added some credibility to him.

Also just wanted to add that having more posts then some else doesn't mean that more posts equal more credibility and better opinion. Forums are where all of can share our perspectives.

 

[princeton]

Taimuraly said:
Whats with the the crying about the "PS3 removed the OS so this is why this happened blah blah blah"
The linux feature was barely used by most PS3 users. I agree that we had the feature and now we don't but this doesn't effect what the PS3 was made to do. It was made to play games and most people bought it for that reason. Don't think "people" bought it just for linux and saw the gaming as a plus. Even when the extra OS feature was there, linux didn't actually wow anyone, it was mostly seen as an experiment.
The feature wasn't removed but was made an update. We could choose if we wanted to keep the feature but this than meant not being able to use most of the other features. True it was more like an ultimatum rather than an alternative but for the people who wanted to keep linux they could. I didn't update my PS3 and kept the feature for 4 years (60GB PS3)

Sony say they removed the feature cause of security issues but we know that they removed it because they saw it as a back door for piracy. Well GeoHot went through the front door and screwed them which is why they are so pissed. If only he had worked on with other devs and used his code to bring back linux on the PS3 rather than just posting it. Sure it could have had been reversed coded and then made open but at least it would have added some credibility to him.

Also just wanted to add that having more posts then some else doesn't mean that more posts equal more credibility and better opinion. Forums are where all of can share our perspectives.

You realize that when sony removed the feature they broke laws in over twenty countries right? If refusing the update bars you from playing online then you still have to lose a feature of the console. That's a crime. You own the hardware that you paid for and jailbreaking is perfectly legal.

NO ONE OWNS anything

MS already tried that argument. It got thrown out of the courts. Don't make claims without research.

 

[Archean]

You own the hardware that you paid for and jailbreaking is perfectly legal.

Problem is most fanboys and mouthpieces for the likes of sony just don't realize this.

 

[jsv004]

I agree in the fact the we own the HARDWARE, but people forget that we don't own allot of the software out there, they're only licensed to us. The "OtherOS" the only 3-5 people in the world are whining about that they own is a software, something sony or any other company for that matter can do what ever they want since they actually own it and you only have permission to use it. If a cable or a controller was taken away any physical hardware was removed then I would understand all this rage this kids are having.

 

[biggabarr]

I think those who can help should help this guy, if sony has a prob with what he has done then pay him for being smarter than them

 

[yRaz]

jsv004 said:
I agree in the fact the we own the HARDWARE, but people forget that we don't own allot of the software out there, they're only licensed to us. The "OtherOS" the only 3-5 people in the world are whining about that they own is a software, something sony or any other company for that matter can do what ever they want since they actually own it and you only have permission to use it. If a cable or a controller was taken away any physical hardware was removed then I would understand all this rage this kids are having.

as of today ~20 million PS3's have been sold. 20m * .05 = 1,000,000 people. each console sold at $300 would be $300m(not profit). That is a good bit of money, just saying... That is a large enough group to make it worth having that feature.

 

[pgbsamurai]

Looks like he reached his fund raising goal in about 18 hours.

 

[zillion]

humans are like this.....
...if we have it, we dont really care!
...if u give it to us, we might enjoy it...or not!
...But if u take it away from us, hell will be unleashed upon u all!

The discussion about we own or dont own the things we buy are abit hard to judge, because as one guy said was basicly "there are things we own and can do as u want with, like a car....u can do anything u would wish to do with a car and ford, audi, mercedes etc wouldnt give a rats-***" and then there are actually things that are protected by copyrights, so lets say u would want to paint your ps3, im quite sure sony wouldnt give a rats-*** about that because to that extend u DO own the hardware u bought, but the technology and the whole concept isnt what u paid for i would imagine that would take alot more then a few $$$ and some of u might think it is yours to command, but if u had a great idea and started a small firm thinking u hit the goldengate and then 2 days after the launch a kid posted online for everyone to see, the essence of your dreams.....how would that make u feel?

It is no different if its a big company harvesting billions of $ or a 1 man show fighting for survival, i asume most of us can agree that if u happend to have something millions would want then there are millions trying to ruin it for u, and buy ruin it i mean either selling u out for nothing or even try to steal your idea, thats why we invented copyrights. So on the matter of what Geo did is right or wrong, i wont be the judge but i still feel he wanted something sony have/had and he didnt...

