Sony to Get PS3 Hacker’s PayPal Records

[HardOCP News]

Uh oh, that PS3 hacker guy could be in for a world of hurt now that Sony has the blessing of the courts to raid his PayPal records. Thanks to MrSteel74 for the linkage.

The latest development allows the Japanese console maker to acquire “documents sufficientto identify the source of funds (.pdf) in California that went into any PayPal account associated with [email protected] for the period of January 1, 2009, to February 1, 2011,” Spero ruled. Regarding the PayPal account, Sony claims Hotz has accepted monetary donations for the hack from people residing in Northern California — an argument that, if true, might make San Francisco a proper venue for the litigation.

 

[Shalafi]

Damn, I was just reading this and about to email you the story!!!

Yeah, that sounds like bullshit. What right do they have to that? It sounds like bullshit to me that they can do that legally, even if it is legal.

 

[xxEIEIOxx]

I don't know what to say beyond the fact that every time I hear their name I dislike them more.

 

[Methadras]

How will they be able to prove it if they voluntarily sent him money or donations toward that effort. If he didn't ask for it, then I don't think it's illegal.

 

[bucket]

Is this the guy that re-enabled the "install other OS option" the PS3 used to have in the first place? Why does Sony have such a hard-on for this guy and anyone involved with him?

Jesus.

 

[DeathPrincess]

How will they be able to prove it if they voluntarily sent him money or donations toward that effort. If he didn't ask for it, then I don't think it's illegal.

Did he put up a huge "help me pay for my defence donate monies here" page?

(original thread on [H] containing the text and link)

Pretty much;

Donations here are for legal defense ONLY
I checked with my lawyers before setting this up
If you have another substantial way to donate aside from money, let me know

So basically he hired idiot lawyers.

 

[nobody_here]

i am beginning to get the feeling someone from [H] is his legal counsel......

 

[DeathPrincess]

Forgot link! Here.

 

[tubular]

I really really really hope sony goes down in flames on this one, but either way I will continue to boycott all sony products as I have been doing for years...

 

[Ualdayan]

I don't know what to say beyond the fact that every time I hear their name I dislike them more.

At this point it doesn't seem like a judge is needed. He just stamps a mark of approval on whatever Sony's lawyers ask for. You want all the visitors to his site? Sure, here you go. You want his site taken down? Sure, here you go. You want all Paypal records of his? Sure, here you go. You want to know who viewed his Youtube videos? Sure, here you go. The judge is doing nothing but eating up tax payer money, and he is rather pointless if he's just going to OK any and everything that Sony asks for.

 

[DeathPrincess]

Is this the guy that re-enabled the "install other OS option" the PS3 used to have in the first place? Why does Sony have such a hard-on for this guy and anyone involved with him?

Jesus.

It was disabled because of another group enabling "back-ups" to be played. Then along came another group to enable it to play linux distros.

But seriously, if he hadn't been a total moron from begining to end he could have avoided all of this. He spends every second blowing his own trumpet and opening his big mouth trying to gain publicity for himself and then gets in trouble. Opens his mouth off more about how he's being repressed, more attention whoring, yet somehow he got caught him . And then they use his big stupid mouth to get him. He could have kept it small time and allowed the tiny numbers of linux users the ability to use it with minimal fuss. But no, he has to blast off his mouth and get the security on the device inreased to the annoyance of everyone. Whats the first rule of haxor club?

If you walked up to a table and stole a glass, probably noone would care. If you walked up, stole a glass and then made videos about how theyd have to shoot you to stop stealing glass, told everyone in the world you did it and shouted the place down, you might get in trouble. Agree with him or not, he's an idiot and has dug himself a grave.

 

[BloodDonor]

Did he put up a huge "help me pay for my defence donate monies here" page?

(original thread on [H] containing the text and link)

Pretty much;



So basically he hired idiot lawyers.

