Judge Allows Subpoenas For GeoHot YouTube Viewers, Blog Visitors

PhrostyMcByte writes "Stepping up Sony's lawsuit against PS3 jailbreak developer George Hotz, this Thursday a judge approved multiple subpoenas which seek logs of all viewers and commenters to his YouTube video, visitors to his blog and website, and all information associated with his Twitter account."

Comments

I'm really getting tired of all this..

[intellitech]

I really hope SCEA crashes and burns. I personally won't ever support their products again.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ShadowRangerRIT]

How did you miss all the other bullshit Sony has been pulling for the last decade and a half? Microsoft has a generally improving trajectory (from a low starting point no question), while Sony puts effort into finding new ways to lower the bar. I swore off them five or six years ago and haven't regretted it for an instant.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[arth1]

At this point, I wish SCOTUS would crash and burn.
They've lost all my respect, turning into corrupt politicos pushing their owners' agenda, and not unbiased protectors of the individuals that make up the nation and her constitution. If it wasn't for SCOTUS' bought and paid for decisions during the last 15 years, this would have gone nowhere.

And I can't even vote them off the bench. Some democracy.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[nicholas22]

My g/f needs a new laptop. A month ago I suggested she got a Sony VAIO. Now I'm telling her about how good ACER can be...

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Airline_Sickness_Bag]

I stopped buying Sony products years ago when I realized that they were breaking more often than my other equipment.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Judging by you uid, you weren't even born 15 years ago.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Feeding a troll, but my uid actually has nothing to do with Power Rangers (predates the whole series by a year or two, and the "shadow ranger" by a lot more to my knowledge). All I know is that a few years ago, my mostly unique user name was being stolen by every damn 13 year old on the planet. Of course, if you're referring to the actual number as some sort of internet penis measuring contest, I lurked as AC for years before creating an account. Oh boy, I'm clearly a three year old in disguise. Get over yourself.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think you can accurately predict a persons age based upon their UID you might be 15 years old.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ElephanTS]

Yeah absolutely. I'm an audio engineer for over 20 years now and when I started Sony owned the broadcast equipment market. Then some time during the nineties we began to realise that this stuff was going wrong *a lot*. Their DAT players although standard in many ways failed like no other brand. Panasonic took over that one and I changed my preferences to only buy Trinitron products - which in the CRT days were the best. Then they started failing quite badly too - but not before they'd mugged me for a large multisync CRT that died after about three years. Something very wrong with Sony and has been for years.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Me too, but mainly because of their unfriendly actions. I will go out of my way to buy from someone else.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[sxedog]

I joined the ABS club years ago... Anything But Sony. I'm not upset about my decision at all. As a consumer I have the power to decide where to spend my money. I choose ABS

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[yincrash]

who are their owners, exactly? because they are not electable, they shouldn't have to answer to anyone. are you saying they get payouts? is there any record of this?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[GameboyRMH]

If you were 15 or less years old, Power Rangers would have first aired before you were born.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Every Supreme Court justice is very, very wealthy. They hold their investments in blind trusts but they are not stupid - in general, pro-business/anti-consumer decisions will benefit them even though they don't know the exact contents of their own portfolios. Indirect payouts can be just as corrupting as direct payouts.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[mapkinase]

It's like being angry at the rope instead of the guy who tries to strangle you.

Your rights to privacy and to free speech cost as much for you as you fight for it.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[mapkinase]

Don't forget state courts, systematically shooting down the results of various state referendums as unconstitutional.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[netsharc]

Here's one

Here's another one.

Is getting asked to speak at a mostly Republican event, and getting "reimbursed for the flight and hotel" enough of a payout for you? How about if it was a first class flight and 5-star Penthouse room with "order anything you want from room service.". Sure, no cash exchanged hands, maybe he just got lobster dinners and got it "reimbursed" because he was traveling to be a guest speaker, and he surely had to eat right? Is that still kosher?

And Thomas' wife works with tea partiers and get money from them. OK, neutral much?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

they're old and senile now. and anyway it seems law school corrupts any ability to reason sanely and justly

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[drinkypoo]

Something very wrong with Sony and has been for years.

When companies have competition they fight for their place in the market. Acting like you're #1 makes you into #2. People bought stuff because it said Sony on it (myself included) and because of their successful advertising. Sony is one of the few electronics companies to have any success with a factory store because, like Apple, they sell marketing. Unlike Apple, however, they pushed profit margins not by inflating prices (although Sony kit does tend to be slightly overpriced) but by compromising quality. It's not that they're not capable of successes, because many of their products are at least competently designed and manufactured (I have a ten year old receiver that I've moved with maybe six to eight times, just stacking it up with everything, probably shorted it a dozen times, it's still truckin') but that they don't care about them so long as they can keep selling you new kit.

The laptops are to me their greatest marketing success; they tend to abandon them rapidly in terms of driver updates, and have always done so; I had a Pentium MMX laptop for which they provided drivers only for WinME, for example. I think it was 180MHz. Really nice-looking hardware, really crufty chipsets (Neomagic blech) and really flimsy construction. These traditions continue today. The machines are built like shit. Driver updates are scarce. New OS? Buy another machine!

I used to have over a dozen Sony logos in my den and another half-dozen in my bedroom. I'm down now to some wireless headphones, a receiver, and the matching sub, as well as a PSTwo. All the speakers had logos too but I pried 'em off. My next receiver will not be from Sony. I'm done buying Sony game systems... or anything else for that matter. I won't buy a new game for any Sony platform, nor any new branded hardware.

Farewell, Sony. I miss the old you, which AFAICT died Ca. 1980-something. I won't miss this version. Maybe if you put Linux back in the PS3 and stop suing everyone who makes people want your systems you can stop your decline. Doubt it.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[commodore6502]

>>>I swore off [Sony, Xbox360, NintendoWii] five or six years ago and haven't regretted it for an instant.

Better.

>>>Sony has been pulling for the last decade and a half

Slight exaggeration. Sony didn't really "turn bad" until just prior to the PS3 launch... sometime around 2005. So half a decade really, not 1.5 decades.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[commodore6502]

I mostly buy Panasonic, and they last a long, long time.

>>>All the speakers had logos too but I pried 'em off.

Afraid your mom will come into the basement and see the 'Sony' brand? (I'm just joking. Put down the lightsaber.) The only Sony products I have are a surround-sound stereo and my PS2, both of which continue to work without failing. (And the PS2 doubled as a dvd player, so it really should have died by now but it just keeps going.)

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[commodore6502]

>>>unbiased protectors of the individuals that make up the nation and her constitution

Where did you ever get the illusion the Supreme Court was "unbiased"??? That was never, ever, never the case. Even as early as 1805 Thomas Jefferson wrote, "You seem... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions --- a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.

"Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.... Their power is the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the Elective control. The constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves.

"...But the Chief Justice says there must be an arbiter somewhere. True there must, but the ultimate arbiter is the People, as represented by their deputies in the State Legislatures. Let the States decide to which they meant to give power, and amend the constitution if necessary."
.

Since the power of Judicial Review is not expressly granted to the Supreme Court by the Constitution, this power is "reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" per the Constitution's OWN words. It is not the Union judiciary's responsibility to protect individuals. It is the responsibility of the People and the States, standing-up for their rights against an overreaching central government-megacorp tyrant, and nullifying unjust laws whenever the occasion warrants.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[EuclideanSilence]

At this point, I wish SCOTUS would crash and burn. They've lost all my respect, turning into corrupt politicos pushing their owners' agenda, and not unbiased protectors of the individuals that make up the nation and her constitution. If it wasn't for SCOTUS' bought and paid for decisions during the last 15 years, this would have gone nowhere.

And I can't even vote them off the bench. Some democracy.

Bullshit.

First of all, it's not the SCOTUS responsibility to protect people. Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum. It's their responsibility to protect the law, and the consequences to any of the population are not their concern.

Secondly, what are these bought and paid for decisions? Bought for by how much? There is an argument to be made for justices improperly resolving ambiguity to their own personal preferences, but bought? Show me.

Most importantly, if you don't like any of their decisions, they can ALL be fixed by the legislature. If you want more restrictions placed on warrants, vote third party or stfu.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[commodore6502]

>>>they shouldn't have to answer to anyone

The US Justices are buddy-buddy with the US congress and US white house, both of which are puppets of Sony and other megacorps (via campaign donations). Congress and the Executive exert enormous pressure on their coworkers to pass correct decisions from the bench.

Having the US government police the US government (court review of laws) makes as little sense as having Sony corporation police the Sony corporation.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[fishexe]

If you were 15 or less years old, Power Rangers would have first aired before you were born.

There's this thing we have in the 21st Century called reruns...

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[grumbel]

Back when the PS3 came out things looked a little different:

PS3: Supported Linux, lets you replace the HDD, supports generic USB controller, supports generic Bluetooth headsets, supports USB webcams, supports Flash, SD, etc.
Xbox360: No Linux, proprietary HDD, proprietary controller (including special security to lock-out third parties), proprietary wireless protocol, proprietary memory cards and a heck of a lot of red-rings.

Basically the PS3 was extremely open for a mainstream console, far more so then basically anything else, Xbox360 on the other side was as locked down as possible. Sony looked to be on the right track with the PS3, what they hope to accomplish now with this witch hunt is beyond me, it won't put genie back in the bottle, but it goes a long way to ruin their image permanently.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[hedwards]

That's their job. Just because the people voted for it doesn't mean that it's constitutional. Recently the idiots here voted by a simple majority to require a super majority in the future on measures to raise taxes. It's not constitutional and has already been ruled unconstitutional in other states, but because of people like you that say they can't or shouldn't do it, we're having to see crushing service cuts so that MS and the like can avoid paying their taxes.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ElephanTS]

I used to work for xxxxx many years ago and we had a massive joint project with Sony to create an open reel digital multitrack standard. It failed ultimately but I did learn of the prejudices of the Japanese engineers. Even then (late 80s) the word was that Sony was making deliberately short-lived consumer products which reflected the extremely fast turnover of their domestic market. In the rich parts of Tokyo you could (apparently) retrieve fully working VCR's etc from trash - things discarded for the latest model. Sony I think built this planned obsolescence into their products as they thought consumers were not interesting in having a VCR work for say 5 years.

Probably the peak of Sony design was late70s to early80s and since then it's been laurel-resting and marketing. I too miss the old Sony but I guess Apple have taken that now.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[hedwards]

You might look into Asus as well. The hardware is nice, and you can sometimes get it without Windows. Just replace the Xandros adaptation they use with something that doesn't suck. I had a VAIO and it was a really nice machine, but that was many years ago and they had yet to do a lot of the dickish stuff that caused me to avoid paying money to them.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a holding by (at most) a district court judge on discovery issues. It's fairly trivial even for him, and has NOTHING to do with SCOTUS yet. If it gets challenged on fourth amendment grounds, THEN it STILL has nothing to do with SCOTUS, not for years and likely not at all. It's not like they just issued a ruling on this. We do have a pro-prosecutor supreme court. Blame the Presidents and Congress who often appoint people who have experience as prosecutors. And blame the criminals who year-after-year ask to not go to jail do to the cops doing something wrong.

The Fourth Amendment expanded during the civil rights era because cops were using unreasonable search & seizure against the civil rights movement. The Court expanded the Bill of Rights to apply to the states to combat racist cops who depended on states' rights for their ability to do whatever the hell they wanted. The Fourteenth Amendment--decades after it was passed (at the end of the civil war)--was used to overrule states' rights and mean that the states, rather than just the government, couldn't unreasonably invade your privacy. (They could up till about 1969, IIRC, with Mapp v. Ohio).

Since the civil rights movement waned in scope, the Supreme Court's cases have all been about prisoners or criminals who are trying to get off on a technicality. That tends to make them want to contract the scope of rights, but they still recognize the original reason the court created these rights and don't completely get rid of them.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Lobsters are definitely not kosher, according to Leviticus.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[countertrolling]

They have to answer to the law. The law is corrupt, but they still have to follow. It is up to us to ignore the propaganda and vote for people who make the proper changes. Until then, forget about it. Either way, don't blame the system you are propping up. I have very little doubt it will take a shooting war to tell the majority to fuck off as they vote our rights away.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can afford it, Falcon Northwest has the best quality.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[canajin56]

In the age of the Sega Master System and the NES, both Sega and Nintendo tried to use "drm" to lock out third-party developers, so only Sega/Nintendo games would be able to run on the respective hardware. Developers didn't like this, so they bypassed it. Both companies sued these "hacker" "pirate" developers. In both cases, the cases were thrown out with prejudice, but not before the judges verbally tore Sega/Nintendo a new one. One judge said if they ever hear a peep from Sega again on the issue, they will invalidate their trademark on Sega. (Sega's lock-in technique was to have the console check to see if the first 4 bytes of the ROM were "SEGA" and then sue for Trademark violations).

