The legal battle between PS3 hacker George ‘GeoHot’ Hotz and Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) came to an end recently (unless Hotz gets bold again). As part of the settlement agreement Hotz has been prohibited from fiddling with any Sony products in future. If he does, he will be fined US$10,000 per infraction, up to a total of US$250,000.
As GamersMint amusingly points out, he could pull another donation drive and generate the cash to continue hacking Sony devices. With 50,000 donors giving US$5 each, he’d be well on his way to resuming his hacking antics – a feat probably not too implausible in this day and age of internet stardom.
Hotz has spoken out post-settlement, and unsurprisingly he doesn’t have nice things to say about Sony. Hotz apparently intends to use his public profile to champion the cause of a class action lawsuit being brought against Sony regarding the removal of the OtherOS feature from the ‘fat’ versions of the PS3. “These class action lawsuits are the type that can bankrupt or do seriously financial harm to a company, and finally get Sony to realize that they are not above the law as they would like to believe,” said Hotz.
Hotz debates the motives of Sony in removing the OtherOS feature and wonders what it is that Sony is trying to hide. The concern among those who want to use the OtherOS feature is that Sony will actively punish them for re-implementing a feature that was originally advertised as part of the product.
Hotz claims that Sony is ‘playing legal games’ with their corporate structure, with SCEA claiming that they didn’t remove the OtherOS feature – it was done by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI), which is based in Japan. SCEA claims they cannot get documents and communications related to the OtherOS removal because SCEI has them, and SCEA is simply the messenger.
Hotz says that on the other hand, SCEA claims they can get hold of the documents as long as SCEI isn’t named as a defendant in the case. “If I were the plaintiffs, the first thing I would have done is added SCEI and got a motion to compel on those docs,” said Hotz.
Hotz goes on to accuse Sony of lying: “They claim restoring Linux to your PS3 is ‘not only prohibited under Sony’s agreements, but is illegal.’ This is an example of a lie. EULAs are not law. Sony’s beliefs are not law.”
Hotz is also not happy with Sony’s license agreements. “Some of Sony’s words just really unsettle me,” he said, citing a statement by Sony: “You don’t have an ownership right in the software that Sony Computer allows you to use. That’s the whole point of the license agreement, it’s not an ownership interest, it is a privilege that Sony conveys on them.”
“Should I feel privileged to give you $300?” asks Hotz. “If you take the privilege back, what can I do with my uncontested ownership [of the] physical PS3? If I stop using your software and install my own, you’ll sue me.”
Hotz concludes by saying that he is most worried by how Sony has reacted to the class action lawsuit: “Sony has attempted to demand inspection, and by inspection they mean full copies, of not only the representatives PS3s but of their home personal computers. To any reasonable person, it’s clear Sony doesn’t expect to find “evidence” there, it’s just simply to harass the representatives. And the harassment worked on one, he pulled out of the suit citing privacy reasons. Know what Sony did? They tried to demand inspection of his things anyway. You get the message? Basically if Sony does bad things, you better not call them out, or they’ll attempt to make your life hell.”
Loading ...