Spero ruled that the Japanese console maker may acquire "documents sufficient to identify the source of funds (PDF via Wired) in California that went into any PayPal account associated with [email protected] for the period of January 1, 2009, to February 1, 2011."

this is the period before he asked for donations towards his legal defence, hes legally allowed to ask for donations for a legal defence....

 

[DeathPrincess]

this is the period before he asked for donations towards his legal defence, hes legally allowed to ask for donations for a legal defence....

Thats not why they are going after this, it would appear. Its to make the venue san fransisco, not because he got money from the interwebs for defence.

 

[BloodDonor]

Thats not why they are going after this, it would appear. Its to make the venue san fransisco, not because he got money from the interwebs for defence.

yep, they want to move it to cali for several reasons, least not of all to make it more expensive for geohot to defend

 

[chinesepiratefood]

I hate Sony.

 

[Ashbringer]

When Sony makes the PS4, when can make lots of jokes on how they can seize our PayPal accounts.

 

[JL6speed]

I don't see how what he did can be illegal.

Say you bought a car. You made a custom engine mod, say you custom designed a turbo. Now car manufacture wants to sue u because u changed the engine of YOUR car that you OWN and added something that provides enhanced performance whereas the original product didn't?

Now say for some reason, the car manufacture originally wasn't able to add a turbo in the car for whatsoever reason, so they weren't selling it with a turbo, but you were successfully able to get it done.

So you successfully designed the turbo, you sell your work to customers and make $. I don't see car manufactures suing every individual car modder because they were able to get something done that the manufactures themselves don't sell, even though the turbo could impact their sales.

I don't see how logically the PS3 hacker could get sued.

 

[Ocellaris]

I don't see how what he did can be illegal.

Say you bought a car. You made a custom engine mod, say you custom designed a turbo. Now car manufacture wants to sue u because u changed the engine of YOUR car that you OWN and added something that provides enhanced performance whereas the original product didn't?

Now say for some reason, the car manufacture originally wasn't able to add a turbo in the car for whatsoever reason, so they weren't selling it with a turbo, but you were successfully able to get it done.

So you successfully designed the turbo, you sell your work to customers and make $. I don't see car manufactures suing every individual car modder because they were able to get something done that the manufactures themselves don't sell, even though the turbo could impact their sales.

I don't see how logically the PS3 hacker could get sued.

Except this isn't a car, and people agreed to the Sony terms of service when they purchased the PS3. Hacking DRM schemes to enable copyright violations (while bringing attention to yourself) and modifying car are not similar activities.

 

[nobody_here]

I don't see how what he did can be illegal.

Say you bought a car. You made a custom engine mod, say you custom designed a turbo. Now car manufacture wants to sue u because u changed the engine of YOUR car that you OWN and added something that provides enhanced performance whereas the original product didn't?

Now say for some reason, the car manufacture originally wasn't able to add a turbo in the car for whatsoever reason, so they weren't selling it with a turbo, but you were successfully able to get it done.

So you successfully designed the turbo, you sell your work to customers and make $. I don't see car manufactures suing every individual car modder because they were able to get something done that the manufactures themselves don't sell, even though the turbo could impact their sales.

I don't see how logically the PS3 hacker could get sued.

not even the same, the mod you did to your car didn't give the rest of the internet the ability to instantly compromise a proprietary network

 

[mikefxu]

I am glad Sony is beating a dead horse, ripping it out of the grave, cremating it, eating it and shitting it. I paid good money for a PS3 and if they prosecute people that circumvent intellectual property to the fullest extent of the law, it benefits me. The user base for the PS3 linux OS was small. Most of the people bitching about them taking it away never even installed another OS on their PS3.

 

[Enduring_Warrior]

not even the same, the mod you did to your car didn't give the rest of the internet the ability to instantly compromise a proprietary network

Notice how this Internet thing is working our self image.

1.-It's not about me affecting me anymore
2.-It's about me affecting everyone.

