PlayStation Hacker Criticized for Sony Settlement
PlayStation Hacker Criticized for Sony Settlement
Posted 04/12/2011 at 8:04am
| by Paul Lilly
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If you were expecting a knock-down, drag-out fight between Sony and PS3 jailbreaker George "Geohot" Hotz, you'll have to settle for an anticlimactic ending instead. As our own Nathan Grayson reported yesterday, Hotz agreed to never again spread any technology that "circumvents any of the TPMs in any Sony product" and is forever banned from assisting in such activities. That's not exactly the end result Hotz's supporters were hoping for, and now the former PS3 hacker is taking heat for running from the fire.
Hotz announced in a blog post his intention of joining the Sony boycott, encouraging others to follow suit. But what he didn't do is disclose terms of the settlement, of which he is unable to do unless he breaks the terms of the settlement, a violation that could cost him $10,000. Why does this matter to his supporters? Here's what Hotz had to say before the settlement.
"What if SCEA tries to settle? Let's just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it."
Now his supporters, some of which donated money to his legal battle, are turning on Hotz for not going the distance.
"So basically you settled for a job and took people's money giving them a false hope of settling for their rights? What do you plan to do with the money that was donated to you to provide a cushion for the legal battle? I hope you will be paying all those people back since you obviously didn't live up to your word," one commenter wrote.
Hotz, who didn't take a job with Sony, said he will be addressing the donations in the a future post and that "people will be happy," but it's not just about the money.
"Sounds like a win for Sony. Now they get no court case to prove their actions wrong. No court case, no case law, no reason to keep Sony from acting like this again...Sure, it's nice that it's over and people can move on with their lives, but I just think people expected a bit more of a fight than this," another commenter wrote.
What's your take on this? Should Hotz return the donations he received for his legal fight?
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Humpfester
April 13, 2011 at 7:16pm
When you got'em by the ball's, their hearts and minds will follow
dmackey828
April 12, 2011 at 8:07pm
I hope he does do something, It's all for the "Greater Good" IMO, PISS on Sony I say..
bjoswald
April 12, 2011 at 7:08pm
As much as I hate this little punk, he made the right choice by settling out of court. He's just some young kid, he doesn't have bottomless pockets like Sony's executives. What do you expect him to do? All the hackers in world could pool their resources and they'd still come up short. Besides, the message he's sending is more important than court battles anyway.
Ghok
April 12, 2011 at 5:21pm
I would have liked if he had, but I don't blame him for not doing it. The deck was really stacked against him. Sony is a big company. In the end, they lost a customer out of this whole affair. That might not seem to mean much, but bad word of mouth is a slow killer if it lasts long enough. I doubt this'll be the last time Sony has to deal with something like this.
starzcream
April 12, 2011 at 4:31pm
This kid made the right choice. The litigation process for a case like this could have dragged out for years, and the stress could be overwhelming. Not to mention the size and strength of the legal team that a company like Sony can muster. I'll bet that most of the people who are criticizing him for backing down would have done the exact same thing.
perryra1968
April 12, 2011 at 12:55pm
loooooooooser......People were actually rallying behind him? Get a life. Go play Crysis 2. Looks like that hacker made out with some money, too....YOURS. What did you expect?
thenixedreport
April 12, 2011 at 11:55am
The guy just didn't have the resources to do this for the long haul. I think the best thing to do is to boycott Sony at this point for jerking their cusotmers around.
aarcane
April 12, 2011 at 11:22am
I think geohot needs to twitter about going to a local bar to read his settlement paperwork, get drunk, and accidentally forget to stuff pages back into the manilla envelope before he snatches it up and stumbles out to his cab.
CaptainFabulous
April 12, 2011 at 9:23am
Since the settlement is confidential and we will never know what the stipulations are it makes no sense to speculate one way or the other.
Those that are calling him a sellout may be right, but they may also be dead wrong. Sometimes you just need to let it go and call it a day.
Caboose
April 12, 2011 at 9:27am
But this is the internet, and the masses must argue over it, because they are all correct, and everyone else is wrong!
SevWarfare
April 12, 2011 at 9:00am
He settled, like anyone with half a brain would do. He was in a no win situation. He doesn't have the coin to battle Sony. Also, to all of those who donated money....TOO EFFFING BAD. Don't give people money if you don't have a contract or an agreement of repayment. A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause(wikipedia). It was a GIFT, stop whining.
TommM
April 12, 2011 at 8:54am
My guess is that he got legal advice that his rear end was going down in flames in a court of law. Which really is no surprise - Sony has all sorts of copyright protection on it's hardware that you agreed not to infringe with the the day you bought the unit. And if you mess with that and even worse release it out into public, you're going to feel the wrath of Sony - or any other company for that matter under similar circumstances.
So he obviously took the easy way out. Rather than endure years of living a life of legal hell, he walked away when Sony offered him the chance. The guy is already a putz in my eyes for trying to make himself some sort of "hero to the masses" by his hacks. If he doesn't return the donated money, then he'll be better off moving to a deserted island before someone tracks him down and demands the money back the hard way. ;)
qhoa1385
April 12, 2011 at 8:35am
Well put those haters on the spot and I doubt they will "go the distance" against the giant Sony
rseding91
April 12, 2011 at 8:09am
Does anyone honestly think this is going to stop him from doing what he wants to do?
*uses a proxy and a codename* annnnd resumes doing what ever he wants.
graydiggy
April 12, 2011 at 9:08am
Yep. He could definately use something like peer blocker and block sony from his IP.
aarcane
April 12, 2011 at 11:25am
you're an idiot, you know that? do you even know what peer block does or how an IP address works? if anything, what he would need is TOR.
ddimick
April 12, 2011 at 12:49pm
He'd also need to lose all sanity. Better to go off and hack something else that doesn't run the risk of ruining your life.
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