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Manhunt 2 leaker discovered to be Sony employee

By Justin Mann

On October 22, 2007, 9:27 PM

Behind every leak there is a source. Whether it Windows source code or unreleased games, there is always that small sect of people who seem to get their hands on things before anyone else. Usually, the leaker stays anonymous. In this day and age, however, when release dates and IP are such huge issues, companies will go to great lengths to find who let something slip.

A great example today is Manhunt 2. While some thought it was an enterprising hacker, the truth of the matter is far less interesting. As it turns out, an employee working for Sony in Europe got his hands on an uncensored beta version of the game and began torrenting it. According to the article, said employee has already been fired – not surprising at all, if indeed they were the source of the leak:

"Take-Two Interactive has confirmed that a former employee of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has acknowledged his responsibility for the unauthorized online distribution of an unrated play-test version of Manhunt 2 submitted for the European PAL Playstation 2 computer entertainment system."
Good? Bad? I don't think it is either, in this case. Software being leaked is pretty much an inevitability in just about all development, and obviously with a game of such hot contention (Such as with the controversy in the U.K.) it is going to be very tempting to be a bootlegger. I wonder, however, if this will prompt Sony to apologize.

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  1. I have no idea why anyone would think this is a surprise. Obviously leaked games, code, movies, etc comes from someone inside nine times out of ten. No - nine hundred and ninety nine times out of a thousand, more like. What did you guys all think - that there is like some invincible army of hackers out there who can get in and out of everything as they please? Get real, these things are inside jobs.Its the same with crime too. Most bank jobs, etc are done by people on the inside or who were once inside.I often shake my head when some employer treats a good technical person badly - what do you want, them using their intimate knowledge of your systems against you? Its not hard to do. If you have worked somewhere then you often have everything you need to exploit that place when the time comes.[Edited by phantasm66 on 2007-10-23 07:26:36]

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