GeoHot
Latest
Sony finally releases official statement on PS3 jailbreak
Though Sony has been dealing with the legal and metaphysical struggles associated with GeoHot's PS3 jailbreak discovery for some time now, the company had yet to release an official statement on the matter until today. The statement comes via a PlayStation Blog post and warns users: "Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the 'System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System' and the 'Terms of Services and User Agreement' for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently. "To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems." We've provided a handy summation for our friends who lack long attention spans: Hey, you! Cut that out.
Sony releases statement on PS3 hacking, surprisingly comes out against it
In the wake of recent developments in Sony's war on Geohot, the company has released an "Official Statement Regarding PS3 Circumvention Devices and Pirated Software," which reads, in part: Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently. To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems. In other words: get caught with custom firmware, find yourself banished from the PlayStation Network forever. Seems rather reasonable. More reasonable than, say, filing a motion in court for the usernames and IP addresses of everyone who posted comments on Geohot's YouTube video. Read the entire statement at the source link.
Sony vs. Geohot litigation heats up, SCEA demands YouTube give up Hotz and Fail0verflow's personal info
Now that Sony has started gathering the evidence it needs via discovery in the lawsuit over Hotz and friends' PS3 jailbreak, the company has dropped a hammer by moving to reduce the amount of time the hackers have to get Sony the information it wants. Sony filed the motion -- which will be heard by the court tomorrow -- to better arm itself with information to oppose Geohot's motion to dismiss, scheduled to be heard in early March. Casting its evidence-gathering net far and wide, SCEA has demanded that YouTube surrender not only information for Hotz's account where his jailbreak video was posted, but also how many users accessed the video, the usernames of those with access to the video, and all usernames and IP addresses of everyone who posted or published comments to the vid. In addition to hitting up YouTube for dirt, Wired reports that Sony has demanded Twitter hand over the personal info of fail0verflow's members -- we're waiting for Sony's lawyers to don TSA gear as the next step in their search. Geohot's attorney thinks the requests seem a bit much, but we think they make sense given Sony's strategy of going after the entire fail0verflow team. While these goings-on make for fairly standard legal tactics, they won't do much for Sony's public image.
Sony looking to expand jailbreak lawsuit to more defendants
Geohot may soon have company while facing the wrath of Sony. George Hotz has had to defend himself in court against the company since the beginning of this year, as Sony attempts to track down all the hackers responsible for the now widely-available PS3 jailbreak. The problem, thus far, has been actually finding them. According to documents retrieved by PSX-SCENE, the company is pursuing this information, subpoenaing sites like the recently-DMCA'd Github. Sony is requesting "all information and documents related to the use of your service(s) to register, create, maintain and/or use accounts associated with the user names "hermesEOL," "kakaroto," "waninkoko," and "grafchokolo." Although it's unlikely this legal action will slow distribution of the jailbreak, Sony's actions send a very loud statement: "we're very angry, and we're coming for all you."
Github removes PS3 jailbreak files after Sony sends DMCA takedown notice
Removing files from the internet is about as difficult and futile a task as trying to remove an upsetting mental image from your thoughts -- elephants with spider faces! (Boom! That's in your mind now.) This isn't stopping Sony from trying its darndest to keep the PS3 jailbreak files from circulating. The company recently sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice to Github -- a site for hosting super efficient Git files, designed to assist coders in collaborating over the web -- to remove the "Custom Firmware" files authored by George "GeoHot" Hotz. Github acquiesced, removing the files in accordance with its policy concerning DMCA notices. Of course, in doing so ... the site also highlighted the filenames of each of the removed Custom Firmware components!
Sony's restraining order against Geohot granted
Everything's coming up Sony. First, the NGP is unveiled to a general chorus of *drool*. Now, PSX-Scene has revealed court documents showing that a district judge granted Sony's temporary restraining order against PS3 hacker George "geohot" Hotz. Hotz is now barred from "offering to the public, creating, posting online, marketing, advertising, promoting, installing, distributing, providing, or otherwise trafficking" (phew) in any software or methods for circumventing the PS3's protection methods. No longer can he "provide links from any website to any other website" relating to such matters, or publish any information obtained by hacking the PS3. And more to the point, he can no longer "engage in acts of circumvention of TPMS in the PS3 System to access, obtain, remove, or traffic in copyrighted works." The court allowed this restraining order to go through despite jurisdiction issues (specifically, Hotz residing in a different state than Sony, and a different state from where the claim was filed), granting specific jurisdiction "because he purposefully directed his activities at the forum state" of California. The judge ordered that all involved parties meet to set a hearing date regarding Sony's motion for an injunction -- and Hotz's motion to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds -- by February 1, 2011.
