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Judge Allows Subpoenas For GeoHot YouTube Viewers, Blog Visitors

Posted by timothy on from the center-for-talented-youth dept.

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."

50 of 306 comments (clear)

  1. I'm really getting tired of all this.. by intellitech · · Score: 5, Informative

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

    --
    vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
    1. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      $_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
    2. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by nicholas22 · · Score: 2

      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...

    4. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by ElephanTS · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      spoonerize "magic trackpad"
    5. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by yincrash · · Score: 3, Funny

      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?

    6. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by netsharc · · Score: 5, Informative

      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?

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    7. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by commodore6502 · · Score: 5, Informative

      >>>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.

      --
      Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
    9. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by grumbel · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    10. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by ElephanTS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

      --
      spoonerize "magic trackpad"
    11. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Lobsters are definitely not kosher, according to Leviticus.

    12. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by canajin56 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
    13. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by Antisyzygy · · Score: 2

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

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    14. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by slashqwerty · · Score: 2

      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.

    15. Re:I'm really getting tired of all this.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Well then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

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

    1. Re:Well then... by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 2

      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.

  3. Go for it by MonsterTrimble · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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 call it 'The Aristocrats'
  4. More About the Judge by BooRadley · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --

    -- lk t lv ll th vwls t f wrds. T svs lts f tm t wrt bt ts pn n th ss t rd nd mks m lk lk cmplt dpsht.

  5. Re:San Francisco? by Abstrackt · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
  6. Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by h00manist · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
    1. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by Zastai · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      When all other methods of communication fail, try words.
    2. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by pcgfx805 · · Score: 2

      I'm Spartacus!

    3. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by h00manist · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
    4. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2

      "...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.

    5. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2

      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".

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    6. Re:Get rid of your private, individual IP numbers by rtyall · · Score: 2

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

  7. Go after him, not his viewers by Kenshin · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    --

    Does it make you happy you're so strange?

  8. This is getting ridiculous by Pecisk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
  9. Re:Sony strategy ? by dotHectate · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Patience is a virtue, but haste is my life.
  10. Re:Idiocracy by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2

    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...

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  11. Oops, here it is again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    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

  12. Re:Like Sony cares by vadim_t · · Score: 2

    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.

  13. Great... by gtvr · · Score: 3, Funny

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

  14. What the hell by Antisyzygy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  15. Re:Like Sony cares by PRMan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  16. Over 600 reasons by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Over 600 reasons by h00manist · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
  17. Re:viewers by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2

    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!"

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  18. Re:the IP system is not setup for any thing like t by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  19. Re:Like Sony cares by Belial6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  20. Re:Like Sony cares by Penguinisto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  21. "Something very wrong with media companies". by nurb432 · · Score: 2

    There i fixed it.

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

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  22. What happend to proving intent by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  23. I Hope They Supeona Me by KeithIrwin · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  24. Re:They are going after him, dolt by b4dc0d3r · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  25. Time for some civil disobedience, neh? by Mashhaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  26. Re:and do what force you to replace all network ge by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    and do what force you to replace all network gear?

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

    Yes.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  27. Re:They are going after him, dolt by DRJlaw · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.