This reminded me of the song 2112 from RUSH album.
The concept of "I" will begin to dissapear and we will all move to a HIVE mentality controlled by our overlords. We'll become the "Zerg".

 

[Cataulin]

donations are down

 

[Ocellaris]

Notice how this Internet thing is working our self image.

1.-It's not about me affecting me anymore
2.-It's about me affecting everyone.

This reminded me of the song 2112 from RUSH album.
The concept of "I" will begin to dissapear and we will all move to a HIVE mentality controlled by our overlords. We'll become the "Zerg".

Did you have this reply typed up in advance and then just pick a random post to respond to?

 

[TheGeekFreek]

I am glad Sony is beating a dead horse, ripping it out of the grave, cremating it, eating it and shitting it. I paid good money for a PS3 and if they prosecute people that circumvent intellectual property to the fullest extent of the law, it benefits me. The user base for the PS3 linux OS was small. Most of the people bitching about them taking it away never even installed another OS on their PS3.

Please get burnt at a stake.. Kthnxbai

I think you completely missed the point of this ordeal. Its about what rights an end user should have to purchased hardware. Sony is just puffing out its chest and trying to make an example of this guy.

 

[fattypants]

The judge in this case is handing Sony everything they've wanted. His lawyers should ask for a change of venue because obviously he does not have any interest in the defense's case.

 

[Spidey329]

I am glad Sony is beating a dead horse, ripping it out of the grave, cremating it, eating it and shitting it. I paid good money for a PS3 and if they prosecute people that circumvent intellectual property to the fullest extent of the law, it benefits me. The user base for the PS3 linux OS was small. Most of the people bitching about them taking it away never even installed another OS on their PS3.

How exactly does this benefit you? Sony is throwing tons of money to their lawyers which increases costs (and will somehow filter down to consumers in the scheme of profit hunting) while also eating up tons of tax payer money.

Their end game is null as they'll probably never see a dime from geohot if they should win. So they're just eating costs at this point and will eventually get it back when the PS4 costs $899 instead of $799 (exaggeration implied).

 

[Majinhoju]

it is strange how aggressive sony is being regarding this. microsoft just unleashed a banhammer preventing modded consoles from connecting to xbox live and called it a day.

 

[DeathPrincess]

Their end game is null as they'll probably never see a dime from geohot if they should win. So they're just eating costs at this point and will eventually get it back when the PS4 costs $899 instead of $799 (exaggeration implied).

Do you think that the PS4 will have other OS? Like the PS2 and 3 did?

 

[JL6speed]

not even the same, the mod you did to your car didn't give the rest of the internet the ability to instantly compromise a proprietary network

Actually, you could design a turbo kit for a car, then later start selling that kit. It's what tuner shops do. You don't see car manufactures suing them.

 

[qbanb8582]

I think alot of people are missing the bigger on this. This a company dictating what you can and can't with something you purchased.

All sony has to do is what microsoft does ban people from PSN.

This is just a step towards consumers not owning anything anymore.

 

[WBurchnall]

Except this isn't a car, and people agreed to the Sony terms of service when they purchased the PS3. Hacking DRM schemes to enable copyright violations (while bringing attention to yourself) and modifying car are not similar activities.

Right, and you think there's no terms of service agreements you sign when you purchase a car? All that paperwork you need to fill out and sign your name too with the fine print, warranty and other information is meaningless and not the close equivilent of a PC ToS agreement?

Right. Computers invited fine print? As if!

 

[Rizen]

Well, glad I bought a used PS3 and didn't give Sony any money.

 

[Rizen]

No one reads ToS. I doubt any of you have read the ToS on any product you have purchased, probably ever. There is too much BS and legalese for anyone to sort through for something as stupid as a game console. They shouldn't be allowed to legally dictate what anyone does with a physical purchase.

 

[Outamyhead]

How will they be able to prove it if they voluntarily sent him money or donations toward that effort. If he didn't ask for it, then I don't think it's illegal.