Not that much later, even watching a video about installing software not signed by the cartel can get you arrested and thrown in prison for a decade or longer. Obviously something has changed. But you're right, it's not the courts that were bought and "convinced" to change their minds. Installing third-party software was made illegal by the DMCA. It was politicians who were bought. And for how much? It's all public, just look at how much Sony and Microsoft and Apple and Nintendo (etc.) have paid to various politicians, with the "understanding" that if they don't get the laws they want, those payments will stop. This is not a bribe because the money comes before the "request", I guess, or something. I'm sure a politician can explain why it's not a bribe.

On the other hand, the DMCA has exceptions for breaking DRM for the purpose of third-party compatibility, so maybe the OP was right, judges just might have been paid off to ignore such exceptions and enforce vendor lock-in, outlawing jailbreaking. This is bad news for people who jailbreak iPhones, too, as it shows that even explicit exceptions to the law can be ignored if you just throw enough money at the legal system.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

What exactly have they done wrong? What ruling, as of late, do you disagree with?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[DurendalMac]

Um...Sony BMG? You know, the huge label that's one of the big four in the RIAA?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[DurendalMac]

Acer? Acer has terrible ratings in reliability and customer service. Asus and Toshiba are far better brands.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

dont bother...she wont care. she'll go for whichever one is pink. (similar happened to me last month - spent a while looking at budgets, best specs, etc...OMG THAT ONES PINK!!!!!)

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[SgtXaos]

I was involved in pro video some years ago, and yes, Sony was the top pick when we chose gear for a project. So I bought Sony gear for my own use at home. As tech changed, and I needed to replace things, I bought Sony again, but this time, all that stuff pretty quickly died, long before needing replacement for format or tech changes. The one exception is my Trinitron set from 1995 that is still kicking, but about to be replaced with something I can play HD content on. It won't be a Sony set.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ElectricTurtle]

The US Constitution has, outside of a few incorporated clauses and amendments, just about ZERO to do with the structure and procedures of state governments. States can have different numbers of congressional houses, different apportionment, different primaries, etc. etc. from the federal government. State laws and referendums/initiatives are judged, with rare exceptions, within the context of state constitutions. So saying that "[super majority for tax increases] has already been ruled unconstitutional in other states" means absolutely nothing, because those decisions would have been made in the context of each individual state constitution.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Antisyzygy]

Check out this link for reliabilities of various manufacturers : http://www.alphaila.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/laptop_breakdown_stats3.png

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Some democracy.

...and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands...

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

What does SCOTUS have to do with this one judge and his ridiculous ruling?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[slashqwerty]

what are these bought and paid for decisions? Bought for by how much? There is an argument to be made for justices improperly resolving ambiguity to their own personal preferences, but bought? Show me.

Seven days before issuing a ruling in Eldred v Ashcroft, Clarence Thomas accepted a seven-figure advance from Harper Collins on his memoirs.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Omestes]

Do you just avoid things that say "Sony" on them, or avoid everything held by Sony itself? Sony owns a cubic shit ton of other corporations and products, many of which aren't labeled as such. They also own large stakes in many other businesses; so do you avoid all of there tentacles?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ifiwereasculptor]

Not trying to further steretypes, but sometimes this is so true... A lady friend of mine was shopping for a car, and she'd ask the salesman exactly one question: "is the bumper painted in the same color as the car?". (It is pretty common here to have black bumper and knobs on cars of any color, BTW. Don't know if that's universally the case.)

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[mapkinase]

That would make sense if that thing that the judges are supposed to stand for, is nothing even close to constitution, has been amended upteenth times. I would not mind changing the constitution, but the question is how? One of the ways to do that is popular vote.

BTW, nice job with the straw man.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean, backroom deals got public records in the USA? Whoa.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Legal.Troll]

"And I can't even vote them off the bench. Some democracy." The U.S. govt was carefully designed to prevent clueless morons from having this sort of power over the cornerstone of our legal system. protip: every wild-eyed post also appearing under this parent thread is by a clueless moron.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Kharny]

I second that asus recommendation, and their support is a lot better than acers.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[dgatwood]

Slight exaggeration. Sony didn't really "turn bad" until just prior to the PS3 launch... sometime around 2005. So half a decade really, not 1.5 decades.

They might have turned worse in 2005, but I had already sworn off their products by about 2002 because of what I then considered to be an excessively high premature failure rate, which means that their products had sucked for me since at least 1998 or so. I think 15 years is probably in the ballpark. It just took you a decade to notice it.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[PopeRatzo]

They have to answer to the law. The law is corrupt, but they still have to follow. It is up to us to ignore the propaganda and vote for people who make the proper changes.

Most new laws are written by lobbyists. All regulations are written by industry lobbyists.

I think there's a very good argument to be made that disruptive civil disobedience is now our patriotic duty. I'm not talking about violence or becoming felons, but about being very mindful of the effect of our actions, in the marketplace and in the civic arena. Targeted strategic boycotts and other organized consumer actions would be very effective. Ever notice how quickly big corporations respond to boycotts? When seeing their stock price decline, corporations tend to act fast. Maybe it will take seeing a few companies have their stock price decline all the way before certain industries start behaving better.

At least Sony is a consumer corporation, so we have some control. There are certain corporations, such as BP or Haliburton, even Bank of America, where consumers have no control at all because either all or a huge part of their business is not retail. These are the most dangerous corporations.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

First they added rootkits to music CDs, and I didn't speak out because I didn't buy music CDs,

Then they came for the AIBO hackers, and I didn't speak out because I didn't give a damn about robot dogs.

Then they came for the Bleem developers, and I didn't speak out because I didn't feel the need to support commercial PlayStation emulators.

Then they removed OtherOS, and there was no one left to speak out for me... except fail0verflow and GeoHot.

Then they came for Geohot, so fuck Sony.

(With apologies to Martin Niemöller)

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Fysx]

I really hope SCEA crashes and burns. I personally won't ever support their products again.

Same here, I don't even want their PSP2

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Scarletdown]

I used to have over a dozen Sony logos in my den and another half-dozen in my bedroom. I'm down now to some wireless headphones, a receiver, and the matching sub, as well as a PSTwo. All the speakers had logos too but I pried 'em off. My next receiver will not be from Sony. I'm done buying Sony game systems... or anything else for that matter. I won't buy a new game for any Sony platform, nor any new branded hardware.

Farewell, Sony. I miss the old you, which AFAICT died Ca. 1980-something. I won't miss this version. Maybe if you put Linux back in the PS3 and stop suing everyone who makes people want your systems you can stop your decline. Doubt it.

I just took a look around my living room and spotted only 2 Sony logos: the PS2 I bought cheap at Goodwill, and a nearly depleted spindle of DVD+R blanks. I thought the old Beta VCR on the shelf with the PS2 was Sony, but it is Sanyo instead (and still working fine for the odd instances when I need to fire it up.)

Except for blank media (and then, only if it is a good deal compared to other brands), I am truly done with Sony products now, and have been since at least the rootkit caper. My only backsliding was the past 6 months or so when I was playing EverQuest 2. February was my final month for that, and I am now unsubscribed. Granted, my biggest reason was due to getting bored with it, but still, I did feel a bit dirty subscribing to a Sony game that whole time. I was just looking for an alternate MMO (for when I needed a break from City of Heroes) to hold me over until GW2. But I couldn't spend enough time in EQ2 to justify the $15 per month being paid to Sony.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[countertrolling]

Sony has a consumer division. The corporation is not consumer driven, in fact just the opposite, they steer the consumers like cattle anywhere it pleases. But it serves the heavy industry, where the real money is. Just like Mitsubishi or Toshiba. They couldn't care less if half of us were annihilated tomorrow. When their stock prices decline, they just shift their money to more profitable investments, and the CEO gets a huge bonus for *saving* the company, a bigger one for bankrupting it and eliminating its debts, and a bigger one still if they can get a "bailout".

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Billly Gates]

I am a former owner of 2 Toshibas and I have to say that list is full of crap. I worked in a pc shop too and Toshibas always had the most issues with HP second.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

This sort of thing happens on 'both' sides of the fence. Your implication is that it happens with republicans more is sad. *MANY* of our politicos are bought and paid for by different coalitions of lobbyists.

Recently here in NC a bill 100% made up by Time Warner was put in front of the state legislatures by a Democrat. Same sort of buy out. He left office and now the *EXACT* same bill is being promoted by a Republican. Same wine and dine going on.

http://stopthecap.com/2009/05/04/rep-ty-harrell-big-cables-bff-admits-hes-found-a-hornets-nest-gets-stung-anyway/
http://stopthecap.com/2011/03/02/breaking-news-nc-anti-community-broadband-bill-passes-one-committee-on-to-the-next/

Lets call it what it is. Bribes. As that is all it is. Guess what *NO* one will do anything about it. Join the 'vote everyone out' party. They apparently do not seem to realize that they are not their to be wined and dined but to help us.

Let me tell you the story of my Uncle. He had a 12,000 tax bill and fine and was possibly going to jail. He got a lawyer. The lawyer charged him about 1500 and made a recommendation. 'Donate' 2k to your local congress critter with a letter of 'please help me with my taxes'. Poof tax problem gone. My uncle called it the best 2 grand he ever spent.

You want results. You do it the same way as companies do. Bribes. We just call them 'campaign contributions' to be PC about it.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Antisyzygy]

Ive always had the most problems with Dells from when I worked in IT. HP never caused me a problem now and then but I have no knowledge of Toshiba, no-one used them.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Antisyzygy]

Hp caused me a problem now and them, typo.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[PopeRatzo]

But it serves the heavy industry, where the real money is.

I'll bet the profit margins are much bigger in the consumer divisions. Corporations know better than to pay too much.

So let Sony make their money from "heavy industry". Just don't let them have any of your money for their consumer junk. Let's see where there stock price goes.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony owns a cubic shit ton of other corporations and products, many of which aren't labeled as such. They also own large stakes in many other businesses; so do you avoid all of there tentacles?

As much as possible, yeah. Evil only exists when you pay for it. It's called being responsible.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, no cash exchanged hands, maybe he just got lobster dinners and got it "reimbursed" because he was traveling to be a guest speaker, and he surely had to eat right? Is that still kosher?

Given Lobster isn't Kosher? Le 11:9-10 De 4:9-10

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Igarden2]

Eldred v. Ashcroft was a 7 - 2 decision. If Thomas was influenced, it was unnecessary. There were 6 others voting the same way.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Thanks for explaining some of the history for those people who think Sony only "turned bad" recently. Even if that allusion is a bit overwrought...

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no words for you.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Omestes]

I generally don't "overtly" boycott things, though I avoid them based on quality. I haven't bought a Sony product in years (ignoring a used PS2 and used games for it, but Sony didn't see any cash from that), but not because I'm boycotting them, but because their quality isn't as good as their competitors. This didn't use to be true, but it is now. I might own a DVD or two from Sony, and I'm sure Samsung had to kick in some cash to Sony to make the Blu-ray player I bought.

I've noticed that when companies start getting generally abusive, their products also become inferior. There probably is a correlation hiding in there somewhere.

I've also "boycotted" the RIAA for around 10 years, completely on accident. There hasn't been anything I really wanted coming from any of their labels for some time. I still spend as much on music as I used to, but it mostly goes to independent labels and live music now.

Though I am sad that my Sony stereo receiver from the 80's just died, I loved it. Sony used to be decent company, squeezing out decent products. Sadly those times have passed. I replaced it with an old Pioneer receiver from the early 80's... so take that Sony! Ahem.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

No, lobster dinners are NOT kosher.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[slashqwerty]

Are you saying it is okay for Thomas to accept a bribe if it ultimately did not affect the outcome?

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Xest]

Well said.

There are companies I'd like to swear off but do struggle to, I'd like to ignore the MPAA companies but sometimes there's just a film I want to see or my friends invite me to see one so I do.

Companies like Apple can do wrong and people will still buy because they enjoy their products too much to ignore them. But Sony, well, it's not hard to ignore them. I've not bought a Sony product in over a decade, I don't really miss anything. Sony TV's used to be the thing to buy but they really don't seem great now, I much prefer TVs from manufacturers like Samsung and seeing them all stood together in the TV section of an electrical retailer doesn't make the choice hard.

