Anonymous Declares Temporary Cease Fire on Sony, Doesn't Want to Hurt Customers
Anonymous Declares Temporary Cease Fire on Sony, Doesn't Want to Hurt Customers
Posted 04/07/2011 at 8:51pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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Anonymous doesn't support things like normal people do. No bake sales, charity walks, or long-winded, short-tempered message board flame wars. Anonymous has only one speed, and it's a picture of someone's exposed throat. That much was obvious in the shadowy conglomerate's recent defense of PS3 hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, which resulted in PlayStation Network outages almost instantaneously. Now, though, Anonymous has decided to back off. Sony, it seems, has survived the battle, but Anonymous was quick to add that the war's far from over.
“We realize that targeting the PSN is not a good idea. We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers,” the group said on its news site.
“Anonymous is on your side, standing up for your rights. We are not aiming to attack customers of Sony. This attack is aimed solely at Sony, and we will try our best to not affect the gamers, as this would defeat the purpose of our actions. If we did inconvenience users, please know that this was not our goal.”
And, of course, who could forget the Anon offshoot that's popping off shots at individual employees? “OpSony,” as the main group is known, was quick to clarify that the offshoot is just that. Two sides of the same coin, perhaps, but one's a president and the other's a half-melted piece of chocolate.
Sony, meanwhile, has significantly revised its stance on the matter – going from “er, um, uh nothing to see here; move along” to considering “the possibility of targeted behavior of an outside party.”
“If this is indeed caused by such act, we want to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service. Our engineers are working to restore and maintain the services, and we appreciate our customers’ continued support,” said the console-maker.
So, that's that – for now. Obviously, however, this is far from over. Fingers crossed that cooler heads prevail, because we've seen Anon in “stirred hornet's nest” mode and Sony in “you get a lawsuit, you get a lawsuit, and you get a lawsuit” mode. Put those two together, and it won't be pretty.
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MikeE
April 09, 2011 at 4:11pm
Kick some ass Anonymous!!! This is the first step for "Technology freedom". If some company comes out with a product, then procedes to put restriction on what a person can use that product and how they use it, that company deserves to get owned. **cough cough Apple, Sony, Xbox cough cough**. Here's just a thought. If you want to restrict users of your product to the confines of "your" (company) rules, then don't make a product that is capable of doing much more then what you allow. Make a piece of crap product that people don't buy because of the restrictions.
Just a thought, but could you imagine a world that:
Apple's IPad is the next laptop? you can run any programs you wish, do anything you want all on a touch screen?
Sony PS3 allows players to run any DVD, Music track, Party Chat and much more? As an added bonus, not get a slap on the wrist everytime you accomplish to do so.
Wait, this all seems familiar. Oh right, it's called a PC. Now if only other companies can get the hint.
kixofmyg0t
April 08, 2011 at 8:19pm
I must say im surprised by this. It took me longer than expected to comprehend that Anon did something close to "honorable".
I have multiple Sony products(i really should be sponsered by them with all the crap i buy from Sony) including a PS3, I really do NOT care about Geohot or homebrew on ps3 or even OtherOS functions.(and i DID have YDL on my PS3) I just wanna play my damn games and watch netflix. Thats all.
anger
April 08, 2011 at 4:30pm
I'm a fervent playstation fanboy, and with that I say...KILL'EM...sony needs to be shown that what they are doing is unacceptable
they never pursued dark alex like they are pursuing geohotz...why the double standard???
they gimped the older ps3 systems without giving a reason...taking away functionality is evil
their repair scheme is terrible...why no game save retreival along with a retarded hard drive encryption is plain mean
its like they want to punish their users...teach'em a lesson anonymous
michaelh
April 08, 2011 at 9:31am
Since it's my primary entertainment center device I wouldn't mod my PS3. My girlfriend would kill me if that thing stopped working.
If it were up to me, though, I'd definitely be running Linux on it, messing with homebrew and emulators and seeing what the silly little box can do.
The idea that some people purchased PS3s with certain capabilities and that those capabilities can be taken away at any time is ridiculous. I'm not talking about the PSN or free online multiplayer - those things require some amount of funding and support by Sony. PSN as a network is a shitshow anyway, so I'm never surprised when it's slow as hell or down for awhile. What does piss me off is modification of my device and manadatory firmware updates. Yeah, I could use it offline but if I'm going to have a network-less console I could just stick to my Wii.
