Anonymous is to DDoS sony...

[EyeCandy]

[mjmacky]

I edited my post, MBM. Hope you read all the modified parts.

Is no one reading your post, is it probably too long? I mean, with the opinions here (mine included), it should receive some backlash, but no one responded. Don't worry, I'll give my reply to it.

This anti-Sony sentiment I harbor isn't so much sympathy for "GeoHot", but rather empathy for an(some) individual(s) targeted by a corporation. Essentially, according to your story, he highlighted a hack that allowed one to open the PS3 to a Linux installation once again, after it was removed by Sony. Is this supposed to be of any significant consequence to the multifaceted megacorporation that is Sony? I would wager a pretty confident 'no'. Granted, Sony has every right to pursue the individual in question, but have they been put into a situation where keeping their business successful warrants this magnitude of a response? I don't think so, and find it to be really dick of them.

On another note, we haven't had 4 Sony Vaio's run through our family, for having 2 motherboard failures due to poor soldering has led us astray from considering further Sony laptop purchases. They were of different generations and replacement boards were going to run $500-$600. The only Sony product owned in our household (that I can think of) is the Walkman, which is great, because it can play stolen music that is drag-n-dropped into it (love USB mass storage modes).

[megabyteme]

I read it, I have not had time to give it a worthy reply. Rings and I have had several conversations on this board, and often the ones where we disagree end up consuming a fair amount of time. My life is quite full right now (that will change drastically after finishing our remodel undertakings, and my thesis).

Apologies for not replying accordingly, Rings. Perhaps macky will give you a run...

[Quarterquack]

I'm in no rush, MBM.

I understand how painful it is to type up a reply, I sometimes stop mid-rant in order to remind myself I need to finish a paper. Also, MBM, for when you have time, look up the Sony QUALIA line of electronics, which are no longer in production, but properly showcast everything that the brand name stands for.

Is no one reading your post, is it probably too long? I mean, with the opinions here (mine included), it should receive some backlash, but no one responded. Don't worry, I'll give my reply to it.

This anti-Sony sentiment I harbor isn't so much sympathy for "GeoHot", but rather empathy for an(some) individual(s) targeted by a corporation. Essentially, according to your story, he highlighted a hack that allowed one to open the PS3 to a Linux installation once again, after it was removed by Sony. Is this supposed to be of any significant consequence to the multifaceted megacorporation that is Sony? I would wager a pretty confident 'no'. Granted, Sony has every right to pursue the individual in question, but have they been put into a situation where keeping their business successful warrants this magnitude of a response? I don't think so, and find it to be really dick of them.

On another note, we haven't had 4 Sony Vaio's run through our family, for having 2 motherboard failures due to poor soldering has led us astray from considering further Sony laptop purchases. They were of different generations and replacement boards were going to run $500-$600. The only Sony product owned in our household (that I can think of) is the Walkman, which is great, because it can play stolen music that is drag-n-dropped into it (love USB mass storage modes).

I never aimed to suggest that anti-Sony statements are due to any hacker-related siding. I just said that some of the fuel comes from that side. You are feeling empathic towards a thief, who uses this entire thing as a publicity stunt. Sure it sucks that GeoHot gets sued, but it was his own doing that got him there. Fun fact, GeoHot released nothing to the world that wasn't going to be released anyway. He got himself involved, and threw himself onto the oncoming train of a multi-billion dollar corporation, basically challenging them to sue him what with all the public outreach and all. Nobody expected Sony to sit still, and everyone involved realize some rights were going to be taken away (PSN access etc.). No one says "Someone lost a foot while drilling a chainsaw into the ground - I can't help but feel empathic." Nobody does so because said "someone" knew what they were getting themselves into. As for "magnitude of a response" please read the history I will write towards the end of this post.

Sure VAIO have problems, all manufacturers do, but the very fact that your laptops only had trouble AFTER the warranty was up says something doesn't it? HP, DELL, Toshiba etc. have to consistently patch drivers in their updates in order to ensure that their "issues" are never brought to light. I'm sure many a hardware enthusiast remembers HP's response in the great Nvidia overheat issue of the 8000 series. HP's response was to increase fan speed, so that they don't get a lot of returns. There's the difference between the companies. One treats its customers like idiots who don't know better, while the other only pushes hardware it knows is built to last.

Also: Anon will support any cause, no matter how inane it sounds.