Sony simply just do not release quality enough products to get away with their arrogant anti-consumer stance like other companies such can. They do nothing that has consumers wanting to come back for more no matter how hard they beat them. Even PS3 fanboys, perhaps Sony's most rabid followers seem to be a bit of a dying breed nowadays with a clear decline in numbers.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

Lobster is not Kosher.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[AmiMoJo]

Some third party controllers no longer work due to the updates either. In trying to block the jailbreak USB dongles they killed many composite devices including early Mad Catz controllers.

Mad Catz offered a replacement if the 3+ year old device was under warranty, although in the UK you can still use the Sale of Goods Act to get a partial refund.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[grumbel]

.In trying to block the jailbreak USB dongles they killed many composite devices including early Mad Catz controllers.

The firmware update was to block counterfeit controller, not the jailbreak USB dongles. I am not sure on exactly which controller it broke and if Sony has fixed is in further firmware updates or just ignored the problems, but regular PC USB controller still work fine with the PS3 to this day and the blocking of controllers was a side effect not intentional.

And compared to Microsoft thats still harmless, as Microsoft not only block third party controllers out of the box, they also actively went against third party memory cards and blocked them.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[jwhitener]

I think the difference between now and then isn't so much a question of bias, but of efforts to remain impartial, or at least projecting the appearance of impartiality.

Judges are supposed to excuse themselves from rulings when they have a conflict of interest. Many people hold that the large amounts of money that Clarence Thomas' wife receive through her Tea Party activities should have been cause for Thomas to excuse himself from the Citizen's United ruling.

Likewise, I think you'll be hard pressed to find very many instances of judges attending political strategy retreats, such as the Koch brothers event where two judges attended.

They may be biased, but they are supposed to, at the very least, appear impartial.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[countertrolling]

Ok, let's grant that the whole of heavy industry is based on the consumer market (I guess it kinda is). But the retail end is broken down into millions of tiny pieces so that no one part can damage the whole. It is simply chopped off. A consumer boycott amounts to whack-a-mole. Hardly noticed in the belly of the monster. Sony gets a small piece of the entire economy. You are always giving them money if you consume anything at all. It's just like a tax, only somebody else is doing the paperwork.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[Anonymous Coward]

I have done the same, and never regretted it.

The whole Rootkit on their audio CDs did it for me. Not to mention, minididcs, betamax, etc....

How they got away with BluRay is beyond me.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[PopeRatzo]

A consumer boycott amounts to whack-a-mole.

But think of how satisfying it was whacking those moles.

Plus, if you hit the machine hard enough, it breaks.

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[countertrolling]

But think of how satisfying it was whacking those moles.

Ah, well, if you're just playing with yourself, then by all means... I thought you were trying to have a baby

Plus, if you hit the machine hard enough, it breaks.

Too much work. Better to kill it softly by hitting it in the right spot.. If you really want to have an effect and break the machine, just clear all your debts. That is the heart of their power. Don't piddle around swatting flies. Move away from the shit

Re:I'm really getting tired of all this..

[PopeRatzo]

If you really want to have an effect and break the machine, just clear all your debts.

Now you're talking.

Well then...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't we all view his video and leave a few choice comments about what a dirty little slut the prosecution's mom is?

Re:Well then...

[WrongSizeGlass]

You mean sort of a /. effect on the number of people the prosecution has to check into? We might still be able to do that to his blog but I doubt the video is still on YouTube. Of course, if we all posted links to 'Rick Rolls' & Goatse on his blog I'm pretty sure we could ruin someone's day.

Re:Well then...

[mshenrick]

i tried to, but everything they want the logs of is removed

Re:Well then...

[Runaway1956]

Well - they may have my IP address from the logs - but neither the prosecution nor the defense wants to drag me into court. The sumbitch sitting behind the bench may very well find me "in contempt" - but I will have my say if dragged in to court. Before the American Revolution, did England make it illegal to discuss politics? Can't help wondering about that . . .

Re:Well then...

[Anonymous Coward]

They won't try to drag you into court. They'll send you a bill for your imagined offense, threatening court, and the bill will be less than your court defense would cost. You'll pay it, because that's the cheapest solution. That's justice, American style.

Re:Well then...

[Macthorpe]

They won't try to drag you into court. They'll send you a bill for your imagined offense, threatening court, and the bill will be less than your court defense would cost. You'll pay it, because that's the cheapest solution. That's justice, American style.

I'm sure the bill will be less than their court costs, too. Sounds a good old-fashioned bluff-calling would be in order.

Re:Well then...

[e4g4]

few choice comments about what a dirty little slut the prosecution's mom

It's a civil trial. The word is "plaintiff".

Re:Well then...

[Anonymous Coward]

but I will have my say if dragged in to court.

Not me. Not one word. Being dragged, in the truest sense of the word, would be humiliating enough without also having one's mouth open while the rest sit and judge. Whatever value any stranger wishes to obtain by having me dragged, they may get it without my help.

Re:Well then...

[aaron552]

The difference is that they can afford the court costs. It will hardly inconvenience them. They will probably will inconvenience you more.

Re:Well then...

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Wait for Sony to take you to court
2. Notify their shareholders that they are engaging in frivolous lawsuits that not only lose them customers, but also actual money
3. Shareholder suit
4. ???
5. Profit!

Sony strategy ?

[ouaibe]

1 - Get all the IPs that visited Geohot/Youtube
2 - Cross-reference with PSN accounts at the same time.
3 - Ban the f* out of them.
4 - ....
5 - Profit ?

Re:Sony strategy ?

[Anonymous Coward]

4 - Everyone who's account was banned jailbreaks their PS3 and starts pirating games.

Of course, that doesn't mean Sony won't do this.

Re:Sony strategy ?

[dotHectate]

Step 4 is really a mystery, because Step 3, "Banning customers" doesn't naturally lead to Step 5, "Profit!!!" in any way, shape, or form.

Re:Sony strategy ?

[Anonymous Coward]

It does if they all go out and buy new PS3's (unlikely)

At this point Sony shouldn't be losing money on each unit sold (one would hope)

Re:Sony strategy ?

[Penguinisto]

They're more than welcome to ban my IP addy... I'm sure my Wii would have a pretty hard time getting into PSN even without a ban. :/

Go for it

[MonsterTrimble]

I will watch the youtube videos just to make extra work for Sony - even if it's only a second or two of their time. I would love for them to come knocking - I don't own a PS3 (nor intend to), never owned a PS2 and my wife's PS1 is collecting dust in my basement. In fact, except for the PS1 only Nintendo has made it inside the walls of my house.

Oh, and I'm Canadian. *flips Sony the bird*

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

^^This.

Fully intend to watch the Youtube videos as many times as possible, from as many locations as possible, including our public library. Sony's arrogance and asshattery is so typical of the perceived stereotype of the Japanese in this part of the country, that it does a disservice to the numerous people of Japan I've actually had the fortune to meet, and we get rather a lot of visitors from Japan around here. Thank you, Sony, for helping to perpetuate social dinosaurs, can't wait for the inevitable extinction event that your bad karma is begging for.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here...I'm going to watch the youtube videos and then laugh my monkey ass off when Sony tries to extort or punish me. I don't own a PS3 (or a PS2, or PS-anything) and I never will.

So here's the deal Sony: you're welcome to falsely accuse me of whatever you like, and I'll be free to sue you for whatever my attorney feels is appropriate.

Re:Go for it

[Wild_dog!]

I went to the blog site and it wouldn't accept my post.
Hmmmmm.

http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/2011/02/grafchokolo.html#comment-form

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

With google account, posting seems to be working...
Have at it!

Re:Go for it

[nurb432]

I don't own a ps3 either. But that wont stop sony from getting a subpoena and having the cops kick down my door looking for it, with no investigation first. Just the fact that you (may) have knowledge makes you a criminal and you will be treated as one. You will have your belongs destroyed, taken and your financial ( and perhaps professional ) life ruined as you try to fight for your innocence. And if you prove ou are innocent, you wont even get a 'oops, our bad'. you get to rebuild your life on your own dime.

They wont 'come knocking' as you know using your own hardware for what you want is worse than being a terrorist.

Re:Go for it

[Seumas]

Geohots rap video alone has over 1.5 million views (not counting copies of the video uploaded under other people's accounts).

Also, it only seems right that if they're going to drag people into the lawsuit who have absolutely nothing to do with it other than, say, they watched Tech News Today and saw the video mentioned and partially played by Tom Merritt then they should be sure to subpoena everyone who has watched Geohot over the last couple years when he was interviewed on G4 or CNN or elsewhere. Eventually, they'll need to subpoena the information on everyone who has ever even heard his name.

Re:Go for it

[trawg]

Which videos are they?! We're not encouraging the Streisand effect as should be required!

Re:Go for it

[Baseclass]

For added fun I'm going to watch these videos over and over via Tor, changing my IP with each viewing.
I hope they enjoy pursuing untamed ornithoids without cause.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

says the idiot who doesnt know when God chooses to bring himself down in form of a video game console..

Re:Go for it

[Fysx]

I will watch the youtube videos just to make extra work for Sony - even if it's only a second or two of their time. I would love for them to come knocking - I don't own a PS3 (nor intend to), never owned a PS2 and my wife's PS1 is collecting dust in my basement. In fact, except for the PS1 only Nintendo has made it inside the walls of my house.

Oh, and I'm Canadian. *flips Sony the bird*

I will watch the youtube videos just to make extra work for Sony - even if it's only a second or two of their time. I would love for them to come knocking - I don't own a PS3 (nor intend to), never owned a PS2 and my wife's PS1 is collecting dust in my basement. In fact, except for the PS1 only Nintendo has made it inside the walls of my house.

Oh, and I'm Canadian. *flips Sony the bird*

I'm also going to do the same and I live in Shirley, NY - Come get me you piece of shits! Down with you! I WILL MAKE YOU FALL. And guess what? I also don't own a PS3 or any Sony product and I will me posting your keys and how to use them all over our towns telephone poles.

Re:Go for it

[Derekloffin]

Number 1, they are private videos, so you can't. Number 2, do you dislike Geo? Because that is the only thing you'd be doing, hurting him. One of the main points in the case is that he made said videos private so they would not be viewable to comply with the court order. If you viewed them now, you would put him into contempt of court. Sony would love you for it.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

*Also flipping Sony the bird - both fingers*

Back in the day, we had a wonderful Sony TC-FX6 cassette deck. I still consider it one of the best decks I've ever used. After about 1990, Sony became a multi-media company, not just a media-playing company. This is where Sony changed tactics, and became the Evil Sony, complete with Van Dyke beards.

Like you, the only Sony product to enter the house has been a PS1, and that was only because I won it in a company raffle. It currently sits unused on the other side of the room.

Once the Sony rootkit fiasco became public, I declined buying Kate Bush's new album (Aerial) because it was a Sony product (sorry, Kate!). Actually, because of the MPAA/RIAA, I haven't bought a CD since Tori Amos' "Under the Pink", or a movie since Jan 2004. (No, I don't download songs - most new songs are crap nowadays...)

So, now, we have Sony going after the folks who SUPPORT a hacker, even though they did not participate in the hack? What's next Sony? Are you going to sue me for NOT buying Kate's "Aerial", and supporting restriction-free formats?

    !

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

When I read this first thing I thought of was posting everywhere bogus comments that I had a working PS3 playing any region pirated games, other os and all sorts then wait for a knock on the door.

I have never owned any PlayStation products and I'm Australian *flips Sony two birds with a big cheesy grin*

Re:Go for it

[Raenex]

I don't own a ps3 either. But that wont stop sony from getting a subpoena and having the cops kick down my door looking for it, with no investigation first.

The cops didn't bust down geohot's door, let alone anybody else's. All these actions have been through court orders and not carried out by police. No need to make shit up.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

The cops didn't bust down geohot's door, let alone anybody else's. All these actions have been through court orders and not carried out by police. No need to make shit up.

What ultimately backs up a court order? (What can be expected to happen if he persists in refusing it?)

Eventually, one will find "brutal force" to be the answer. Trying to keep that fact hidden will never help anyone.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

your financial ( and perhaps professional ) life ruined as you try to fight for your innocence.

Then don't. Just be innocent (you already are), and make sure that everyone who cares about you knows that any ruin you face is no accident at all, and that they are perpetually hanging by the exact same thread as you. It'll become clear, and change more lives than any lifetime lawyer debt ever would.