Court grants Sony's temporary restraining order against Geohot, PS3 jailbreak still available everywhere
It looked for a moment like Geohot and fail0verflow might beat Sony's DMCA lawsuit over the PS3 jailbreak on a jurisdictional technicality, but things didn't go their way: the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted Sony's request for a temporary restraining order forbidding Mr. Hotz and his merry men from distributing or linking to the jailbreak, helping or encouraging others to jailbreak, hacking into the PS3 or PSN, or distributing any information they've found while hacking. What's more, they've been ordered to turn over any computers or storage media used to create the jailbreak to Sony's lawyers -- although we've got a feeling Geohot's attorneys will raise a bit of a fuss about that. Of course, this doesn't mean that Sony's won anything substantive -- it's just proven to the court that the jailbreak will cause it ongoing harm while the case continues, and it still has to actually win its formal lawsuit to collect any damages or a permanent injunction. And let's not forget that forcing Geohot to stop distributing it won't stop anyone else -- in almost an exact mirror of the deCSS case, we're already seeing the jailbreak mirrored all over the internet. Way to learn from history, Sony. [Thanks, Henry]
GeoHot sets sights on jailbreaking Windows Phone 7
After successfully cracking open the deepest protections of the PlayStation 3 -- an act which garnered not only a fair amount of press, but also quite a bit of litigatory pressure from Sony -- George "GeoHot" Hotz has set his sights on a new piece of consumer electronics: The Windows Phone 7 platform. We hope he pulls through with jailbreaking the device, so we can finally ... um, replace those gaudy square home page panels with more visually pleasing circular panels? We guess? Microsoft developer platform product management head Brandon Watson didn't respond to GeoHot's announcement with intimidation, however, telling him over Twitter, "if you want to build cool stuff on #wp7, send me e-mail and the team will give you a phone -- let dev creativity flourish." That's positively heartwarming! Oh, wait -- we also like things that are free. Hey, Microsoft! We're totally gonna hack your stuff. Your phones, your Xboxes -- all of it. You too, BMW. We're hacking all your cars, so you might as well just give them to us.
Visualized: the glamorous lifestyles of WP7 jailbreakers (update: Geohot crashes the party)
To be a jailbreaker means different things depending on the device that you're busy hacking preinstalled walls from. If you're fiddling with consoles, a legal team would come highly recommended, but if you're tweaking mobile code, at least Windows Phone mobile code, you're in for a much sweeter ride. The ChevronWP7 guys that brought us the first jailbreak of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 are currently in Redmond having a sitdown and a frank exchange of views with WP7 dev experience director Brandon Watson, and the amicable nature of their discourse has been evidenced by the image above. Microsoft is clearly taking a light-hearted and community-friendly approach to handling the (now inevitable) efforts at disabling limitations to its software and we can only congratulate its mobile team for doing so. [Thanks, Tasos] Update: Looks like Microsoft's softie approach really is working. Shortly after the jolly news, notorious hacker Geohot announced on his website that he's going to treat himself to a WP7 device; but before long, Redmond's already reached out to offer him a free handset. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PS3 hack court case delayed, jurisdiction questioned
Sony's claim against hacker Georgen "geohot" Hotz will have to find another day in court, as a trial has been delayed due to questions of where the case should physically be held. Currently, the case is being reviewed in San Francisco, but district court judge Susan Illston raised questions as to whether the case should be tried in California or New Jersey, where Hotz resides. Sony's lawyers have argued that, because the hack was distributed via Twitter and YouTube (both based in California), the case should continue. In addition, Hotz supposedly received donations via PayPal, another California-based institution. "If having a PayPal account were enough, then there would be personal jurisdiction in this court over everybody, and that just can't be right," Illston responded. The case is delayed pending further discussions over jurisdiction, a decision Sony is likely to frown upon. Given the free availability of the hack online, it's in the company's best interest to try and secure a victory as quickly as possible -- even if it means little can be done to stop the proliferation of the hack. Update [1/24/11]: Some of the court documents have been posted on PSX-SCENE, providing greater detail of the two sides' arguments over jurisdiction. [Image source: G4]
Geohot wins round one against Sony (kinda) -- judge declines to rule on SCEA restraining order (updated)
By now we all know that Sony filed a lawsuit against Geohot and fail0verflow for their distribution of PS3 jailbreak firmware and asked the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop said distribution of the offending code. Well, according to Geohot, the court denied declined to rule on Sony's motion earlier today. Geohot has reposted the code online, so it seems safe to say that the TRO is back for now, and the jailbreak can once again roam the internet unencumbered by any legal decrees. The decision, while favorable to the defendants, has little effect on the outcome of the litigation itself, so Hotz and company aren't out of the woods just yet. We'll keep you posted on the status of the order, and will also watch as the case progresses for the real fireworks to start. Update: Looks like we jumped the gun and got the story a little wrong, but thanks to our readers we've discovered that the judge declined to rule on the TRO. Instead she tabled the TRO issue because she was not satisfied that the Northern District of California has jurisdiction to rule on the matter because Geohot hacked the PS3 in New Jersey.
