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Sony Gets Nasty With PSBreak Buyers

Posted by Soulskill on from the give-it-a-rest dept.

YokimaSun writes "The war between hackers and Sony over the PlayStation 3 has now taken an even more sinister turn, with Sony going after not just shops but actual buyers of the PSBreak dongle, threatening them with fines of many thousands of Euros and forcing them to sign cease-and-desist letters. It seems Sony will use any means necessary to thwart both homebrew and piracy on the PS3."

14 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Missing from the summary by millennial · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Sony is now requesting every buyer to transfer the rights to request the package back from customs over to Sony Computer Entertainment and to agree on the destruction of the device." Only happening in Germany, and likely has to do with lenient laws there that would allow it.

    --
    I am scientifically inaccurate.
  2. ps3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    dongle or wii?

  3. Other OS was shut down by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    What Sony should do is open up a sandbox environment in the PS3 in which homebrew developers can run their own software without problems.

    It did, until the slim PS3 came out and Sony left out the Other OS drivers to cut cost. Then the first hints of cracks came out with the stated goal of reenabling Other OS on the slim PS3, and Sony pushed out PS3 system software 3.21 to shut them down on the original PS3. Then the cat and mouse game started in earnest.

    I don't see why piracy and homebrew are always treated as one by these console developers.

    I explained the rationale against homebrew in another comment.

    1. Re:Other OS was shut down by marcansoft · · Score: 2, Informative

      They didn't leave Other OS out to cut the cost, as Linux has been proven to run on the Slim pretty much exactly the same way as it does on older consoles. It was deliberately disabled because they felt like it; there is no good technical reason.

    2. Re:Other OS was shut down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I heard on somewhat good authority that it was disabled due to pressure from companies wanting to sell emulation packs on the PSN store. The Linux support made this business model nonviable because MAME and other emulators had already been ported to the open source Linux platform on the system. Sony were only bowing to pressure from their corporate peers.

    3. Re:Other OS was shut down by Moryath · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bullshit. Geohot's hack required inserting a fucking wire into the console after taking it half apart, then slamming a switch like mad to cause the console to glitch.

      This is ENTIRELY $ony's fault for being a bunch of paranoid-delusional morons. I wonder if the people responsible for this debacle are the same morons $ony poached from Nintendo who were responsible for the mind-bogglingly stupid design idiocy of cartridges on the N64 and mini-dvds on the Gamecube.

  4. Re:I want a dongle, but no PS3 by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Do you watch TV? then you support sony as almost ALL tv shows are produced with either a Sony editing system (Sony OWNS the live TV editing market... Daily Show and Colbert Report are on Sony gear for live editing and switching...) shot on Sony cameras or are on cameras that use the Sony AVCHD format. Most of Discovery Channel now shoots on AVCHD cameras as digital delivery to cheap sd cards is better than the tape alternative.

    So stop watching TV as well, as that supports Sony. (a different division that has nothing to do with the others, but it's still "Sony")

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  5. Re:The public is Never Gonna Give Sony Up by Narishma · · Score: 3, Informative

    So?
    You asked why are people still buying from Sony and he gave you a few reasons. They make popular movies, music and games. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant.

    --
    Mada mada dane.
  6. Re:I bought a psjailbreak device to repair my ps3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here you go, current and a copy from 2006

  7. Re:Well, I'm not buying one by Pikoro · · Score: 3, Informative

    [HOWTO] Arduino Duemilanove Playstation 3 Jailbreak - Part 1: Hardware Build

    That should do it right there.

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
  8. Guess that make my decision easier by HunterA3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Use to think that Microsoft was the evil company and I'd never buy a 360. Glad I didn't buy either the 360 or the PS3. Though if I was a hardcore gamer, I'd have to say that this makes the 360 look a heck of a lot more enticing than the PS3. Congratulations Sony, you managed to find a way to kill off the PS3 faster than any would-be hacker

  9. Re:I bought a psjailbreak device to repair my ps3 by Pikoro · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sony OtherOS Manual

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
  10. Re:I bought a psjailbreak device to repair my ps3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    .. except on the box, as a bullet point, under Features.

  11. Re:Well, I'm not buying one by Gaygirlie · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wasn't planning to buy a dongle at all, I own a Nokia N900 which can be used as a dongle if I just install PSFreedom on it.