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The information sought is part of a jurisdictional argument over whether Sony must sue GeoHot in his home state of New Jersey rather than in San Francisco, where Sony would prefer. Sony argues that if GeoHot accepted monetary donations for the PS3 hack from people residing in Northern California, San Francisco would be a proper venue for the litigation. GeoHot denies he accepted donations, though he did ask for them.
Spero's decision follows sidings with Sony from earlier this month. The judge allowed Sony to obtain the IP addresses of everyone who visited GeoHot's personal website for the past 26 months (since January 2009) as well as the account names of anyone who has accessed a PS3 jailbreak video on the 21-year-old's YouTube account, his tweets relating to the hacking on Twitter, information on people who posted comments to his blog on Blogspot, and information about his account on the PSX-Scene website.
Last month, Sony demanded that Google hand over the identities of those who have viewed or commented about the jailbreak video posted on YouTube. GeoHot posted the video on January 7, later made it private, and then pulled it on a judge's orders.
Sony's legal attacks against the hackers that released the PS3 root key and custom firmware began two months ago. The group known as fail0verflow is accused of posting a rudimentary hack in December 2010 after finding security codes for the PS3. It was refined by GeoHot weeks later when he independently found and published the PS3 root key. The resulting hacks allow homebrew apps and pirated software to run on unmodified consoles. Sony is still threatening to sue anybody posting or distributing PS3 jailbreak code, despite the fact that the company accidentally tweeted the PlayStation 3 security key.
Sony's official stance is if you crack your PS3, you'll get banned. GeoHot meanwhile says "beating them in court is just a start."
User Comments: 53
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WTF Sony chill out!!! IGEOHOT is not the problem
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I'm amazed at all the half-baked comments mostly by some moronic Guest.
If I own a car than it is perfectly in my right to customize it how I see fit and I can share the methods I use freely with anyone I want. If someone uses that knowledge to do bad things then that is their deal.
Plain and simply Geohot is being harassed by a large corporate entity with deep pockets who have lobbied this "lawyer in name only" to terrorize this smart kid. The only purpose of this is to teach us all that the law doesn't matter since big corporations can buy it and do what they like.
**** Sony. Me and all in the know will spread the story and avoid Sony like the plague.
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Should not have posted the info where the scum of society has access. Go ahead and mod your systems, cars, w/e. You do own them after all.
Don't share the root keys with the rest of the world. When one does something that can negatively affect others, and in this case (people who hack or pirate; thus hurting businesses or having an advantage over others), then it crosses the line. Geohotz obviously did not intend for it to happen, but people will use it for nefarious means. Contrary to what you nimrods believe, that is the real problem here.
Like I said, go ahead and mod your systems, nothing wrong with doing that.
And yes, Sony probably would have been better off hiring the guy. Too late for that. Oh well.
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Just another reason to avoid Sony.
Many years ago, I was an ardent fan of Sony and their products and would only buy Sony consumer electronics products. But not any more. A few years ago, Sony did several stupid things in a short period. I can remember only one. They paid a company to drop a half baked silent install rootkit for windows on their music cd's. Ostensibly this was done to prevent end users from making more than one or two copies of their music cds. The rootkit was badly designed and soon exploited by malware authors. The complete disregard for the sanctity of the personal computer was the last straw for me.
Sony are obsessed with anti-piracy. What they fail to realize is people who do pirate games, music, video etc are not necessarily people who would pay for their products if they couldn't get pirated copies. The income loss that they perceive isn't real.
They're like good ol' captain Ahab. I can imagine Sony saying of copyright violators: "...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."
All you can do really is vote with your feet. I have. I don't buy their products. I don't support their signed artists.
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matrix86 said:
I don't understand why they need to get his paypal info? Just because people give him money, doesn't mean they're giving it to him to pay for the hack. Could someone explain the reasoning behind this? Please? Because I really don't get the point of it. I just don't see what accepting money has to do with any of this. They already know what he did and have proof of it.