George Hotz: I got sued for 'making Sony mad'
Despite being entrenched in full-on legal warfare, George "GeoHot" Hotz managed to find time to make an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show last night to discuss his history and, more importantly, his current suit with Sony. While Hotz himself doesn't support piracy, the code he and other prominent hacking outfit, fail0verflow, helped produce to allow the PS3 to run unsigned code can be used for such a thing ... but that's not why Sony is suing him. In his own words, he's being sued for "making Sony mad." Hotz says that with his jailbreak tool, he made "a specific effort while working on this to try and enable homebrew without enabling things [...] like piracy." Of course, that doesn't console Sony at all -- people are doing things on the PS3 that Sony never meant for. Hit the jump for the full interview.
Massive co-founder worries effects of PS3 piracy could be worse than handhelds' plight
Wondering why there's such a hullabaloo over that PS3 security breach? According to Martin Walfisz, who co-founded Massive Entertainment (but left the company shortly after its purchase by Ubisoft to focus on development of new DRM strategies), it's because it's the end of the world. Well, okay, maybe it's not that bad -- but Walfisz paints a pretty grim picture for Sony, telling GamesIndustry.biz, "If that hack works as reported, I don't believe that Sony can regain any control." Walfisz predicts that Sony could employ a system similar to Microsoft's anti-piracy measures through Xbox Live, blocking hacked PS3s from connecting to the PlayStation Network; though if the hack works as reported, and doesn't require a mod chip to function, Walfisz worries Sony won't be able to detect which users are playing pirated games -- though Sony claims it can and will shut down "jailbroken" consoles. What's worse, Walfisz adds, "I would assume that pirated copies can be stored on the HDD as well, making it so easy to use that PS3 piracy, given time, might even surpass the handhelds." Piracy is pernicious enough on exposed systems, but super convenient piracy? Yikes.
Sony issues more court documents in hacking case, GeoHot's lawyer responds
More court documents have surfaced in the suit between Sony and PS3 hackers, mostly declarations on the part of each of Sony's lawyers in support of the restraining order against George "GeoHot" Hotz and other hackers. One document contains over 280 pages of "evidence" to provide cause for enjoining them against further hacking -- said evidence consisting of full, copy-and-pasted pages from Twitter accounts, forum posts, and news stories relating to the recent discoveries of the PS3's private and root keys. Also included are summons for the hackers, and a document from Sony declining to bring the case before a magistrate judge, requesting a district judge instead. According to PSX-Scene, there's also evidence that Sony sent $1 to Hotz's PayPal account through his email address, in order to prove he is accepting donations, even though he hadn't actually requested donations. NeoGAF's Sangreal also obtained responses from the lawyers representing Hotz. The opposition statement claims that the California court has no jurisdiction over Hotz or any of the other defendants, and that Hotz has no connection to the other hackers. More substantially, Hotz's attorneys' statement asserts that "Defendant Hotz has not produced, manufactured, sold, nor does he have any intent whatsoever to produce, manufacture, or sell, any devices that facilitate piracy." It dismisses Sony's use of other piracy cases for precedent, because those cases involve hardware used to circumvent the PS3's protection, and not software. Moreover, the statement makes the point that enjoining Hotz from his programming activities won't do anything. "Sony's own pleadings admit that the code necessary to jailbreak the Sony PlayStation computer is on the internet," the statement reads. "Sony speaks of 'closing the door', but the simple fact is that there is no door to close. The code sought to be restrained will always be a Google search away."