 

[webgovernor]

I've donated as well. I too was very upset about the removal of the OtherOS option. I was still able to sell my PS3 back at only $100 loss, but the idea that they can change features irritates me. If I purchase a car, and the dealer decided to remove something after I paid for it (even if it's minor, like door guards) I'd be really pissed off... especially if I had to "hack" the thing to get new door guards. Sure, most people don't care about that particular feature, but how does that give them a right to remove, especially when it was a selling point?

I'm fully on the side of GeoHot. I've donated what I can afford (even though donations are closed for the time being, he seems to have earned enough).

I think those who are arguing against GeoHot fail to realize the impact that this case has on the consumer. By hacking the Ps3, the consumer only gained options, and no harm was done to them.

 

[webgovernor]

jsv004 said:
I agree in the fact the we own the HARDWARE, but people forget that we don't own allot of the software out there, they're only licensed to us. The "OtherOS" the only 3-5 people in the world are whining about that they own is a software, something sony or any other company for that matter can do what ever they want since they actually own it and you only have permission to use it. If a cable or a controller was taken away any physical hardware was removed then I would understand all this rage this kids are having.

Just because you're too, say, stupid to understand the complexities or desires of "tinkering" with a device that you've paid for, doesn't give you the right to harass the "3-5" people who are more intelligent than you. For example, to many of us, modding a game is far more fun than playing it, which is why many games provide the option for modding. The average person is a little too "slow" to even handle modding, let alone desire it. How does the "OtherOS" option hurt you? Why do you care that we purchased a PS3 primarily for this option?

 

[princeton]

Problem is most fanboys and mouthpieces for the likes of sony just don't realize this.

Totally. The thing is these people go around saying that stuff expecting people to just think it's true without researching it.

Looks like he reached his fund raising goal in about 18 hours.

I'm glad. If he comes out on top it'll be a huge blow to Sony.

 

[BMfan]

After reading most of these comments i'm even more confused than normal,alot of people are happy to give money to someone who opens the door on allowing a console to play pirated games yet when Techspot downloads a leaked early copy of crysis then most people are upset with Techspot.

Since the judges in Spain say jail breaking is legal then all torrents sites should move to Spain.

 

[jsv004]

webgovernor said:

jsv004 said:
I agree in the fact the we own the HARDWARE, but people forget that we don't own allot of the software out there, they're only licensed to us. The "OtherOS" the only 3-5 people in the world are whining about that they own is a software, something sony or any other company for that matter can do what ever they want since they actually own it and you only have permission to use it. If a cable or a controller was taken away any physical hardware was removed then I would understand all this rage this kids are having.

Just because you're too, say, stupid to understand the complexities or desires of "tinkering" with a device that you've paid for, doesn't give you the right to harass the "3-5" people who are more intelligent than you. For example, to many of us, modding a game is far more fun than playing it, which is why many games provide the option for modding. The average person is a little too "slow" to even handle modding, let alone desire it. How does the "OtherOS" option hurt you? Why do you care that we purchased a PS3 primarily for this option?

I don't really care why you purchased your console for, and not gonna argue with you about what I can mod as you don't know me personally. I'm a PC gamer and enjoy modded games and have my share of experience modding things. But people like you is hard to have a good mature debate since you're too stupid to see reality or respect opinions.

Anyway, I enjoy the creativity that people have brought into the PC gaming world on modded games, I have no problems with that and enjoy doing myself from time to time, but when you use your talents to open the door for people to hack online games to ruin the fun of others then I have a problem with.

yRaz said:
as of today ~20 million PS3's have been sold. 20m * .05 = 1,000,000 people. each console sold at $300 would be $300m(not profit). That is a good bit of money, just saying... That is a large enough group to make it worth having that feature.

True, and I'm sure if that number grows they might consider it, as with any product if the demand is there it'll be available, if not for the PS3 maybe for the PS4. They'll have to think of a way to counter the malicious stuff people will use it for first though.

 

[krayzie]

no 1 came to my aid when i got busted with that little baggie....

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

WOW, i got flamed, well there's always a first time ..

OK, @ borkbork :

sorry if i hurt your feelings or whatever, i may not express myself clearly sometimes but i never said i'm anti-stupidity to target anyone but who takes it for granted, in fact i was describing my usual style of post & here i do mean that sometimes some actions look stupid, like SONY suing a hacker in the 1st place, or sometimes against some statements made by some people, those knowing me, knows what i'm talking about!

