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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."

11 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.

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    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 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.

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      spoonerize "magic trackpad"
    3. 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?

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      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    4. 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.

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      Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
    5. 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.

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      ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
  2. 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*

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    I call it 'The Aristocrats'
  3. 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.

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    -- 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.

  4. 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.

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    When all other methods of communication fail, try words.
  5. 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.

  6. 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.