Sony follows up, officially sues Geohot and fail0verflow over PS3 jailbreak
We figured Sony would follow up last night's temporary restraining order against Geohot and fail0verflow for distribution of the PS3 jailbreak with a copyright infringement lawsuit, and well, here it is. It's actually pretty straightforward, as far as these things go -- Sony alleges that George Hotz, Hector Martin Cantero, Sven Peter, and the rest of fail0verflow are: Violating §1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids bypassing access control measures; Violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which forbids accessing computers without authorization; Guilty of contributory copyright infringement for encouraging and helping others to crack PS3s as well; Violating the California Computer Crime Law, which is the state computer fraud act (think of this as a backup fraud claim); Violating the PlayStation Network's Terms of Service (which feels meaningless, really); Interfering with Sony's relationships with other PSN customers (also meaningless); Trespassing on Sony's ownership right to the PS3 (this one feels weak) and; Misappropriating Sony's intellectual property (another weak argument, but there in case the copyright argument fails). Sony's asking the court to forbid Geohot and fail0verflow from distributing the jailbreak and turn over all computer hardware and software that contain the jailbreak code, as well as unspecified damages and attorneys' fees. Yep, these boys done got sued -- and we're sure there'll be some serious fireworks once they lawyer up and fight right back. Update: And here we go -- Carnegie Mellon professor David Touretzky has posted up the first mirror of Geohot's code as a First Amendment protest, openly challenging Sony to take action. That's moxie -- we love it. [Thanks, Pedro G]
Sony begins legal action against PS3 hackers
Last week, hacking group fail0verflow and well-known iPhone hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz revealed new hacks for the PS3 allowing pretty much anyone to run unsigned code on the system. Sony has yet to nullify this through "network updates" as promised, and has instead chosen to address this problem by filing temporary restraining orders against the hackers. Hotz posted the court documents on his own site after receiving them. The court documents claim that the hacks violate the DMCA, and that "Already, pirated games are being packaged and distributed with these circumvention devices." Sony's restraining order is designed to "restrain" Hotz and the others from continuing to hack the PS3's protection measures, and from distributing their exploits. Hotz doesn't seem worried about Sony's ire. "I would expect a company that prides itself on intellectual property to be well versed in the provisions of the law, so I am disappointed in Sony's current action," Hotz told the BBC. "I have spoken with legal counsel and I feel comfortable that Sony's action against me doesn't have any basis." [Thanks, Mike]
Sony asks for restraining order against Geohot, fail0verflow over PS3 exploits
We knew Sony would be non-plussed about the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, and now we have a better idea as to the full extent of its anger. The company has filed suit (not yet, see below) asked for a restraining order against George "Geohot" Hotz, the "hacking group" fail0verflow (Hector Cantero, Sven Peter, "Bushing," and "Segher"), and numerous John / Jane Does over the exploit and its release. To be more specific, the company cites violations of Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, various copyright infringements, and other acts of binary malfeasance. A temporary restraining order has also been sought, asking that all "circumvention tools" be taken offline and his computers and related media (i.e. anything storing said tools) be impounded. It looks like Geohot's servers are being slammed at the moment, so we've gone ahead and hosted the relevant PDFs ourselves below. We're still sifting through ourselves and will let you know what we unearth. Update: Nilay here -- let's take a look at what's going on. This isn't a "lawsuit" in the traditional sense, since Sony hasn't filed a complaint for copyright infringement or whatever against Geohot and friends. Instead, the company appears to be trying to shove the genie back in the bottle and have the jailbreak and any information about the jailbreak removed from the web by filing a temporary restraining order. That might work in the short term -- Geohot's already pulled his pages down -- but history suggests that the forces of paperwork rarely triumph over the righteous anger of nerds, and that this code is out there for good. That said, we'll see what the court says tomorrow; although we very much doubt Sony's melodramatic proposed motion and order will be granted as written, we wouldn't be surprised if some sort of order is eventually granted -- and then from there a formal lawsuit is likely just a few days away. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Geohot releases PS3 jailbreak for firmware 3.55, world ceases to have any meaning
Remember when George "Geohot" Hotz demoed homebrew on the PlayStation 3? Yeah, we know, it was a whole day of CES ago. Well, it looks like that video wasn't a random crack, but full custom firmware, and not just for show -- he just released it to the world. Believe it or not, we didn't bring our PS3s with us to CES 2011, so we can't actually test it for ourselves, but if you have faith or enjoy living on the edge, you're two clicks, one USB stick and a manual System Update away from potential freedom. Now, let's see him keep his original promise. [Thanks, Omar]
PS3 homebrew caught on video, Sony promises 'fix'
The PS3 root key saga continues, with hacker Geohot posting a video demonstrating homemade software running on a PS3 using firmware 3.55. There's not much to the software, essentially a reworked "Hello World" that says "sup dawg, it's geohot," but it's more than enough to prove viability of homebrew software on the PS3. Sony, for its part, has stated to Edge that it will "fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details." However, fail0verflow hacking group member pytey recently told the BBC, "The complete console is compromised - there is no recovery from this." He added that the only possible way to correct the hack would be for Sony to "issue new hardware."
Geohot demos homebrew on 'jailbroken' PS3, Sony vows to 'fix' via software update (video)
We just saw how you can now add an Install Package Files option to the PS3 using some custom firmware, but that darn hacker George "Geohot" Hotz has taken it a step further by demonstrating homebrew in a quick, Mr. Blurrycam-approved video. It's a barebones app that only says "sup dawg, it's geohot," but in reality it's a pretty huge step. Geohot's provided the file on his website along with a copy of the METLDR root key that enables the homebrew. Sony, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying it'll "fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details." This runs counter to what pytey from fail0verflow (the famed group that kickstarted this new round of hacking) just told the BBC, "the only way to fix this is to issue new hardware... Sony will have to accept this." Hey, at least you'll be in good company, eh Sony? Check out geohot's proof of concept video after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
