Post by trog @ 01:51pm 21/02/11 | 32 Comments
I am an advocate against mass piracy, do not distribute anyone's copyrighted work but my own, do not take crap lying down, and am even pro DRM in a sense. For example, I believe Apple has every right to lock down their iPhone in the factory as much as they want, but once it's paid for and mine, I have the right to unlock it, smash it, jailbreak it, look at it, and hack on it. Fortunately, the courts agree with me on this point.There's a few other interesting tidbits of information so it's worth a read. He's also set up a new blog to cover the case as it progresses, and so far it sounds like donations are coming.
My PS3 goal has been to provide users a legitimate path to homebrew, which by the standards of all previous cases (or, in reverse), is 100% legal. Sony does not even try to allege piracy or copyright infringement in this case, they allege I did things like play "super mario world, an unauthorized game" on MY PS3. And access MY PS3 in an unauthorized way. Who are they to authorize what I do with my taxed and paid for property?
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Posted 02:02pm 21/2/11
Posted 02:10pm 21/2/11
There's a good post here about that (linked from the geohot page). It's a valid concern, but it's fundamentally a problem with the games depending solely on PSN's protection schemes and not having their own mechanisms to help moderate gameplay.
They'll (once again) have to play catch-up with PCs now ; if they want to really stop this then all games will need to ship with a unique CD key mechanism that allows them to ban keys at a separate level. If I had a PS3 and played games online this is one thing I would be looking for carefully in future titles; the cheating problem is only going to get worse, not better.
Posted 02:09pm 21/2/11
especially parading it around like he has, he's just a nerdy douchebag from what i can gather
Posted 02:18pm 21/2/11
This seems reasonable. Or is this only possible because of CD keys?
Posted 02:29pm 21/2/11
he's not a cheater, he's just someone who is taking sony on at their own game and he's winning
they can't write decent code that this kid can't hack, so they take him to court
its his f*****g ps3, he should be able to do whatever wants with it, end of story
Posted 02:30pm 21/2/11
Also, the main reason it is so rampant in Black Ops PS3 in particular is because of the lack of dedicated servers on the consoles. If there was dedicated servers, then those servers could be player moderated just like happens on PC.
So blame the s***** trend to client-hosted game servers before you go blaming the people hacking the devices.
Posted 02:40pm 21/2/11
That's all I'm seeing.
There is an easy way around all of the cheating - but noone wanted to take that route, and so now they are complaining because people are cheating.
Bizarre to me.
Posted 02:43pm 21/2/11
Plus it's just another avenue for them to "entice" people to upgrading to the next game once it is released. "Now with awesome cheat protection!"
Posted 03:08pm 21/2/11
Can you simply download a game and play it (after burning?) like on PC?
I wonder why companies like Activision/EA etc dont go after groups which crack and pirate games, are they annonymous and this guy GeoHot was obviously not?
Posted 03:19pm 21/2/11
You don't need to burn, just download and FTP to your console or whack on an external drive and plug in to the console then run it.
Was the same on XBox 1, not sure about 360 though, I don't have one.
Posted 03:25pm 21/2/11
This^.
I dont own a PS3 and never will (always have been the PC first gamer but have had the console life NES>SNES>64>XBOX>360 type but i dont even have a console anymore) so this does not apply to me in any way but the point teq makes here is legit.
Like c'mon sony.
Posted 03:41pm 21/2/11
You can't support one and not the other, and I've never seen anyone come out on Apple's side over that.
Posted 03:43pm 21/2/11
Hell, it wasn't even him who originally found the private key, that was Fail0verflow. It's pretty disgraceful that all of these people are rushing to the defence of a company that doesn't have their best interests in mind.
EDIT: High-five for bringing up the same point about the iPhone, Hoggy.
last edited by Midda at 15:43:33 21/Feb/11
Posted 04:05pm 21/2/11
Posted 04:24pm 21/2/11
Posted 04:28pm 21/2/11
Then what is people's problem? i bet half of them are running around with jailbroken iphones.
F*** them, more power to him and bring back Fight Club!
Posted 04:31pm 21/2/11
Y/N.
Don't really want HBGary tracking me down from my donation and hassling my facebook friends though.
Posted 04:35pm 21/2/11
Posted 04:40pm 21/2/11
sony will probably demand that paypal hand over info of everyone that donated, much like they tried to do with google and those that viewed the yt vids of the hack.
