Sony is going after users posting a hack that “jailbreaks” its popular PlayStation 2 gaming system reports Wired.com.
The company is threatening to sue anyone who posts or distributes the hack on-line and has petitioned a federal court tp order Google to surrender the IP addresses and other identifying information of those who have viewed or commented about the jailbreak video on a private YouTube page. The game maker is also demanding that Twitter provide the identities of a host of hackers who first unveiled a limited version of the hack in December.
The hack was posted last week by George Hotz, a 21-year old New Jersey man, who reportedly has a reputation in the jail-breaking community. Hotz posted the jail-break code and a YouTube video showing how to implement it last month. According to Wired, the code allows users to play pirated and homebrewed games.
Sony wants the information “to determine the identities of third parties hosting and distributing the circumvention devices” so Sony can send them a DMCA notice to remove the material “and, if necessary, seek appropriate relief from this court.” (.pdf)
“The discovery they call for in my opinion is overbroad,” Hotz’ attorney, Stewart Kellar, said in a telephone interview.
Sony declined to comment.
A hearing is tentatively set for Wednesday. Sony filed its documents about 7:30 p.m. PST on Friday.
Hotz was ordered by a federal court to remove the code from his site and the video from YouTube last week. He has complied with the request, reports Wired.
Hotz, by order of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, is also scheduled to surrender his computer gear to Sony by Thursday. Kellar is trying to convince Judge Illston to back away from allowing Sony to examine his drives and other devices.
Sony is also trying to haul into court the so-called “fail0verflow hacking team.”
But first, Sony needs to learn the identities and whereabouts of the group’s members. They are accused of posting a rudimentary hack in December. It was refined by Hotz weeks later when he accessed the console’s so-called “metldr keys,” or root keys that trick the system into running unauthorized programs
Toward getting the fail0verflow defendants to appear into court, Sony is demanding that Twitter divulge the personal account information (.pdf) behind the usernames of @KaKaRoToKS, @gnihsub, @pytey, @bl4sty, @marcan42 and @fail0verflow.
“Hotz, by order of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, is also scheduled to surrender his computer gear to Sony by Thursday. Kellar is trying to convince Judge Illston to back away from allowing Sony to examine his drives and other devices.”
Ok, I get the whole deal with jail breaking being illegal and all, but since when is it legal for a corporation to seize someones computer and devices in order to find more dirt on the guy? Something wrong with that picture…
Since a court ruled it wasn’t illegal to jailbreak phones like the iPhone, I think that will eventually cover any electronic consumer device. Sony is the big bully that’s going to get knocked on its ass in the end.
Not being a legal eagle or at all familiar with US law, I still have to wonder what Sony hopes to gain from this.
I mean the hack is out there on the net, the cat has left the bag, come back, shredded the bag and pooped on the remains. There is no bag.
As for Hotz he does not profit from the hack, he is not selling pirated games or offering a hack service for a fee. Since the precedent has been set with the iPhone I just don’t see the point of going after Hotz.
Consoles these days are as powerful as most PCs and I don’t see a problem with wanting total access to ones device.