I Own a 20Gb PS3 upgraded with bigger HDD, so yes i know what's having otherOS/PS2 BC & not having it, it was a pain when removed, but it was never my main machine for this & for million others & if you don't know it is because GeoHot was fiddling with it & started to post everything on the net, SONY did counter-attack then legally, well wasn't long after they removed that 'valuable' feature so many can't live without. If you knew me, you would have known how i expressed myself on such issues in the past, won't repeat sorry.

No GeoHot isn't defending our own rights, he's trying to cover his own mistake of doing something wrong/illegal that allows immoral things to happen, by acting like a victim, in this case, SONY & the legit PS3 owners are the victims! I know other hackers who could have hacked the console way before him, but they never needed to show off & all i can say is that everything can be traced on the net, don't believe in everything about internet anonimity, i know.

Your M&Ms analogy is funny .. liked it, agreed with it & the 'stupid' reason SONY removed the otherOS. I agree a lot are really mad about SONY, but don't forget that most are also hypocrites in their statements in this field, not accepting this would make anyone look biased.

I never said my point of view is the good 1, i said there's a difference between opinion & belief & taste, go read again, this time please do take more time reading whole paragraphs & sentences. yes, sorry for the 1st time i did 'directly criticize' anyone who would flame me & you did, still you took your time, so my apologies, you are not a lame pathetic person, but you didn't get all points & like many pathetic ones you don't really see things as is, Geohot started it all & SONY wrongly responded & it's causing harm to us, the owners, while thieves (pirates here) & great homebrewers are feasting on our soul...

I know people can & do support several causes, i wasn't using a fake story about a little boy in India, but a little Mauritian that had to be urgently sent to India for treatment & to this, i feel like i could sell millions of dollars to save him & all other people in such situations than support someone who claims to be intelligent but fails by doing something that would get him in trouble ...


END of reply to Mr borkbork !!! Thank you for reading S& sorry again for long post.

thank you sarcasm @ least you did read the whole paragraph & understood me.

@ cwo715 .. i'm not talking about someone's priorities but in this context & read above for what i really meant. the Xbox360 was directly & physically modded & MS did ban all machines, SONY is doing same, you will do the same if / when you'll be in the same place.

to everyone saying i OWN what i paid for, you really need to read the concept part, doesn't matter how you see things, it's like that & you will bind to it when you are an artist / a developper or publisher.

Taimuraly / zillion - a agree with you, PS3 is a console, PC is for everything else, you OWN the physical end product & the 'droit de jouissance / usufruit' but not the technology / concept & whatever driving it. GeoHot caused the otherOS to be removed, he's not Robin Hood!


I'm no fanboy, jailbreaking may be legal for phones, not yet for consoles, Linux on PS3 wasn't that great, OK it's a powerful piece of hardware but hey you could have bought two & have 1 with & 1 without Linux, a PC remains the best for this ... i sure hope GeoHot gets the lesson & some of you really need to become an artist, it's all i'm wishing you.

cheers!

 

[matrix86]

Princeton said:
One member with 4 posts agrees with a member with 5 posts. Who are we to argue with such well known and respected members of the techspot community?

Sorry to deviate, but what does post count have to do with anything? We could have a 57 year old genius join the forums, and ignore him because he only has 3 post counts? I've been on forms where members had five figure post counts, and sh*t was the only things that came out of their mouths. Don't rag on someone simply because of their post count. It has nothing to do with how smart or dumb they are...that's mostly relied on by the age of the person and how much they've experienced in life.

Ok, continue to argue about GeHot and Sony. Just thought I should point that out

 

[taimuraly]

You realize that when sony removed the feature they broke laws in over twenty countries right? If refusing the update bars you from playing online then you still have to lose a feature of the console. That's a crime. You own the hardware that you paid for and jailbreaking is perfectly legal.

Hi, thanks for replying to my post. I don’t believe jail-breaking is legal, I think that only jail-breaking the iPhone was made legal by the courts.
As for not allowing us to play on our PS3 when we didn't update, that adds to my point as the PS3 was made for gaming not for installing an additional OS. By installing the update, which added a security patch and added to our overall playing experience, you in turn removed a non-essential part which didn't affect your gaming experience.