Re:Go for it

[Raenex]

What ultimately backs up a court order? (What can be expected to happen if he persists in refusing it?)

Of course, except my parent wasn't talking about refusals. He was talking about cops busting down doors without any investigation.

You're just trying to change the situation after the fact.

Re:Go for it

[nurb432]

Can you afford to be a martyr? I cant. I bet most cant.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

Since i'm an European citizen i did the same and i bet LG would looove to help any litigation...just for fun.
I wonder how a judge can allow this to happen because in my jurisdiction it's NOT illegal to view it, jailbreak it or whatever they can allege. So they are *illegally* providing my information to a third party since:
  1) i did NOT commit a crime.
  2) I'm not suspect of a crime
And without suspicion no warrant can be issued...and without warrant any proof would be inadmissible...so... Can Sony lawyers pay the hassle ? =)

US judges have to learn to measure the impact of their actions, and the international conflict caused when they do something like this.

Re:Go for it

[Anonymous Coward]

url pls? i'll give them some shit to subpoena for

San Francisco?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are they so desperate to have the case heard in San Francisco?

Re:San Francisco?

[Abstrackt]

Why are they so desperate to have the case heard in San Francisco?

I'd say they're desperate to have the case heard anywhere they can get ahead, San Francisco just happens to be the place it's working.

Re:San Francisco?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because SF is one of the wackiest districts in the 9th Circuit.

More About the Judge

[BooRadley]

This says less about Sony, and more about the judge in the case. According to several ratings websites, Hon. Joseph Spero is pretty new to the Magistrate bench, and has the reputation for being predisposed to siding with government and business 100% of the time. Hopefully there will be an injunction and appeal coming soon on this.

Re:More About the Judge

[Antisyzygy]

Don't bother calling him Hon. he doesn't deserve it.

Re:More About the Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to pick nits, but you don't get to decide that. He's a judge, a position of honor in our society. If you don't like that, get him disbarred. But retracting an honorific is just childish and petty. If you do it in his court, or any other, you will find out rather quickly that your opinion is neither welcome, nor free.

Re:More About the Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

I lost respect for the law and government in general a long time ago. Witnessing too many bullshit and outright crooked decisions like this one will do it to anyone. This guy may have earned his title within the judicial system, but he hasn't earned it with me and I won't respect it.

Re:More About the Judge

[DeadCatX2]

So freedom of speech stops at the court room door, huh?

Re:More About the Judge

[commodore6502]

>>>siding with government and business 100% of the time

Then shoot him in the head.

Re:More About the Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

a Judge is just a Lawyer++, and most lawyers are corrupt

Re:More About the Judge

[Seumas]

Granting someone any degree of honor, just because it was slapped on them by a state, employer, or academic institution is childish, petty, and ridiculous. You have to earn honor and respect.

Re:More About the Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this will be a situation where, if need be, Google will stand up and say no. Sony may have just gone from bullying GeoHot to a serious legal battle with Google. If they're smart, they'll call this off reeeeeal quick.

Re:More About the Judge

[wiredlogic]

It's easy for a judge to play it safe and go along with a plaintiff's claims rather than live up to the oath he took upon entering office. It's better for business that way.

Re:More About the Judge

[Anonymous Coward]

This guy may have earned his title within the judicial system...

Judgeships are political plums. They are given to lawyers with political connections, or as a "reward" to fellow legislators who have lost an election.

Same old scum: new robe.

Does Sony think they are helping themselves?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't own a PS3 and wouldn't buy one because I don't support closed source devices. I am not sure I understand why Sony thinks this is in their best interest.

Idiocracy

[Anonymous Coward]

This is really going too far. This is not even about piracy but Sony's pride. Also, laws need to be changed. When I buy something I want to use it the way I want, not the way somebody told me.

Re:Idiocracy

[betterunixthanunix]

When I buy something I want to use it the way I want, not the way somebody told me.

Yes, because as we all know, you "own" what you buy...

Re:Idiocracy

[drinkypoo]

Yes, because as we all know, you "own" what you buy...

As much as you can own anything ever, you own whatever you buy. Unfortunately for you, there's lots of laws that permit the government to take things that you "own" away from you. Further, when you buy a program on CD or whatever the law essentially means you've only bought the media and its contents aren't really yours. And if you're connecting your computer to someone else's network and you've agreed to let them manage it then you deserve the management you get. You're free to buy the PS3 and bring it home and do anything you want to it and even resell it. If you connect it to Sony's network and agree to their terms then they're free to do anything to it covered by your agreement.

So yes, when you buy a PS3, you do own it. And further, you're free to do anything you like to the program code on that PS3... except redistribute it without the PS3 you bought.

Re:Idiocracy

[Anonymous Coward]

And further, you're free to do anything you like to the program code on that PS3... except redistribute it without the PS3 you bought.

Not true. http://www.chillingeffects.org/anticircumvention/faq.cgi#QID91

Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[h00manist]

Everyone should share net connections. And avoid at all costs having an individual IP number, registered to their name and address, that only they use. Eventually it will become clear that IP numbers are not people.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Zastai]

Once IPv6 really starts being used (granted at this rate that's years off yet, despite IPv4 having officially "run out"), with its huge range, I would not be surprised to see a push from large corporations to try and mandate that IP addresses are directly linkable to people.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[betterunixthanunix]

Everyone should share net connections

Read the fine print -- you cannot do that with the connection I am on, and I bet you cannot do it with most "residential" (read: affordable) connections. Your ISP could disable your Internet access for that sort of sharing, particularly when they get a subpoena and you try to claim that it was one of the dozen friends you are "sharing" your connection with.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Anonymous Coward]

Eventually it will become clear that IP numbers are not people.

For most ISPs, it's not a problem to link a dynamic IP that changes, say, every 24hrs to one of their millions of users. They do log this stuff and will reveal it to the authorities once a court order is presented.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[ThunderBird89]

Maybe not sharing the connections (that indeed may break the EULA you're under), but TOR is our friend in this case.

Of course, I'm under no illusions that many of you share the connection, even if it's only between several devices. My EULA prohibits even that, with an enforced limit of two devices, in addition to an IPTV set-top box.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[pcgfx805]

I'm Spartacus!

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[h00manist]

Once IPv6 really starts being used (granted at this rate that's years off yet, despite IPv4 having officially "run out"), with its huge range, I would not be surprised to see a push from large corporations to try and mandate that IP addresses are directly linkable to people.

Goo d point. Both businesses and law enforcement have strong interest in making sure everyone is trackable by them all the time. Various criminals and spies as well. As technology makes it more possible, legal and lobbying pressure for it will increase. That will never stop. Let's face it - lots of data is easily collected with no detection, and the legal status of this activity often offers little deterrent. These hidden, illegal data stores exist and are bought and sold already. Some legal provision for these data-trafficking "information services" has to start.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Sponge Bath]

"...mandate that IP addresses are directly linkable to people."

A personal IPv6 address will be assigned at birth, burned into an RFID capsule, and injected into your body. For backup purposes, the number will be tattooed on your forehead in ink made from kitten blood, because large corporations are just that evil.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Runaway1956]

How do they "enforce" it? My ISP only sees one device connected to their modem. Unless they're doing packet inspection, all they can see is my router. But, I have zero respect for any EULAS or TOS. The stuff I buy is mine, and everyone from Bill Gates on down can kiss my rear. I just don't care what they think is "fair" or "reasonable".

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[ThunderBird89]

Not much respect on my part either, I confess, but what T-Online HU does is kinda low: not only do they do not grant admin access to the router (the default account is only a power user, barred from actions like backing up and upgrading the firmware) while reserving the right to upgrade remotely both on the router and on the STB, but it appears that the WLAN driver of the router is defective by design.

You see, my contract stipulates a two-device limit on one connection, the STB excluded. I had a laptop, a smartphone, and two desktops at the time to be connected. Most of the time, it was the smartphone and the laptop online together, with no problems. But whenever I turned on a third device, the router started throwing TKIP MIC errors every 30 seconds. I permutated through all combinations of devices, and every time, the moment a third device wanted to connect, the WLAN driver went crazy until I brought down the number to two and rebooted the router.
So I ended up putting a second router behind the T-Online one on of the CAT5 ports, and spent the better part of the day getting them to play nice with each other (instead of shelling out ~€100/~$128 for an AP).

As for DPI, I'm not sure if they stooped low enough to do that, but given that this isn't the US, I'm inclined to say they don't care for now. My university connection has worse censoring than this, TBH.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[icebraining]

Where I live the largest ISP uses Fonera compatible routers for home connections. Unfortunately that's not really anonymous, since you need to authenticate or buy a pass :|

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[nospam007]

"Your ISP could disable your Internet access for that sort of sharing,"

Are you under the impression that going to jail or paying millions isn't worth losing your ISP?

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[rtyall]

I was tempted to buy a domain name, something like www.SonyAreABunchOfCunts.org, and set the DNS to my IP.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Runaway1956]

Cool. Second router connected to the first. I might have thought of that, but it certainly didn't cross my mind immediately. Way to go, man!

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[maxwell demon]

How do they "enforce" it?

Simple: Say someone with whom you are sharing your connection does something bad on that connection. Now you cannot defend that it wasn't you, because if you do then you've still violated the EULA. Basically it means you are responsible for everything which happens on your connection because if someone else is responsible, you are still responsible for letting him do it against the EULA. Of course, depending on what that other person did on the connection, you admitting to have shared your connection may still be the lesser evil (say, he used the line to share child porn). But then, you better have damn good proof that it wasn't you, because the EULA means you are the first suspect.

So basically the EULA is "enforced" by the fact that you'll get in trouble whenever anyone does something bad over your connection. Therefore connection sharing comes with an associated risk, especially if you share with people you don't know. If you were officially allowed sharing the connection, then you could not be held responsible for anything others do on your connection.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[houghi]

Even with dialup, where you would get a different IP each time you connect, this was not a problem.

As a provider once you have the time and IP,you know who connected and thus is responsible for traffic. If you are unable on identifying the person who did the actual illegal stuff, it will depend from case to case (and per country) what will happen.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[houghi]

The only reason they do it is to get extra money. I see no problem with me having multiple systems, even if the provider says I can't. (Mine does not say that)

OTOH students where I live will often share a connection and instead of 10 accounts will only have 1. Obviously that is not the intended use, even though technically no problem.

Whether this is right or wrong is another discussion.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[h00manist]

Basically it means you are responsible for everything which happens on your connection because if someone else is responsible, you are still responsible for letting him do it

Indeed. Having an IP number in your name is a legal risk. So don't get one, share one with lots of people.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

Are you under the impression that you'll get another? One that has acceptable service? Where I am, I have ONE cable ISP available. The alternative is some fairly horrid DSL.

I find it rather simple to not do things that would send me to jail or cause me to wind up owing millions, but by all means go with the "it wasn't me it was the person I was illegally subletting to". That's sure to work out just fine.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[tibit]

There's nothing illegal about connection "subletting". You may be in breach of contract, but there's no law that prevents such "subletting" otherwise. I don't think that the word illegal applies to breach of contract?

If you are trying to defend youself from, say, accusations of accessing kiddie porn, the issue of whether connection sharing was in breach of the contract you had with your ISP shouldn't matter. The ISP can of course suy you separately, but really both issues got nothing to do with each other.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[tibit]

"Now you cannot defend that it wasn't you, because if you do then you've still violated the EULA" -- WTF has breaking the EULA to do with someone doing something bad on the connection that you "sublet"? Those are two separate issues. The former is an issue of contract law and is solely between you and the ISP. The latter may be a matter of copyright or criminal law (media file sharing, kiddie porn sharing, etc).

If the local prosecutor wants to go after whomever was seen, say, torrent-sharing illegal porn from some IP address, they are interested in just that and not in enforcing the EULA or service contract yuu had with the ISP.

No, EULA is not "enforced" like you claim in the 2nd paragraph. You're just confused and make shit up. It doesn't make any sense.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[davester666]

So, you're idea is for everybody to NOT be the sucker that actually signs up for internet access? Or for everybody to get together and decide that the dumbest person in the area is the one to sign up?

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[h00manist]

I think a number of people would view it as risk outsourcing, and place the IP under a purposely designed legal entity. Which would be surely incur some cost, can be collected from all people using it. In other words share the risk among a group of people.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[Culture20]

Once the prosecutor looks into things, your ISP will drop you like a hot potato. Arguments in your defense of "but I was only sharing" will be met with "you are in violation of the EULA"

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[davester666]

Um, given the current copyright setup in the US, where individuals can be sued for multiple-millions of dollars for sharing only a handful of songs, and they start with multiple-thousand dollar settlement offers prior to court, you are willing to take an equal share of the liability of whatever anybody in your 'share pool' does using the shared internet connection?

