News Sony to track Geohot website users

The subtitle of this newspost is taken out of context.

Sony doesn't want the IP addresses so that they can ban anyone who watched his videos or frequented his sites. The want them so that they can determine

"how rampant the access to and use of these circumvention devices has been in California in order to rebut Mr. Hotz's suggestion that his illicit conduct was not aimed at the forum state."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/05/geohot_visitors_unmasked/

It appears they are trying to make this a federal case as opposed to one soley based in New Jersey (where hotz lives). to do this they need to show how far reaching hotz info goes.

 

Sony have been trodden on by so many people in the industry it has led them to take out their angst on the consumer.

 

The only thing that has come out of this is that Geohot has become even more known and famous! Way to go to silence him Sony, nice work!

They shouldnt have done anything! Most people wouldnt even know that it is possible to play pirated games then!

 

The most interesting thing about this decision, IMO, is that it shows just how out of touch with technology and the internet most courts and judges are.

Looking at it properly, a judge just gave a corporation the right to spy on millions of private citizens who have not broken any law. Let's be straight, it's the equivalent of Abbey National being given the details of everyone who watched a TV news report that showed CCTV footage of their bank being robbed.

Sony has no reasonable grounds for a civil or criminal case against any of the people that watched the video. And yet a judge has given them access to information that could identify those people. By doing so s/he has shown so little understanding of the modern world and the rights of the individual it is simply astounding. And deeply worrying.

As for the whole Sony vs Geohot case it is a case of a rich corporation looking to win by financial attrition. By ensuring the case is heard thousands of miles away from where Geohot lives they hope to add massively to his legal bills. It's not a new strategy to win by default through ensuring the other party can't afford to stay in the game. The very fact they seem so determined to do so says a lot about their actual belief in their chances of winning - if they were sure they would win they'd be happy to fight in any court and they'd be looking to do it as soon as possible.

However, the underhand tactics may backfire on them. Geohot recently opened a legal fund so people could donate. He closed it only a few days later because he had enough for the time being. The short timespan suggests that there are enough people willing to donate that Sony will never be able to out spend this defendant.

All in all I think that if Sony continues down this road they will end up losing far more money from the damage they do to their own reputation than they ever would have lost from a few pirates.

 

Solution:

-everyone- here, if you don't own a PS3, goes to the site and registers for the software, downloads it, views the video...

...that'll keep them amused for a while.

P

 

coreactually it seems they gave sony complete accses to youtube logs which means millions and millions of people's viewing habits

this is going too far, courts shoudlnt have the power to force soemone like google to reveal information on every person from many differnet countries

 

so I shall download it at a public location then lol.

Also this just seems like a huge invasion of like personal rights, in terms of privacy but hey whats privacy anymore with the invention of the internet lol.

 

Indeed, the amount of personal information Sony has been given access to is breathtaking.

I have a PS3 and I have no intention of jailbreaking it simply because I have no use or time for homebrew (and as for piracy, I just wait until the game is less than a tenner, so there is little point). But Sony's over reaction has got me very interested in what is going on and now I tend to keep a weather eye on the latest jailbreaking news.

The impression I get is that while some hackers are frightened of Sony, others are reacting like
angry wasps.

I'm not entirely sure what Sony hopes to achieve here. The lawsuits and legal threats (even police raids) may make the homebrew community take a step back for a little while but do they really think it's going to stop the pirates? Your typical home pirate already knows s/he is breaking the law so Geohot being sued or a PSN ban is going to make no difference to their decision to play MW3 for nothing. And as for the hackers that make piracy possible, it is big business for some. A law suit or ten is going to make no difference to them when there is cash to be made. And once the hacks are created, controlling them on the internet is like trying to hold water in a sieve.

A thousand years ago King Cnut had the kind of wisdom that Sony seems to lack.

 

Hah, I totally forgot to comment on the original story! But I can put it rather simply as a response to your above quote: totally, effing, yes. You buy it, you own it.

Sony are *******s for doing what they're doing - but this is the same company that put a rootkit on an audio CD so yeah, what did we expect from them?

 

+rep again,

Sony seriously need to grow up and realise they can't stop it, and should spend the R&D money on new products

 

I careless BIG time! $ony can ban me all they want, I never access that online-crap thing at all. ;-)

 

1) Geo's shows the way.
2) $ony cries a lot and try to scared us with that scare-media tentative.
3) Arrrrr appear on PS3 and enjoy the world.
4) ??????????
5) PROFIT!

 

Has there ever been a list released that states which SB chips have this "anti-theft technology in the vPro-equipped chips?" What is vPro and is it a "feature" found in all of their processors?

 

So does this mean we can sue them for installing root kits on our PCs without our knowledge? I know thats old..but its more wrong than what they are currently whineing about.

Also I foresee people using proxies..or a pen drive at their local Library.

 

The idea that IP addresses identify actual users is a fallacy that has been accepted by ignorant (in the true sense of the word) courts for far too long. Only now is that assumption starting to be challenged.

It is a sad endorsement of our legal and political system to say that the vast majority of those in powerful positions don't understand the technology and have little desire to do so, despite their role in policing it. It sometimes seems that there are those who remain deliberately ignorant. Dare I suggest that it is often in their financial interest to be that way when there are such rich vested interest groups looking to grease the wheels of government? After all, it's harder to take an all expenses paid "fact finding" trip or a political donation from someone who you know is lying. Better to remain blissfully ignorant.

(Yes, I AM cynical about government and the political process. But can anyone prove I shouldn't be?)

 

I'm on Sony's side, if any side. I've used my PS3 exactly as intended and loved it and never needed anything more.

About the chipet flaw? Seen so much misunderstanding over that that I can't even laugh at jokes about it anymore.

A fellow cynic here, cynical of popular cynicism. Take your comfortable first world lifestyle and all of the laws which routinely save your ass from anarchy as proof.

This is why I say "if any" above. Are they over-reacting? Maybe. Does it have any impact on me as a non-jailbroken PS3 owner? Not at all. The anti-cynicist cynic speaking again, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people making such a fuss don't even own a jail-broken PS3 and are simply zealous crusaders out to protect our fundamental civil rights: Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Video Games to counter Sony's money-driven zeal (Capitalism, ho!).

 

http://www.intel.com/technology/vpro/
5 seconds of teh google will save one's life one day..

 

Other then bad press I'm not really sure what Sony are trying to achieve. I don't really care that they are fighting the unwinnable war, but I question if it's good business sense for them to do so and worth the investment.

 

If Sony hadn't of removed the "Other OS" feature then this hack would never have been needed. They created the problem in the first place by pissing off the hackers.

As for tracking IP's just use a proxy or VPN, it's childs play theses days.....

 

sony has every right to ban people who have jailbroken their ps3 from accessing sony servers/networks. they make it clear in the terms and conditions that if you modify your ps3 software in anyway, then they will remove access to sony services.

it's the same old, i'll sign a contract or agree to t&c's then bitch like hell when i break the contract/t&c's and get screwed.