If he was smart, though, he would do what I do. I NEVER keep money in my paypal account. The only time there is money in there, is just before I buy something. And as soon as someone pays me, I transfer it to my bank account. There is never money in my paypal account for more than a few minutes. Although, I guess I can see a few reasons as to why people would keep money in there. I just think it smarter to put it into your bank account. But that's just me.
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Whenever i read an article regarding this, there's always that someone whining, "I'll never buy Sony again!" and "Sony is part of the NWO!" and crap like that.
News flash: No one cares. At the end of the day, Sony wins.
This kinda reminds me of those people a few years ago, who somehow made the evening news for boycotting Made in China products. With today's economy, I bet you those same people still buy china-made products because some of them couldn't fit their budget to buy the alternative brand.
In this case, it's Sony. Made in Japan. Known to produce quality products. I'm willing to pay slightly higher compare to other brands given my product experience. If i were to stop buying their products, it would be for product related reason, not for their business ethics nor sympathy for this kid.
Let the lawyers and judges sort it out.
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I was considering replacing my dead PS3 but luckily I was able to sell my secondhand games, I used to be a Sony fanboy for all their products before PlayStation even existed. After following this, I'm done with Sony. I do NOT use ripped software and games, but I believe once you buy a product, you OWN it. You should have every right to do with it what you please - let aside stealing games - I mean if you want to (in laymen's terms) jailbreak your electronics - YOU OWN THE DAMN PRODUCT - it's your right to do with it what you please. Again aside from using it to steal games or any other commonsense illegal uses.
BOYCOTT SONY
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neofryboy said:
I still don't understand why people are harping on Sony. Some kid indirectly stole millions of dollars from them through illegal actions. They have a right to be pissed. They have a right to sue.
Are you kidding me?
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And to think, some of that money was for the iPhone Jailbreak, and some of it is donations for his lawyers fees.
On his website, he mentions that he accepts donations for this legal fees, and to help with court costs, and now, Sony has gotten that information too, and perhaps freezing his lawyer funds.
Another installment of Corporations screwing over the average citizen.
I support his cause, we as law abiding citizens whom buy & own something, have the right to modify as we see fit, until we cross some illegal line.
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There is not one single thing of SONY in my house and there never will be.....
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i think letting someone else accessing your paypal account is very offensive. why dont sony access geohot's facebook and twitter account as well? geez
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Lets see Sony trying to sell electronics when it is clearly apearent that they do no follow FCC, CE, Underwriters Labratories and Electronics&Computing Safety standards.
And what the heck is up with all the astroturfing by Sony here?
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I wonder what would happen if i posted up the source codes for gaystation 3.... stay tuned for more at 11
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war59312 said:
I hope he sues the court and Sony on constitutional grounds via Fourth Amendment.
He has a 100% expectation of privacy when it comes to his paypal account.
Those who break laws have no entitlement to those laws.
Of course, if he isn't found guilty, then he will sue like nothing else.
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stewi0001 said:
If you make the guy go bankrupt, what good will that do? I don't know the guy or everything he did but a big company sucking him dry will only cause anger and mostlike the want for revenge. So what I see this could end up leading to is that sony might win the war in the court but any hackers that are sympathetic to him, well I hope you get the idea.
Also what do they have to gain from him? A couple grand? SONY just hire the guy already, it's what the US government tends to do! XD
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StaffOmnislip said:
Those who break laws have no entitlement to those laws.
Of course, if he isn't found guilty, then he will sue like nothing else.
Yes, I find "innocent until proven guilty" rather inconvenient too.
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matrix86 said:
I don't understand why they need to get his paypal info? Just because people give him money, doesn't mean they're giving it to him to pay for the hack. Could someone explain the reasoning behind this? Please? Because I really don't get the point of it. I just don't see what accepting money has to do with any of this. They already know what he did and have proof of it.
If he was smart, though, he would do what I do. I NEVER keep money in my paypal account. The only time there is money in there, is just before I buy something. And as soon as someone pays me, I transfer it to my bank account. There is never money in my paypal account for more than a few minutes. Although, I guess I can see a few reasons as to why people would keep money in there. I just think it smarter to put it into your bank account. But that's just me.