And to expand your idea further, it amounts to 'insurance' where you spread the risk of lawsuits over a large number of people. Only the lawyers would have a total field day with this, and the insurance fee's would be crazy high.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[tibit]

I agree, but what I said was simply that the EULA provisions are under contract law, and whatever prosecutor will look at will be separate from that. ISP's doings are admittedly fair game.

Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers

[nospam007]

"Are you under the impression that you'll get another? One that has acceptable service? Where I am, I have ONE cable ISP available. "

So you'd prefer to move to a prison but not to a different location?

Waits for the streisandeffect tag

[Anonymous Coward]

to be added to the article. Just mentioning that site, people are going to visit it. And what about those who were curious about the info but don't own a PS3, and don't plan on getting one ever now?

Go after him, not his viewers

[Kenshin]

As much as GeoHot put himself in this whole legal mess, with his publicity-seeking and taunting of Sony, it's asinine of Sony to go after his YouTube viewers and commenters. I guarantee that 99.9% of the viewers are just bystanders who wanted to see what all the fuss is about. He created the content and put the video up, people who simply clicked "play" did nothing wrong. In fact, YouTube holds more guilt than all of them simply for making it available.

Re:Go after him, not his viewers

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, but did they do nothing wrong after? You watched something sony doesn't like, they have the judges in their pockets, now they have your IP address and can get a warrant to raid your home and take away your computer gear. Sony America has already done this in Germany, a country you would expect to tell sony where to politely stick their American rules.

It's a very scary world watching this unfold. Nintento Wii was trivially hacked, as was the 360. Both MS and Nintendo are assholes, and always have been, and yet they didn't do anything like we're seeing from Sony/

Re:Go after him, not his viewers

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup!

I don't own any gaming console, yet I've visited GeoHots site multiple times over the past several years. I'm curious to know what Sony, and the Judge for that matter, really expect to gather from these subpeonas.

About the only other tidbit they'll find on me is that I hate Sony with a passion. Every piece of electronics I've owned from them has failed before listed life expectancy. IMO, Sony, as a brand, is permanently black-listed in my book. As the IT guy in our shop, I insure that when I'm asked about new electronics equipment to purchase for home use, Sony is the last option tthey should be looking at.

Biased? Hell yea I'm biased! Why should anyone else get burned like I have! I'm here to help people dammit!

Re:Go after him, not his viewers

[Nyder]

As much as GeoHot put himself in this whole legal mess... He created the content and put the video up, people who simply clicked "play" did nothing wrong. In fact, YouTube holds more guilt than all of them simply for making it available.

that's weird, i thought they were going after the ip of people who left comments, not people who viewed the video.

This is getting ridiculous

[Pecisk]

Maybe they will ask Google for people who have searched for certain terms, code names, utt.? What's next, going after people who criticize this witch hunt from Sony?

It is funny that some lawyer drones are capable to destroy everything company tried hard to build. It is time to require lawyers to have not only knowledge of law, but also understanding of common sense and intelligence. Otherwise modern society will slowly kill itself with such attitude.

Re:This is getting ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

Angliski utt. ir etc.

Re:This is getting ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

uhm...yupp

Re:This is getting ridiculous

[Anonymous Coward]

Intelligent lawyers? That's something i'm yet to see.

Thought Crimes

[freezin fat guy]

(Sony's eyes darting left and right) Enemies, enemies everywhere!

The only failproof solution is for Sony to jail everyone in existence so nobody can purchase from them and thereby potentially do them harm.

Because it certainly sounds like the only way to harm Sony is to purchase from them.

Like Sony cares

[betterunixthanunix]

Gee, a couple thousand disgruntled /. users vs. millions upon millions of people who have not even heard of the Geohot case, who think that "pirates" are just part of a mafia run video game cheating racket, and who will continue to buy Sony products whenever Consumer Reports gives them decent reviews. Do you think Sony actually cares about hackers, geeks, or anyone who is actually informed about the Geohot issue? As long as the masses keep buying things that Sony makes, Sony will keep on doing what they do.

Re:Like Sony cares

[vadim_t]

But those few thousands are precisely those that get asked by their friends and families to recommend them a laptop, what console to buy for their kids and so on. I must have done that kind of thing for at least 20 people, and I generally try to avoid it if possible.

But piss me off and I get a lot more dedicated. I recently went shopping with somebody to make sure that their new TV wouldn't be a Sony one.

Re:Like Sony cares

[Velex]

What'll be interesting is if some of those masses had watched that video and find themselves in hot water. Over watching a video! In a free country!

Well, maybe not so free any more. Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Re:Like Sony cares

[PRMan]

Ah, but I was at Fry's recently looking at receivers and the sales guys never mentioned Sony once, despite them having half the shelf. Finally, when I mentioned a specific feature, they reluctantly told me that the Sony model did have that feature in my price range. I told them that I wouldn't touch Sony with a 10-foot pole and they smiled and agreed completely, telling me that they don't push them at all and that they are not selling. They'll tell the customers about Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, Pioneer, but NOT Sony.

Re:Like Sony cares

[Belial6]

If Sony didn't care about hackers, geeks, or anyone who is actually informed about the Geohot issue, there wouldn't be a Geohot issue.

Re:Like Sony cares

[Penguinisto]

You know? I think it would be fun if all of /. hunted down said YouTube videos and left comments on them... each one describing exactly (and in clear layman terminology) why Sony is wrong, should go out of business, etc.

I figure after the 10,000th one or so being read into public record, they might just get the hint.

Re:Like Sony cares

[Nerdfest]

I was hoping they'd see how fast George Hotz got funds for his court case and would think "He got how much money how fast? Holy crap.". It's a whole new world of word-of-mouth out there now, with the uptake of social networking by the general populace.

Whatever happened to net neutrality??

[Dubblewhopper]

* Cries* :( . Time to reminisce when I had Prodigy two decades ago....

Tried to post a blog comment but locked out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I submitted my comment with openID and after several screens it said my comment couldn't be posted.

http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/2011/02/grafchokolo.html#comment-form

Is it my lameness or is something goofy going on?

Oops, here it is again...

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't we learned yet that threats of legal action don't stop anything?

erk: C0 CE FE 84 C2 27 F7 5B D0 7A 7E B8 46 50 9F 93 B2 38 E7 70 DA CB 9F F4 A3 88 F8 12 48 2B E2 1B
riv: 47 EE 74 54 E4 77 4C C9 B8 96 0C 7B 59 F4 C1 4D
pub: C2 D4 AA F3 19 35 50 19 AF 99 D4 4E 2B 58 CA 29 25 2C 89 12 3D 11 D6 21 8F 40 B1 38 CA B2 9B 71 01 F3 AE B7 2A 97 50 19
R: 80 6E 07 8F A1 52 97 90 CE 1A AE 02 BA DD 6F AA A6 AF 74 17
n: E1 3A 7E BC 3A CC EB 1C B5 6C C8 60 FC AB DB 6A 04 8C 55 E1
K: BA 90 55 91 68 61 B9 77 ED CB ED 92 00 50 92 F6 6C 7A 3D 8D
Da: C5 B2 BF A1 A4 13 DD 16 F2 6D 31 C0 F2 ED 47 20 DC FB 06 70

~geohot

props to fail0verflow for the asymmetric half
no donate link, just use this info wisely
i do not condone piracy

if you want your next console to be secure, get in touch with me. any of you 3.
it'd be fun to be on the other side. ...and this is a real self, hello world
although it's not NPDRM, so it won't run off the hard drive
shouts to the guys who did PSL1GHT
without you, I couldn't release this

New sony motto:

[Anonymous Coward]

Failed like no other

the IP system is not setup for any thing like that

[Joe The Dragon]

the IP system is not setup for any thing like that.
and then you can still post from free wifi places with a cloned mac.

Great...

[gtvr]

Now Sony is going to want the IP of everyone who viewed the comments here.

Re:Great...

[Anonymous Coward]

What are they going to ban me from using PSN? I don't own a recent (as in made in the last 10 years) console.

Re:Great...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just a moment while I find out what my keister's IP address happens to be, then I'll be happy to show THAT to ya'. Alternatively, why not just look up goatse, Sony, and save us both the trouble?

Re:Great...

[Legion303]

Mine's 127.0.0.1. I hope Sony doesn't try to install a rootkit on it!

What the hell

[Antisyzygy]

I fail to see how this is justified whatsoever. Someone visiting his twitter account, youtube account or web page does not mean they had anything to do with anything in the scope of this case. Plenty of people checked him out after they read about him in the news or looked at his website for other reasons. He has a ton of stuff on his sight completely unrelated to PS3 Jailbreaking. This is the most blatantly freedom violating ruling I have heard of in recent history. This basically amounts to a blanket big-brother subpoena. This judge is an absolute moron and should be disbarred from all justice and legal practice for failing to understand one of the most simple amendments in the Constitution.

Re:What the hell

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should Joseph Spero care? He likely gets a few kickbacks and unmarked suit cases full of money from Sony and can enjoy a new house or yacht. It's not like corrupt judges had much to fear. I mean what's the rate of criminal judges getting disbarred or even convicted? They're set for life. Who's going to judge them? Their colleagues they're going to the bar after their hearing? Hah!

Re:What the hell

[Antisyzygy]

Its insane. Our entire government is basically used as a get rich quick scheme by every corrupt politician, and my fellow idiot Americans keep voting them into office.

Re:What the hell

[Intrinsic]

Thats because every candidate is corrupt, it doesnt matter which one you choose. The game is stacked against us even before we get to the table so the money needs to be taken out of the system before we can have any meaningful election that works for the people.

Re:What the hell

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hope the people at Sony who visited his pages are prosecuted as well.
After all, he couldn't have done it without Sony.

Re:What the hell

[Anonymous Coward]

There is an absolute difference between "making available" and "distributing". Just landing on a page, or having it in your cache, is not deliberate receipt. The list of California IPs (as good as that could ever be) is still just a list of drivebys, not proof of ditribution. You'd have to tie the IPs up to, say, comments on his pages saying "totally sweet, I'm gonna take and use this!" to make that claim.

Isn't all of this entirely bogus, though, when the crack is likely to go the way of the iphone jailbreak in a couple of years?

Re:What the hell

[Anonymous Coward]

And yet everyone is blaming Sony for this. I want to see some real movement towards holding the judge accountable for rulings like this. What does it take to get a recall started?

F Sony, Boycott This BS, and F Neocon Fed Judges

[Anonymous Coward]

Wake the fuck up from this nightmare. Who owns these judges? The controlling plutocracy obviously. Its all about the profit-motive, not your privacy rights. You know something is very wrong. Go watch Zeitgeist Addendum on Youtube to get a better perspective on all this nonsense before its taken down. And no, there won't be corporatist morons demanding your IP addresses yet, at least not pubicly.

Over 600 reasons

[tepples]

A personal IPv6 address will be assigned at birth, burned into an RFID capsule, and injected into your body. For backup purposes, the number will be tattooed on your forehead

I can think of six hundred sixty-six reasons why that will never come to pass at least in countries with a strong Christian right-wing.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. They will force it through congress, and then use it as evidence that government is evil.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, because nobody has an individual number associated with them like a physical address, home telephone number, cell phone number, social security number, driver's license number, etc. The Christian right-wing hasn't blown up over that stuff yet, so why would they care if you had an IPv6 address?

Re:Over 600 reasons

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually there are some of those same people who believe that must come to pass for the End Times to begin, and actually want to hasten that, so they might not try to prevent such a thing.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[fishexe]

I can think of six hundred sixty-six reasons why that will never come to pass at least in countries with a strong Christian right-wing.

Well, I suppose the religious right will block the kitten blood part of it.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[fishexe]

Yea, because nobody has an individual number associated with them like a physical address, home telephone number, cell phone number, social security number, driver's license number, etc. The Christian right-wing hasn't blown up over that stuff yet, so why would they care if you had an IPv6 address?

I assumed he was referring more to the mandatory tattoo part of the plan. The body is the temple of the soul, man...the body is the temple of the soul.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[tepples]

nobody has an individual number associated with them like a physical address, home telephone number, cell phone number, social security number, driver's license number, etc.