Keep in mind that hackers had little interest in the PS3 before Sony took away a capability, citing security concerns. They brought this on themselves. I can't get behind geohot, though. The guy's a tool.
lordmidnight
April 08, 2011 at 12:59am
I have an option for all you people who feel cheated by the notion that Sony doesn't want you installing an alternative OS on your machine: it's called a PC, and there are all sorts of alternative OSes to install! Best of all, you don't have to rely on a hack to do it, and the results are far more reliable. Plus you can play games with the best controller ever built: a keyboard and mouse! Try it!
IFLATLINEI
April 08, 2011 at 6:44pm
Your missing the point along with all the people who spew that same BS. Its about consumers leveraging the power of their devices. This isnt just about the PS3 either. Its about all our devices that are artificially gimped because of the corporate need to control every little aspect of their products.
Bottom line is people like me see more potential in these devices and are going to free them. You or Sony, nobody is going to stop that. Sueing was a very bad move especially considering that embracing the homebrew would actually serve Sony and the consumer better. Sony would have just as much control over their games with increased satisfaction for the consumer. If you cant understand these basic ideas then I can only tell you that your not smart enough to participate in these discussions.
This isnt about piracy either. The simple minded twits who pull that one out in defense of Sony have no clue. Sure some will try to pirate games using some of the hacks in question but the majority of us want something much more worthwhile than that and what we want doesnt break any laws. Atleast none that make any sense at all.
I have a PC and its no slouch but there are some things that if allowed the PS3 would just do better. And just because some of you dont own a PS3 or dont see the value in getting more out of it doesnt mean that your the majority. These attacks on Sony and the PSN could only have happened with the proper support from many users who feel like I do. Now I dont condone these attacks because they really are punishing the wrong people(The Consumer) but at the same time Sony could have avoided all this and lifted their standing with the tech savvy consumer by doing the right thing.
da_samman
April 08, 2011 at 9:52am
Yes there is an option called the PC. However, these people are merely trying to add (and restore) functionality to the PS3 to get their money's worth, plus, as another commenter said, they want to see what the PS3 is capable of. I would try the hack if I owned one, for PS2 support/emulation.
sinan
April 08, 2011 at 6:12am
I don't own a PS3 so I don't have a dog in this fight.
The problem here is that if you buy a product that is advertised as being able to do "A" "B" and "C", then the manufacturer decided to take away "B" and now it only does "A" and "C" that's obviously not right. If I bought a GPS that is supposed to work in all 50 states then manufacturer decided to deactivate the maps for Alaska and Hawaii, and I live in those two states then I will be pretty pissed off. Yes, I have the option of buying another GPS (or even move out of the state - which is a more exterme solution) but I believe my first action would be to try to get the unit to work as advertised. Either by complaining to the manufacturer or using a hack. In this case option #1 did not work for these guys so they're going for #2.
I realize my example is not exactly the same as the Sony situation, but it's roughly the same idea.
m1k3_flrs
April 08, 2011 at 8:34am
The console did had linux support and got removed for what ever reason I paid for that and they take it away? and about sony doing something to fix the problem theiy're facing right now they haven't done anything except making PSN user re-accept the user license agreement at least 3 times in the past 2 months.
LatiosXT
April 08, 2011 at 12:41am
Finally!
Sony still gives me what I want. I have no beef with them. Anonymous does things to ruin my PlayStation 3 experience, why do I have any reason to support them?
bling581
April 08, 2011 at 10:12am
And this is why companies like Sony exist because even though you're aware of what they do you don't care until it affects you personally. You should care because tomorrow it could be you in their shoes. When one company is allowed to stomp all over it's customers it just shows other companies what they can now get away with.
monkeyboyx
April 07, 2011 at 10:10pm
All this trouble for not being able to install Linux and play pirated games oh I'm sorry homebrew....;) ;). Grow up you idiots...sony does not own you shit and can change whatever they want!!! Just enjoy it and play games.
Zachary K.
April 07, 2011 at 9:30pm
they are saving face. they must have realized that attacking the employees personally was a bad, and very evil idea.
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