Posted 11:48am 22/2/11
now don't get me wrong, I'm totally in support with geohot and hate sony with a passion with what they have done to my PS3.. BUT
although its right for you to do whatever you want with your property as long as it doesn't affect others. (ie, IPhone jailbreak). What sony are likely going to do is say that by enabling cheating on their system this "jailbreak" is harming their customers. if they say piracy is harming consumers then this is only a minor extension. (eg, hacking reduces the value of COD's online experience, which hurts sales, and because money is more important then personal freedoms with equipment the court will rule in favor of sony unless geohot has a good lawyer.)
What i find funny is that its OK for Sony to harm consumers in EXACTLY the same way by removing functionality on a product so that it can't be used in all ways advertised. (eg, removing the homebrew option reduces the value of the ps3, you either have the choice of "homebrew" or "new games.")
what i want to know is. why do companies not have a legal requirement to maintain functionality that was advertised originally with the product yet has a legal right to dictate in what way their product is utilized. Sony, you can't have it both ways.
this legally allows sony to have a "bug" that bricks your ps3 on a specific date (say, the release date of the ps4), then saying its illegal to change the date to pre ps4 release dates to fix this "bug".
Posted 12:18pm 22/2/11
Based on his blog it seems like they are going after him on the basis that he is using the device for purposes they have not approved, rather than based on potential rammifications of his work, but I guess you'd have to read the court notes or whatever to be sure.
Posted 12:33pm 22/2/11
This is just scare-mongering. It would fail for the same reasons it failed previously.
geohot is the person taking the risks here. If you think it's a good cause then donate.
Posted 12:45pm 22/2/11
put another way. "is it possible to cheat in the online games without this hack?". Sony case is going to be built around this.
unfortunately due to the current political climate in America (corperations have the same / more rights than individuals and expectation to profit from investment (not ability, expectation) seems to be the driving factor in court with regards to intellectual property) chances are Geohots screwed.
Its also unfortunate that this will then be used as a precedent in international copyright law. so this will effect everyone and is a worth while cause to donate to but don't be surprised if your PSN account gets banned if your psnid and your pay-pal id ever are linked by Sony.
Posted 01:25pm 22/2/11
Posted 01:24pm 27/2/11
Posted 02:27pm 27/2/11
Cant stand big companies like this telling you what your allowed to do with ur property.
We arent renting the f***** ps3 off you. WE BOUGHT IT.
Posted 07:12pm 27/2/11
It's more a case of him hacking the PS3, and then releasing a 'how to guide'.
He acts all high and mighty by saying he doesn't support piracy and s***, but as smart as he is, i'm sure he knew that there would be someone who would be able to hack his hack to allow piracy.
Sony is just protecting their Intellectual Property. Good on em'
In the end gamers benefit.
Posted 07:18pm 27/2/11
Posted 07:20pm 27/2/11
They don't benefit when Sony remove functionality and then sue people who try to restore it.
Whether or not he supports piracy doesn't matter to me at all. He could be 100% pro-piracy and I wouldn't really care, as long as it meant I could use my PS3 in whatever ways I wanted, because it wouldn't change the fact that piracy is an act that /I/ have to perform. As it is, I'm glad of his obvious, apparently, up-front anti-piracy attitude because it makes it even more clear that he's just interested in freedom and the ability of consumers to use their device in any manner that they want to.
Posted 07:53pm 27/2/11
How does it benefit gamers at all?
Wouldn't trying to implement an anti-cheating system benefit gamers?
How does sueing people help anybody but the lawyers?
It wont stop the piracy.
It wont stop the cheating.
It will piss of more hackers to hack the system more.
Posted 08:53pm 27/2/11
Lol! now that's just a silly exagerration. Why would Sony tell you to stop playing games. Playing games is what makes them money. Hacking a system and potentially allowing piracy doesn't.
It's all about money. They make money. Money equals more games.
"Gamers benefit when guys like geohot expand the functionality of their devices.'
How do gamers benefit from this? Does added functionality to a closed system add more fun to a game programmed for a closed system? What kind of added functionality did you have in mind? emulators? ripping dvds/cds? what kind of added functionality could possibly be added to a console that couldn't be added to a PC or isn't already there, without kicking up a s*** storm like this?
It's funny how you all say that it's your property and s***. Sure the PS3 itself is your property, but intellectual property is never your own. If you had created the PS3 you would sell it in exactly the same way Sony or any other game company does.
Posted 09:06pm 27/2/11
Sony telling you what you can and can't do with your own physical property is pretty invasive. It's almost like saying you can't sell a PS3 second hand.
What happens after the first sale is none of Sony's business.