A physical address, home telephone number, cell phone number, or credit card number is changeable even if by moving. As for a tax or road ID number, it's still possible to buy or sell without either of these numbers by using cash in person or a money order through the mail. Tattoos, RFID implants, and any other unique ID permanently affixed to the body appear far more prone to misuse.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[tepples]

I just don't see any evidence that it's God's will for man to hasten the end of this system of things.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[orkysoft]

Biometrics scare me for the same reason: they're basically a unique id permanently affixed to the body, only this time it's a naturally occurring one, instead of an artificially applied one.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[h00manist]

Yea, because nobody has an individual number associated with them like a physical address, home telephone number, cell phone number, social security number, driver's license number, etc. The Christian right-wing hasn't blown up over that stuff yet, so why would they care if you had an IPv6 address?

When you speak you aren't required to sign it with your ID numbers. On the internet, everything you view or say potentially can be logged and traced. Many parties have an interest in that information and will pay for it. Presto, public mind-mapping data black market. Otherwise legally known as marketing, credit, research, statistics services, security, detective, police, etc.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[webserf256]

Unless they say it's to protect our children. Then they'll want two on each kid and one on the family dog.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah Christians should take note that while Jesus did have to die on the cross and Judas played a significant role in getting him there, it's not a good idea to be the Judas...

Re:Over 600 reasons

[thetoadwarrior]

Except they will accept it as it will be sold as a way to fight terrorists and there is nothing Jesus hates more than Muslims.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[Culture20]

Actually there are some of those same people who believe that must come to pass for the End Times to begin, and actually want to hasten that, so they might not try to prevent such a thing.

No. No Christian wants the "sign/number of the beast" to happen because only people with the mark can buy/sell anything. In today's society, inability to conduct trade is close to a death sentence.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[sixsixtysix]

its too late

Re:Over 600 reasons

[KDR_11k]

Also those with the mark go to hell, that's probably a bigger concern.

Re:Over 600 reasons

[MysteriousPreacher]

It's an unfortunate result of adhering to the teachings that have led each generation for the past 2000 years to think that they are the final generation. It doesn't surprise me that some would think it their duty to help set the stage for the end, but then that's not all Christians. I'm sure it won't be long though before there's a single universal agreement on God's will.

Re:viewers

[TaoPhoenix]

Dammit, did everyone miss the scary point? Now I know why we face the threat of the end of the world in 20 months in Dec 2012 - because we might have destroyed the internet by then and we can't go back to the land before internet-time now.

View this either as multiplication, or set theory -

(Huge Disastrous Precedent) * (Temporary Artificial Narrowing of Scope) = "Yesterday's News".
Then because we are Dopamine-Junkies, "Yesterday's News" is never good enough! So then the (Temporary Artificial Boundaries on Scope) vanish and we are left with (Huge Disastrous Precedent).

(Judge Approved (Random Company's) multiple supoenas which seek logs of all viewers and commenters to (Any_Citizen's) (YouTube video)).

For as little reason as some hardware hacking? Really?! Then there was that other one from Indiana a few days ago that was also a collage of (Something Hideous) * (Temporary Limit of Scope).

The real problem is we are also moving towards Guilty Until Proven Innocent because the media isstill hooked on a news model of "Let's Embarass People!"

You are an idiot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good night.

Re:the IP system is not setup for any thing like t

[drinkypoo]

Outlaw DHCP and set up a replacement which uses a cryptographic token. Replace ID cards with crypto fobs. Every server etc has its own nonhuman cert. Done and done.

closed source devices

[tepples]

I don't own a PS3 and wouldn't buy one because I don't support closed source devices.

Just so that we can get definitions straight before proceeding further (Layne's Law), how exactly do you define "closed source devices"? Does a non-free BIOS make a device closed-source? What about a non-free microcode in the CPU?

Re:closed source devices

[Pieroxy]

I don't own a PS3 and wouldn't buy one because I don't support closed source devices.

Just so that we can get definitions straight before proceeding further (Layne's Law), how exactly do you define "closed source devices"? Does a non-free BIOS make a device closed-source? What about a non-free microcode in the CPU?

I think you nailed him. Then again, nailing AC is pretty easy these days.

Re:closed source devices

[Anonymous Coward]

Kinky

say what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Judge wants access to information regarding lawful *interest* in something (not that they are blowing up Sony's corporate headquarters, members of Al Qaeda etc? eh? how is this even remotely constitutional in the US or any other (sane) jurisdiction? Oh - I just read the FA and... it's IP addresses

/facepalm

When will these lamers from the 19th century learn something (a quiet piece of me hopes *never*)

Andy

Something to consider

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they're pushing it like this out of desperation? I mean.. PS3's are banned from being imported to Europe for now, so they're losing even more money than before. Just my 2 cents

StumbleUpon??

[Anonymous Coward]

I use StumbleUpon all the time (it was a great companion when I was home sick recently as I don't have cable) and I seriously can't remember if I've been to his youtube page or not. I haven't been to his site or accessed his twitter feed. Should I worry about a visit from the jackboots?

Also I hear the Judge wants the logs to this page for a list of all those who complained about him.

anonymous

[Anonymous Coward]

so what i wanna see is a repeat of hbgary federal.... come on some one. step up and fight back.

How is this not a violation of the first amendment

[kevorkian]

I cant wait to see this used as precedent to get the records of everyone that bought a copy of "book X" ..

This is just getting fucking stupid.

crossing of a threshold

[nurb432]

We have just crossed over where mere curiosity or even an accidental landing can get you a visit by an attorney at best, or your home raided at worst.

Never thought id see us dip so low in my life time. Gotta love a world run by attorneys.

 

Re:crossing of a threshold

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps It's time to walk like an Egyptian?

tracking ablity

[nurb432]

Why do you think there has been a push for it in the first place when 99% of the IPs out there could be using NAT just fine?

You will soon have to get your block of addresses from the government and use them to make ANYTHING work, even your toaster as god forbid you make some toast in another persons home that wasn't authorized to have toast.

"Something very wrong with media companies".

[nurb432]

There i fixed it.

Seriously, this is not a 'sony problem', its a industry problem.

So now it's guilt by association?

[Anonymous Coward]

BLOODY 'ELL!!!

With all the infringements against the common US citizen, I'm surprised that there isn't a flood of folk demanding political asylum at the Canadian and Mexican borders. Or at least mass demonstrations against the overbearing dictatorship now in power, just like those Arabs, y'know.

Or isn't Fox News reporting those events? Hmmmmm?

Re:So now it's guilt by association?

[wierd_w]

As an American citizen of the United States, I will try to answer your question as best I can based on my own observations. As always, Anectdote != Data, so take this with a sizable quantity of salt.

The reasons why the American Public does not hoist our government officials up by their jolly rodgers appear to be:

1) The masses are made purposefully ignorant and complacent. As long as Superbowl Sunday, cheap beer, condoms/birth control, and tasty but unhealthy food are easily obtained, Little things like the right to speak publicly about any topic lose relevance.

2) Politicos play the popularity game to get elected; They give the politically vocal crowd a token offering (say, " Tougher laws on child porn!") then do whatever the hell they want after that. The people that elected them elected them pretty much exclusively for that token offering, and feel satisfied with their "purchase", because of item 1).

3) Our government actively lies to us, flagrantly, and consistently. It has strong financial connections to the vast majority of our media outlets in an almost "China-like" manner. [Newscorp and pals, I am looking at YOU.] You can find evidence of these two in some of the wikileaks documents. These lies reinforce item 1).

4) Most of my countrymen have the equivilent of ADHD when it comes to their attention span. Anything that does not immediately or directly relate to themselves personally is considered somebody else's problem, and they just tune it out.

5) There is a prevalent, and growing culture of anti-intellectualism, caused by multiple interested (non-government) factions of society. (The religious types being only one.)

In short, the reason why other citizens of my country are not out in the streets rioting like they are in the middle east, is because the vast majority of my countrymen are ignorant slobs who are too distracted by "Teh SHINY!", "Daaa.. She's got BOOOBIES!", "I iz drunk and stuff!", or "Larnin' is hard, yo!"

Nevermind that we have record unemployment, that nearly EVERY state government in the country is basically bankrupt and that wellfare infrastructure is poised to implode spectacularly, and a whole host of other "OMG! The sky is falling!" shit is going on--- As long as their lifestyles are not heavily impacted, they really don't care. That's why you have all those government employees picketing in WI to keep their ability to demand sweetheart deals on pensions, pay rates and other benefits--- and Very few picketing to have the runaway senators of WI return and do their job the legal way.

Much like how the entities which comprise the infrastructure of the internet consistently ignored the IP4 depletion problem, and are just NOW starting to look at IP6-- The same kind of thing will have to happen in the US before you get massive civil unrest and riots in the streets all over here: They will wait until they have totally destroyed the system they depend upon, then demand to know why it broke, like a spoiled and petulant child.

Remember, this is the country where manufacturers of hair dryers are mandated by law to put a great big idiogram on a tag on the cord of said blow dryers, telling consumers not to use them in the shower, because it will electrocute you if you do. People really are that ignorant here, and it gets worse when you get into government.

A friend of mine is the janitor man at a city hall in another state. He tells me that they had to do a training course to tell city hall employees how to secure doors. (You know, how to turn the lock?) That's how bad it is.

Re:So now it's guilt by association?

[Culture20]

5) There is a prevalent, and growing culture of anti-intellectualism, caused by multiple interested (non-government) factions of society. (The religious types being only one.)

The religious types aren't even one. There are some religious people who are subsets of broader types that propagate anti-intellectualism, but your standard Priest, Rabbi, and Pastor that walk into a bar together all have at least a decade of higher education under their belts.

the vast majority of my countrymen are ignorant slobs who are too distracted by "Larnin' is hard, yo!"

Yo. This is the true source of anti-intellectualism in our society. Larnin' is hard, and it's not important, so we'll progress you through school, grade by grade, until you're 18 and can pick up your welfare check like a responsible adult, or work on the street corner like an exceptional one. Start flunking kids again. Prove that we as a people take education seriously.

Re:So now it's guilt by association?

[nschubach]

But if you do that, a great majority of inner city kids will flunk out of school and join gangs. Since you suggested failing students, that makes you a racist because some of those students will be minority. It doesn't have to be a majority... just enough to sound like a large number.

What happend to proving intent

[nurb432]

Regardless of my disagreement that using your own hardware as you like is a crime this has dangerous connotations.

What if i decide i want to do research on a subject like the history of illegal drug use ( more of a black and white case )? Does that mean i get the feds beating down my door just because i did a search or read something? How about researching effects of child abuse? Am i now considered a contributor and can expect a visit?

What if i write a book about something that is declared illegal later... am i now considered a criminal and everyone that bought my book?

Re:What happend to proving intent

[Anonymous Coward]

Peace is War, Copying is Theft, and we have honest power brokers in our midst. I love our new benevolent copyright overlords, and the elected/ appointed officials they bought, don't you? /sarcasm

Welcome to our land of the free, where men like Orwell can produce visionary "fiction".

Re:What happend to proving intent

[Anonymous Coward]

Regardless of my disagreement that using your own hardware as you like is a crime

You just don't get it, do you? This has nothing to do with your hardware, and everything to do with publishing SONY's private key.

What if i decide i want to do research on a subject like the history of illegal drug use ( more of a black and white case )? Does that mean i get the feds beating down my door just because i did a search or read something? How about researching effects of child abuse? Am i now considered a contributor and can expect a visit?

Yes. Just like if you go looking up how to make a fertilizer bomb at the library the FBI will come talk to you.

What if i write a book about something that is declared illegal later... am i now considered a criminal and everyone that bought my book?

Yes.

Look, I agree there's a lot of Brave New World and 1984 bullshit going on. But neither of your points has anything to do with a guy who is not publishing the method, but the actual KEY ITSELF. Sony isn't hitting up anybody who published the method, but Georgie Boy decided he just had to get "Props" and went one step further.
Looking up blueprints for a bank vault isn't a crime. Neither is publishing a manual on how to crack a safe. But publishing the combination to a specific safe, most certainly is.

What's the point?

[gman003]

Even now that they have the data, what are they going to do with it? They can't sue these people for anything, they can't even investigate all of them to find out if there is anything they can charge them with. Honestly, I think at this point lawyers are just being evil as a Pavlovian response, and aren't even thinking about what they're doing anymore.

PAS3 Jailbraking video link?

[future assassin]

Anyone got a link to the PS3 video. I wanna buy a used on off CL and Jailbreak it and I have several sites that I can post the video too. You know, to use it as I wish because its mine. Just like I use the radio control and servos from my RC car to control other things or is this kind of behaviour illegal now?

fishing expedition

[Anonymous Coward]

Can anyone say "fishing expedition"?