And for everyone who has followed the thread until now, let me just explain a few historical facts:
GeoHot was trying to enable piracy using Linux on the PS3.
Sony took it away from everyone because of this one individual's behavior (and yet he's respected).
Team Fail0verflow found the key exploit but said they only did it to re-enable Linux (p.s. I know some TF0 members personally, and knew of the exploit before I'd say 99% of people, through them, (I could link you to a post I made on a specific tracker forum about it two days before the speech was even made), and yet I didn't have the moral-deficiency to take it from them).
GeoHot stole that from them, added the metldr keys which could have been (and were easily) dumped previously, and released the exploit as his own only accrediting Team Fail0verflow as peers and not concept distributors. GeoHot then releases a Custom Firmware that locks NPDRM in order to "not enable piracy" - this time he's taking the stance of TF0 in order to prove to himself he's something respectable.
The exploit allowed people to do A LOT more than install Linux.*
Sony sues GeoHot for his behavior.
GeoHot's lawyers decide to argue against the jurisdiction of the court.
Sony decides to ask for any and all information it can in order to prove the jurisdiction (in fact, the collection of IP's is only to prove, with the oversight of the court, that the case should be held in California - let's be realistic, Sony already has the IP's it needs, anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool, this is just them showing legal proceedings).

So how could this all have been avoided? If GeoHot stopped being an egotistic little bitch. Basically.

* Think of a PS3 as a computer locked down to only serve one function, like airport terminal computers displaying flight schedules etc. The exploit "opens" up the entire function of the computer, and thus by opening it up, you can even modify the function it was intended to serve (in the airport terminal computer, that becomes modifying schedule display, in the ps3's case that becomes pirating games, installing linux, and allowing the ps3 to function as a complete computer - depending on how much effort one is willing to put in into serving a particular function).

[Tokeman]

Piracy aside, there is nothing wrong with modifying something you own, and thats the issue here, period. Lets take cars for example. If sony made them, they'd have bolted down hoods. You wouldn't be able to put a chip in them, or any after market parts, because that makes the car do things it wasn't originally designed to. Well guess what? you own the car, you can do what you want with it. Where the line is drawn legally is PSN. If the hacks stay away from piracy and PSN, then sony has no legal grounds to tell you what you can and can't do to a piece of hardware you own. I'm not defending geohot at all, but there is nothing wrong with modifying the PS3 to do things it wasn't designed for as long as it does not involve PSN or playing games IMO. Allowing it to be a full blown computer is a great thing, no reason for it not to be able to do these things.

Of course once you open up a console it does allow a path to piracy, but thats up to people to decide to do that or not do that.

[Quarterquack]

There is nothing wrong with modifying your own console to run your own code. As I mentioned a few posts back, you own it, you can therefore do whatever you want to with it, in my books. What I do have a problem with is distribution, or using such exploits as a social engineering platform to land a job somewhere or get some free hardware from some desperate geeks vying for piracy (GeoHot does this, by the way, just have a look around and you'll find out how he got his first PS3).

I will also cordially disagree with the "that's the issue here" part. The reason this got blown out of proportion is because both parties couldn't let this get low publicity. Sony is trying to scare its buyers into not using their consoles in ways they were not intended, and the hackers are throwing up some fingers in order to just piss Sony for the heck of it. The issue here is that publicity works, otherwise, neither party would've started this battle.

EDIT: As for your car analogy, you still need to get a licensing on the parts you modify your car with, nay? So, no, you still cannot modify your road-legal car into a plane without a few no-you-cannnot-s coming up in your way.
I'm not arguing with you, I just thought it was a rather hilarious oversight.

[1000possibleclaws]

The core concept of console-production business models is to not to support open-formats. I'm pretty sure most if not all consoles are close-format, because their revenue comes from licensing fees.

Sony would be fools not to include some sort of clause making it illegal to modify their console software.

[Quarterquack]

Sony Computer Entertainment America and George Hotz today announced the settlement of the lawsuit ... Hotz consented to a permanent injunction.

Yeah. I actually didn't see that one coming.

[OlegL]

Sony is a great firm; I own a Sony Bravia TV and a PS3, and I love them both. I legally buy my games for the PS3 and I don't want to try to hack it.

[mjmacky]

Sony is trying to scare its buyers into not using their consoles in ways they were not intended, and the hackers are throwing up some fingers in order to just piss Sony for the heck of it.

This! This! You're really on Sony's side of this, as you have presented it? Let's substitute this particular guy with someone you know that parsed out the information in another way meant for private discussion and it exploded to public. Would you feel differently about the response, i.e. is this where you draw the line. As far as I know, he was spreading the information, was he also personally distributing the files needed?