If there is no proof in his paypal account of funding, then they don't have much to go on, a lone hacker.

From what I understand they are pushing for a California punishment, purely because the law in the state is on the companies side, and it's much harsher on this kind of thing.

 

[WBurchnall]

Do you think that the PS4 will have other OS? Like the PS2 and 3 did?

I think we'll never see that again on a console but I could be wrong. Consoles have so much power or at least the next generation will that you should be able to handle nearly any format/type of video, songs, music, internet websites/applications, facebooking, word processing, data processing, etc that a PC can --if--it--has---os-or-application---support.

The more closed an ecosystem is, the more progressive a comapny can seem by opening up the eco-system and the more they force you to spend money on their offering by giving no other offerings or available competition..

IE Microsoft's system update where they offered 'Last.fm and twitter or facebook support!' ammmmazzzzziiiinnnnggggg. However, that support might have been included into the OS a long time ago if they just had a ... web-browser. Infact, having a web-browser would have provided access to hundreds of potential online apps, entertainment, games, movies or music. So many so you might choose not to purchase songs from Microsoft at $0.99 cents a song or sd/hd movie rentals at ___ or ____ per movie or smaller games for $3.99 each when web-games are free and possibly equally as good at wasting your time.

 

[Outamyhead]

I think alot of people are missing the bigger on this. This a company dictating what you can and can't with something you purchased.

All sony has to do is what microsoft does ban people from PSN.

This is just a step towards consumers not owning anything anymore.

Slight problem there, they did ban a hacked PSN system, either this guy or someone else exploiting the hack, unbanned themselves.

 

[Darth_Penguin]

They shouldn't be allowed to legally dictate what anyone does with a physical purchase.

Isn't it less about what you are doing to the physical purchase and more about what you are doing to the software that is on the physical purchase? This is not the same as you taking apart your PS3 and installing some leet cooling fan or upgraded processor. This is about modding software which is not allowed to be modded under the TOS which you agreed to. Like others had said earlier, this would not have become so big had this guy just kept it to the small community that was interested in it.

 

[Shamb1es]

Good lord some of you goons are going to end up leasing the air your breathe from a company like this. Trying to tell me I can't control my own property, good lord

 

[Methadras]

Did he put up a huge "help me pay for my defence donate monies here" page?

(original thread on [H] containing the text and link)

Pretty much;



So basically he hired idiot lawyers.

Not if it's after the fact the he entered into litigation with Sony. They are asking if he got money for actually doing the work of reverse engineering their stuff. That's what they want to know. I'm saying if he received donations or something like that without explicitly saying, "Hey, give me money so I can fund my research into reverse engineering Sony's IP on the PS3."

Beyond that, I don't know why Sony is digging in this hole?

 

[Methadras]

It was disabled because of another group enabling "back-ups" to be played. Then along came another group to enable it to play linux distros.

But seriously, if he hadn't been a total moron from begining to end he could have avoided all of this. He spends every second blowing his own trumpet and opening his big mouth trying to gain publicity for himself and then gets in trouble. Opens his mouth off more about how he's being repressed, more attention whoring, yet somehow he got caught him . And then they use his big stupid mouth to get him. He could have kept it small time and allowed the tiny numbers of linux users the ability to use it with minimal fuss. But no, he has to blast off his mouth and get the security on the device inreased to the annoyance of everyone. Whats the first rule of haxor club?

If you walked up to a table and stole a glass, probably noone would care. If you walked up, stole a glass and then made videos about how theyd have to shoot you to stop stealing glass, told everyone in the world you did it and shouted the place down, you might get in trouble. Agree with him or not, he's an idiot and has dug himself a grave.

Shooting off your mouth in shameless self-promotion does not equate into civil litigation proceedings against you for using your own property to do with it as you please. If he got paid to reverse engineer Sony's IP, that's one thing. Is this the real argument that Sony is making right now?