More on this note

[DeadCatX2]

You say a Judge has a position of honor in our society. For what reason should we honor them?

Do they build homes or cars?

Do they design electronics or circuits?

Do they use medicine to heal people or animals?

Do they educate the young?

Do they put their lives on the line to protect us from crime or fire?

Do they make great discoveries that advance human knowledge?

They create nothing to help the people of this nation. The only reason they deserve any "honor" is because they can forcibly put you in a jail cell for the words that come out of your mouth. The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

Re:More on this note

[ElectricTurtle]

Could be worse, over in Europe there are still courts where judges are called 'Lord'. That aside, it's naught much more than angsty rhetoric (borne of poor reasoning) to call them tyrants because they don't build cars and therefore don't help people.

Judges are simply people, some of them are unscrupulous, others incorruptible, some are stupid, others are virtually sages, but like any group of people most of them lie in the middle. They're neither angels nor devils.

Moreover their titular honor is a social construction as much as or moreso than it is a direct result of their own egos. It is important (from the larger society's own perspective) for those placed in a position to make decisions about the use of the power of the state to mete out justice in the form of imprisonment, financial recompense, or even death itself to be considered persons of exceptional honor and character whether they are or not. That is the reason it is granted by the title of their office. The pretense is even more important to the proper function of the system, insofar as it is possible, when it is not earned.

Aside from those who are indeed truly sheep, few people deny that the justice systems of the world are imperfect and in need of various reforms, but that can be said of any institution, public or private. There is no reason beyond sophistry to pretend that they are in some way egregiously deficient in comparison to other human constructs, or individually inferior in both utility and character to other human beings.

Re:More on this note

[DeadCatX2]

I would like to thank you for your thoughtful reply to my comment.

That aside, it's naught much more than angsty rhetoric (borne of poor reasoning) to call them tyrants

That line was a quote from Law and Order: SVU, which is I believe a quote from Aesop's Fables. And it wouldn't apply to all judges, obviously, but having the power to imprison and fine people who don't show you enough respect...that's the power of a tyrant. Certainly, the fallible nature of humans ensures some of them shall abuse their privilege. Of those...how many do you think would try to find some pretext of the law in order to justify whatever outcome they wanted personally? How many of them would use their personal feelings in order to aggravate or mitigate the outcomes of their rulings while staying within the boundaries of the law?

Judges are simply people, some of them are unscrupulous, others incorruptible, some are stupid, others are virtually sages, but like any group of people most of them lie in the middle. They're neither angels nor devils. [...] There is no reason beyond sophistry to pretend that they are in some way egregiously deficient in comparison to other human constructs, or individually inferior in both utility and character to other human beings.

Be careful of the straw man. Ask not why judges are inferior...ask why judges are superior. Indeed, we agree that judges are like all other people in terms of character and utility.

My argument is, specifically, why should a person who creates nothing for society be allowed to imprison and/or fine another person for refusing to use an honorary? What makes them superior to all the other people who at least make something that's actually useful? Why do they deserve those gigantic buildings that are kept in immaculate shape at taxpayer expense more than a fire department driving an old fire truck?

I do not believe that the justice system is unnecessary, however flawed it may be. I merely question why they should be so much more important than a guy who saves lives every day. Your doctor would get mad if you don't call him Dr., but he can't throw you in jail.

Shush

[Anonymous Coward]

Adults are talking.

How many sockpuppets do you have now? Can you really not see that this is dishonest? Why can't you just comment when you've actually got something to add to the conversation?

You and your silly boycotts

[countertrolling]

Not going to buy Sony? Gee, you better rip open all your gear and look for Sony parts. And that CD-ROM? Hee hee hee.. Blu-ray? memory chips? You people think you're the customer? Think again... They sell to all those other people you buy from when you don't buy from Sony.

Okay, great.. So you put Sony out business. You think you're putting the execs into the street? How naive. They got a nice big bonus when they shut down, and you just relieved them of all debts, including their taxes.. Good show! You just made to the crooks ten times richer as they pick up a new job at the DOJ!

Re:You and your silly boycotts

[Anonymous Coward]

shoot them then

Re:viewers

[TheGratefulNet]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

can you write it in something other than LISP?

Yeah right.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is slashdot. You do not have a girlfriend.

I Hope They Supeona Me

[KeithIrwin]

I'd love to testify about how I used his Nuit Du Hack talk as part of the Hardware and Media Security class this semester and why I think it's perfectly legitimate and worthwhile security research.

Re:I Hope They Supeona Me

[Legal.Troll]

Perhaps you could also testify as to how utterly irrelevant the technical merits of anything Hotz has ever done, including the PS3 jailbreak, are utterly irrelevant to the charges against him. The DMCA has big fat exemptions for legitimate encryption research, none of which are available when the defendant acts in bad faith, develops a hack for illegal purposes rather than to advance the state of encryption knowledge, and distributes it with the knowledge and intention that it will be used for those illegal purposes. You could also testify as to the fact that these subpoenas are being issued for extremely narrow purposes: to prove that Hotz distributed his crack (simply by showing that people used YouTube to access it) and that many of the people he distributed it to live in California, significantly weakening Hotz's attempt to secure a favorable jurisdiction by claiming it's unconstitutional to haul him into court in California. That is -- you could testify to these things if you weren't just another clueless Slashdot faggot, if your testimony weren't irrelevant to the case, and if there were actually a court somewhere interested in dragging your hyper-uninformed viewpoint into the mix.

and do what force you to replace all network gear

[Joe The Dragon]

and do what force you to replace all network gear?
most offices uses DHCP for the in side network.

Only if Morita and Ibuka are still alive...

[Lead Butthead]

Only if Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka are still alive to see this.... right now they're probably turning over in their graves (or urn, since Japanese by and large cremates their dead.)

Re:They are going after him, dolt

[b4dc0d3r]

The entire purpose of getting IP addresses is to establish that many people from California downloaded information. Why is this important? Because Sony wants to sue in California, instead of where GeoHot lives. That's the purpose of this exercise, determining where the case is filed.

I think the judge should have required a neutral third party to analyze the data, instead of trusting Sony, but otherwise this is legitimate.

Jailbreaking to PS3 today

[bongey]

I am just going to jailbreak my PS3 to say fuck Sony. I don't even on one game for PS3. Yeah prove that I jail broke my circumvent copy protections , when there hasn't been one game played on it. Also anyone looking for the jailbreak CMU is hosting a mirror http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/GeoHot/ . I think it should be a Day of JailBreaking soon . National Jailbreak Your PS3 March 5 2011 anyone up for it?

Re:Jailbreaking to PS3 today

[nschubach]

There's no mirror there... only a link to us.playstation.com where a link used to be.

Re:Jailbreaking to PS3 today

[bongey]

Farther down the page, look for link that says here . http://www.geohot.us/2011/01/how-to-jailbreak-ps3-running-355.html

Im glad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Im glad sony is allowed to go at them with both guns blazing. I see way to much bandwagon mentality anymore of people posting on here they hate sony and blah blah blah.

I hope they nail geohots ass to the wall because geohot is the reason its a pain to play games. Every single time someone like geohot cracks security, everytime something is circumvented like this more game companies put more DRM, more securerom, more cdkeys, more online activations, more online connection verifications and so on in there games. And considering all the egocentric penis waving this guy has done on the net to spite sony he has probablly single handedly made a game developer increase their security on a game of theres even more. And when security in gaming is jacked up I a pay for the price because I buy my games from a store legit which means that security and extra crap will be a extra hassle to me, security means nothing to pirates because they will crack anything and enjoy their games hassle free while people who actually pay for the games get hassled with drm and so on.

And I dont blame sony, they are doing anything they can to win and war isnt about playing fair, its about doing anything you can to win. And you people dont realise this but sony isnt after geohot at all in this, sony is making an example of him. THey are saying to pirates and hackers "if you come after our products we will get your ass in court and crucify you". Its not so much they want geohot, they want that hex badge that may make another pirate or hacker think twice before trying something big. And I dont blame they, if someone cracked the security on your home security alarm and then put on the net how anyone could do the same to come in your house anytime they want and do what they want, you would be pissed also.

Besides geohot is acting like a immature egotist narssacistic little kid in all this. He cant get enough of hearing himself and seeing himself online talking about how awesome he is. People go a long with him because its fashionable to hate sony and its cool to hate big corporations these days.

Re:Im glad.

[JockTroll]

As you said it, this is war: the war for individual freedom against corporate tyranny. And just as Sony is determined to bend the whole world to its will, we're determined to break it. Since peaceful protest isn't working, we'll use violence: we will assassinate key Sony personnel, we will storm their offices leaving their employees dead, we will destroy their facilities. And in the meantime we will hunt down little shills like you, slice your faces open with x-acto knives, pull the bloody strips apart and defecate on your raw flesh.

Re:Im glad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Im glad sony is allowed to go at them with both guns blazing.

Who allows it? You? Will you take responsibility for it?

more securerom, more cdkeys, more online activations, more online connection verifications and so on in there games.

They do that because you will pay for it, as you confirm.

I a pay for the price

You don't have to pay. Don't pay.

which means that security and extra crap will be a extra hassle to me,

Don't let it be a hassle to you. Just stop buying it. That's easy. At least you still have that option.

And I dont blame sony, they are doing anything they can to win and war isnt about playing fair, its about doing anything you can to win.

So you keep paying for evil to happen, and it does, and that's how you claim to... win?

THey are saying to pirates and hackers "if you come after our products we will get your ass in court and crucify you".

New marketing strategy? Can't promise that it'll be a huge success, but what do I know, you keep paying for it!?

And I dont blame they, if someone cracked the security on your home security alarm and then put on the net how anyone could do the same to come in your house anytime they want and do what they want, you would be pissed also.

I'd thank him, for if he didn't, I'd always be unsafe without even knowing. (There is more than one mind in the world, and I never claim to be the smartest one, but attacking people who try to increase our knowledge is a sure way to guarantee that you'll never be anywhere near the top.)

Re:viewers

[0x15e]

I wish I had points to mod that funny.

National Jailbreak Your PS3 Day ?

[bongey]

Really this shit by Sony needs to end. Sony has become a dictator and thinks it can send it thugs(lawyers) to stop information from flowing. Just other people that are complete geeks need to know why the shit Sony is pulling will effect them too.
Thinking setting up Jailbreak sites for PS3 , none nerds can come by and get there PS3 jail broken, as part of a protest Sony actions.

What is going on here?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__TR86PLiHw

"Untethered Jailbreak"
This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

May I ask just what the fuck is happening here?

Re:What is going on here?

[Pieroxy]

May I ask just what the fuck is happening here?

Sure. This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

Re:They are going after him, dolt

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up.

Almost all of the top-rated comments right now are "I can't believe they're GOING AFTER the people who VIEWED a website!", completely missing the stated point of the log requests.

Scary beyond extreme. Boycott Sony.

[m509272]

How is this any different then forcing a library to turn over a list of what I read, what I listened to on CD and what I watched on DVD and Blu-Ray?

What's next? Will they now say give us a list of all people that checked out Sony products at a library so we can get a subpoena to search the patron's home for a copy of whatever was checked out that originated from Sony. This ruling is beyond extremely dangerous.

I've been boycotting buying any Sony labeled products since they pulled that rootkit crap a few years ago. Everyone should. Are Sony components in some non-Sony labeled products sure but they aren't making the same as if they were selling the entire unit. As for countertrolling's comment, as useful as the period at the end of this sentence.

gogogo

[Thraxy]

Good for you Sony. Don't listen to them. You just go on digging that hole.

Time for some civil disobedience, neh?

[Mashhaster]

I think it's high time for some civil disobedience.

I propose we post the links to the contraband youtube videos, the blog this guy maintains, and his website, and slashdot them. Post them to 4chan, explain the situation, link back to this story, get Anonymous to hit them as well.

Sony wants to subpoena "logs of all viewers and commenters to his YouTube video, visitors to his blog and website"?

Well, good fucking luck with that, because there will be millions of 'em within a week, and the information will be endlessly redistributed and remirrored across the Internet, because information wants to be free, and the tech-savvy community (unlike the general public) still values our civil liberties enough to click on a few fucking links.

The stupid thing is, by going after this guy they're just providing free publicity, as we've seen happen so many times before in such instances.

Re:Time for some civil disobedience, neh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anonymous is Not Your Personal Army.