If I sell a corporate secret (and then brag about it on the internet like a douche) the judge can give that corporation the right to take back the money as a small part of damages. The lawyers are stil building the case and a subpoena to see how much money he's made at Sony's expense is part of this case.
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Guest said:
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Another installment of Corporations screwing over the average citizen.
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How is GeoHot an average citizen? I think that's the problem with you George sympathizers. You keep comparing yourselves to him. How many people in the world could do something like this? More than a few less than 100? But they had some form of understanding that the problem with the world is not Sony or Microsoft. And now they aren't being sued for malicious acts.
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Can't wait until they migrate from suing to launching ICBM missile strikes at homes of individuals attempting to get undeserved publicity.
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From the amount of clueless comments in here it sounds like half of you don't even know what jail breaking is.
And then that next guy he stole millions from sony what????
Whatever it is your smoking can I have some?
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At one point in time I was a fan of Sony too. The PS2...oh boy. The best at the time. But then things went down hill with the high price tag of the PS3 and the PSPgo. Now with this huge anti-piracy mess, I think they need to revamp their gaming business model or get out of the game and stick to making TVs and Blu Ray players.
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matrix86 said:neofryboy said:
If I sell a corporate secret (and then brag about it on the internet like a douche) the judge can give that corporation the right to take back the money as a small part of damages. The lawyers are stil building the case and a subpoena to see how much money he's made at Sony's expense is part of this case.
Yeah, but GeoHot didn't sell the hack. He freely distributed it. All the money he's received has been from people donating to help pay for his lawyer. How can you freeze someone's account when they didn't charge anything for the hack? He has made no money off of this. The donations are going right from his paypal account to his lawyer's fat wallets and court fees. And even if he does make money from this, it's not from the hack itself. So I still understand how they can do this. The guy didn't charge people for the hack.
What Sony should do (and i'm not endorsing this, just saying what I would do if I were them) is find out how many systems were hacked, how much money has been lost, and then sue GeoHot for that amount, plus sue the people who used the hack. His paypal account just has nothing to do with distributing the hack.
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Yeah, but GeoHot didn't sell the hack. He freely distributed it. All the money he's received has been from people donating to help pay for his lawyer. How can you freeze someone's account when they didn't charge anything for the hack? He has made no money off of this. The donations are going right from his paypal account to his lawyer's fat wallets and court fees. And even if he does make money from this, it's not from the hack itself. So I still understand how they can do this. The guy didn't charge people for the hack.
What Sony should do (and i'm not endorsing this, just saying what I would do if I were them) is find out how many systems were hacked, how much money has been lost, and then sue GeoHot for that amount, plus sue the people who used the hack. His paypal account just has nothing to do with distributing the hack.
He didn't have to directly sell it to make money.
There is a lot of money mixed in with his paypal account. The judge is not giving Sony any of this money. Sony is ITEMIZING his income and determining how much if anything (and you can guarantee he has made money on the hack) he has made on this. The lawyer donations and the jailbreak donations are separate from the hack donations.
The big issue is, Sony needs to prove he did this maliciously. If he made a hefty sum after releasing the iphone jailbreak and the same after releasing the hack to youtube that could make him look bad. It looks like he thought, "I made a ton on this iphone thing. I could probably make way more off of screwing Sony."
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n/m No need for reply..
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omegafate said:
i personally think that sony needs to grow up and join with nintendo and microsoft shit they have pretty much giving up on stopping the "hackers". i mean oooo wow they are going to ban people for "hacking" or "jail breaking" there consoles.there are many vpns and so on for console game play which can be routed through.
besides u cant tell me the judge isnt getting pay offs and so on to side with sony. hell even geohot him self stated on AOTS (attack of the show) that the "hack" only enables his programing, which in turn only allows homebrew games and such, and does not allow pirated games,unlike other "hacks". if your wanting to attack someone attack the people who are allowing pirated games
logistics people!!!!!!
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