The lineage of giants is dead

[Nov8tr]

Well this is just wrong on too many levels. Really doesn't surprise me though with corporate mentally as it is today. At one time Sony made really good products, but they have steadily gone downhill since about the early 80's. I dont know who's running Sony now, but he should quit in disgrace. They screw up their software side just as bad. Virtually every game they touch for online, they kill. They not only have a bad product rep, they have just as bad a rep in the gaming industry as well. To quote a old saying. "How far the mighty have fallen".

Re:and do what force you to replace all network ge

[PopeRatzo]

and do what force you to replace all network gear?

You mean the same way we were forced to replace our analog TVs?

Yes.

Re:They are going after him, dolt

[DRJlaw]

The entire purpose of getting IP addresses is to establish that many people from California downloaded information. Why is this important? Because Sony wants to sue in California, instead of where GeoHot lives. That's the purpose of this exercise, determining where the case is filed.

Then it is not a valid purpose. Caselaw concerning the internet and personal jurisdiction has been clear for at least the last decade: you have to specifically transact with someone within the jurisdiction. Offering "static" information to the entire world does not subject someone to to personal jurisdiction within every court within the United States. Bensusan Restaurant Corp. v. King , 126 F.3d 25 (2d Cir. 1997). Sony has to show that GeoHot made a "purposeful availment of the benefits and protections" offered by California, not that he posted a video that even a horde of Californians viewed on YouTube. Bensusan; International Shoe Co. v. Washington , 326 U.S. 310 (1945).

I think the judge should have required a neutral third party to analyze the data, instead of trusting Sony, but otherwise this is legitimate.

An unsupported conclusion is no conclusion at all. Cite your authority.

I guess I am now a registered ps3 pirate!

[bitflusher]

Am I now a registerd ps3 pirate even though i don't even own a ps3? Bad me for being interested in console hacking!

Re:How is this not a violation of the first amendm

[Derekloffin]

You mean FOURTH amendment right? First amendment doesn't really protect against this at all. Not really that even the fourth applies here since Sony got the court to grant the request.

but unlike analog tv there is no box or headend sy

[Joe The Dragon]

but unlike analog tv there is no box or headend system that can do what you want to make the old stuff work.

Re:Signal/Noise

[cheekyjohnson]

Yes. Sony is going after the big fish. That's why they are going after viewers and visitors!

tired meets old

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a sign of your political maturity to reach this realization. SCOTUS has always been the way it is now.

Can't say that "crash and burn" is a useful response--but politics and the law certainly need fundamental, substantial, and continual improving if they are to become fair to regular people. Pro-union Wisconsinites are trying to do this in the US, as is the guy who got arrested for informing the public about jury nullification.

No PS3, but I viewed it.

[Qatz]

I don't own a PS3, but I watched the video on Youtube. Does this mean they're going to claim I commited a crime I couldn't possibly have commited?

It seems to me

[salesgeek]

That the judge is going to have no choice but to toss the case out for jurisdiction. Sony should have filed the case in New Jersey, they know it, and they are simply trying to run up a big legal bill for Hotz. Their strategy could backfire, though because it's not unheard of for federal judges to make the plaintiff pay legal bills for the defense when they are simply using the court to run up bills on the defendant using a theory they know is wrong from day one. Sony will soon have the case tossed, and will have to refile in NJ. Then the lawsuit can really proceed.

Oh, and it speaks volumes as to what kind of human beings run Sony: Hollywood vampires.

Oh shit!

[AmonTheMetalhead]

I saw that youtube link and his website, and i don't even own a PS3, i'm dead!!

Re:viewers

[TaoPhoenix]

Let's hope you're not being snarky on to get a +1 Funny.

Consider this sentence:

"a judge approved multiple subpoenas which seek logs of all viewers and commenters to his YouTube video".

Are we happy that anyone who gets grumpy can supoena all *viewers* of a youtube video?!
Example: "Someone threatens Justin Bieber". JB's lawyers, "Thinking of the 17 year old" (kid), decides to supoena *all viewers of any Justin Bieber Video* because gosh gasp, there might be someone there who threatened him!

The prime minister in Egypt supoena all viewers of certain Egyptian Revolutionary Videos. Or Libya. Or Zimbabwe. Hell, let's just look for terrorists and supoena every view of Youtube ever made! Why stop at Youtube? Let's supoena the *entire internet*. Then let's lose it to a hacker because of bad security. You know, managed by HBGary's successor. Then we can count throughtcrimes committed by every person on the planet. That's how the old wold ends.

By making this post I gain +1 Prophet-Martyr. ETA is 7 months. This post is recorded.

Re:How is this not a violation of the first amendm

[kevorkian]

First is "freedom of the press" isn't it ??

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This could be used to get borders or barns and nobel to release the information about everyone that bought "some book"... Or to get the subscription records of newspaperX ..

I sure do consider youtube the 21 century version of a printing press.

But anyway.

Six Degrees of Separation

[Anonymous Coward]

You're aware of the whole Six Degrees of Separation idea right? Apparently Sony isn't familiar, since they're not only going after GeoHot but the 1st degree of people linked to him, which i'm willing to bet is quite a lot of people given all the publicity he got.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much more stupid and over-zealous than this.

Visitors to GeoHot's blog and website?

[Montezumaa]

I visited his "blog and website", but that does not make me liable for anything. So fuck Sony and fuck anyone that supports them in this travesty. We still have freedoms in the United States, and I was exercising those freedoms by visiting GeoHot's site. As a matter of fact, I do not have to explain anything that I was doing, so fuck Sony.

Since I do not have anything of real value for Sony to take, aside from my firearms, it would be useless for Sony to come after me. Of course, they can try for my firearms, but good luck to them on that venture.

guess I am in their lists

[proudhawk]

hmmm, out of curiosity, I listened to the videos produced by GeoHot. doesn't matter that I was only curious as to what he was doing. I wouldn't be able to implement what he was doing anyway as I don't have a PS3 or the eyesight to use it. . so? does this mean the FBI might coming knocking on my door to ask questions or that sony might sue me just because I "viewed" the materials? IMHO, intellectual curiosity should not be considered a crime (which is what Sony and the government are trying to do).

Re:guess I am in their lists

[Legal.Troll]

In this thread: 500 retarded slashdot faggots fail to realize that this subpoena has nothing whatsoever to do with the users, or coming after them The subpoena is to prove Hotz distributed the crack to people and that some of those people lived in northern California But don't let that stop you from mentally masturbating yourself into an idiot frenzy.

Re:guess I am in their lists

[proudhawk]

who is whipping themselves into an "idiot's frenzy" here? I expressed some concern and also pointed out how far private org's and the government will go.

anyway, I am expressing a concern here. I am not a programmer and I don't even have a PS3. I am only curious. does that make it a crime? there are some who would have you believe that it would.

Re:guess I am in their lists

[Legal.Troll]

There are people here who "would have you believe it would" because this website is a haven for people who wish to make loud and dire complaints that have little or no grounding in reality. No, it's not a crime to watch Hotz's video. It has never been a crime. It is not in danger of becoming a crime. People's IPs are not being subpoena'd because they are suspected of crimes. Even people who turned around and REDISTRIBUTED HOTZ'S CRACK THEMSELVES have nothing to fear from this subpoena because the information obtained in this way, and for these narrow purposes, can't be used to prove their guilt, if lawsuits were even filed against them. Hotz is the one with legitimate legal troubles because he did something illegal, made no effort to hide his identity, or obtain Sony's authorization, or otherwise use the fruits of his labor in good faith. He wanted to make a name for himself and he was confident that the loud and vocal nature of his clueless supporters would simply make the things he did NOT ILLEGAL such that they would just magically go away.

LCD Reiniger

[Anonymous Coward]

Great and interesting post. Well, good fucking luck with that, because there will be millions of 'em within a week, and the information will be endlessly redistributed and re-mirrored across the Internet, because information wants to be free, and the tech-savvy community (unlike the general public) still values our civil liberties enough to click on a few fucking links. Thanks.

LCD Reiniger

URL: http://lcd-tft-reiniger.shinetex.de

Thanks.

[Melinda22]

This is a in fact good read for me, Must admit that you are human being of the best bloggers I ever saw. Thanks for posting this informative article. LCD Reiniger URL: http://lcd-tft-reiniger.shinetex.de/

Re:but unlike analog tv there is no box or headend

[wgoodman]

And people see less value in replacing that modem thing than they do in having to get some new box thing so they don't miss the new Jersey Shore.

So anyone who has seen the news...

[Anonymous Coward]

should be subpoenaed as well because they know about GeoHot. I'm sure that all the journalists that broke this story visited the website etc. I'm pretty sure the national news showed a clip from the YouTube video too, so does that mean that Grandma needs to go to court because they watched the news? This country has gone to hell.

Re:viewers

[Anonymous Coward]

By making this post I gain +1 Prophet-Martyr. ETA is 7 months. This post is recorded.

Do you choose your own medication?

Which one is your favourite?

And the torrents?

[Anonymous Coward]

The material has been circulating via bit-torrent.
A quick check of one semi-private tracker
31 torrents
500 seeds
12000 downloads

A sample of one public search site showed only 17 torrents, mostly unseeded.
Either the rush is over or people are being discreet.

Could this be the year of linux on the PS3?
--
If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.

If you ever needed a reason

[cshark]

not to buy the ps3, there you go.

Sony will sue you if you try to do anything useful with it.
Now, if you'll excuse me... I've got a hacked Wii I've been neglecting.

Jailbreaking leads to game piracy

[Anonymous Coward]

Afte the successful jailbreak, PS3 game piracy proliferated globally. You can even buy 1TB full of PS3 games in Southeast Asia. Have you ever thought that this will affect the total software sales and thus the livelihood of the game developers?

Fun with Sony

[Legion303]

1. Get the "refcontrol" addon for Firefox
2. Change referer for geohot.com to "I.would.download.it.again.if.I.could.you.worthless.fuckers" or perhaps their keys
3. Visit geohot.com
4. ???
5. PROFIT

Re:They are going after him, dolt

[Legion303]

"The entire purpose of getting IP addresses is to establish that many people from California downloaded information."

And hopefully someone will fill the judge in on how the internets work. I'm located in Colorado, but my proxy server is (coincidentally) in California.

Including

[ThatsNotPudding]

not watching any of their movies either in theatres, via Netflix, or on tv? They are hard to avoid and with no real restrictions on acquisitions (see: Comcast buys NBC), they will become even harder to avoid.

Counter-suit?

[JustAnotherIdiot]

Yeah I looked at the video, Yes I own a PS3, but I never once considered using that code. I was curious more than anything.
I've bought a PSP+ account at the convincing of a friend, and i've bought several titles off PSN.
I look forward to seeing if I suddenly lose them, for doing nothing other than viewing information.
I won't hesitate to call my cousin, who's been in law for quite a few years.

Whoosh...

[zooblethorpe]

If you were 15 or less years old, Power Rangers would have first aired before you were born.

There's this thing we have in the 21st Century called reruns...

There's this thing we have in education called reading comprehension...

Sorry, fishexe, that was too good an example of Muphry's Law to pass up. :)

Cheers,

Re:Whoosh...

[fishexe]

If you were 15 or less years old, Power Rangers would have first aired before you were born.

There's this thing we have in the 21st Century called reruns...

There's this thing we have in education called reading comprehension...

Sorry, fishexe, that was too good an example of Muphry's Law to pass up. :)

Cheers,

Not applicable. GP's clear implication was that someone under 15 should not be familiar with a show that old. "first" could easily be read in that context to refer to the beginning of the series in contrast to the rest of the series, as opposed to referring to the initial showing of an episode in contrast to repeat showings. But hey, go on insulting people for committing errors they're not actually committing as long as you want, it's a free country.

Re:Whoosh...

[zooblethorpe]

I'm sorry you took it as an insult; it was an attempt at humour, and while I admit it was at your expense, it was meant in jest -- hence the Muphry's Law reference and the smiley.

That aside, the only comment in this particular branch by GameboyRMH was simply that the initial broadcast of Power Rangers was more than 15 years ago; I don't see the clear implication that you do. "First aired" = "initial broadcast", which pretty clearly has nothing to do with reruns, so your comment looked to me very much like you'd misread GameboyRMH's post. But that's just my take on it.

Cheers,

Proper venue?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony argue that it needs the IP address so Sony can prove that filing the suit in California is proper. So, does this means if majority of the IP are Chinease IP then Sony need to move the case to China instead?