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Sony Taking Down PSP Titles In Response To Vita Hackers

Posted by Unknown on from the we-control-the-vertical dept.

Carlos Rodriguez writes "The hacker community has found a way to make the Vita run unsigned code by exploiting weaknesses in PSP games available for download in the PSN store. In response, Sony has made the affected games unavailable for download for all platforms — PSP and Vita both — even if you had already paid for it and hadn't had the chance to download it yet. In the case of 'Everybody's Tennis', the game was removed from the PSN worldwide after the modder community bragged about the game being exploitable but before any exploit was released for it. Is Sony being too overzealous in its fight against piracy?"

52 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. This is Sony by crazyjj · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those not familiar with this company, who may ask "But won't they lose money if they take down the games?", let me give you some background. This is a company that would rather pull EVERY game on PSN than to lose even the slightest bit of control over their locked-down system. This is a company that will infect their CD's with viruses to prevent copying, a company that repeatedly kills its own platforms with its insistence on proprietary formats, a company that doesn't care if your old blu-ray player plays the latest blu-rays or not--a company that will remove any feature, cripple any platform, pull any game, destroy any product line--all to maintain control. If Sony were faced tomorrow morning with the choice between risking people copying even one of their movies and bulldozing the entire PSP line into a landfill, they would have that landfill full before the sun went down.

    This is what happens when you allow a media producer to mix in the same company with the producer of the hardware that plays said media.

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    1. Re:This is Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What always confuses me is why anybody ever buys anything from Sony. They started to go mental in the mid-90's, and then went full retard in the early '00's. At this point surely you'd have to be a masochist to willingly purchase a Sony product and subject yourself to such treatment?

    2. Re:This is Sony by Bulge+Temptingly · · Score: 2

      For fuck's sake - go and look up the definition of 'virus' as it pertains to computers.

    3. Re:This is Sony by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Informative

      For the record, it was a rootkit, not a virus. The terms are already muddy as all getout, but there IS a difference.

    4. Re:This is Sony by Dhalka226 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not that I am defending their actions, but I do wonder if there is something cultural going on. Is there something in particular about Japanese culture that encourages that degree of control (or perhaps "order")?

      The extents to which they are willing to go seem extreme, even compared to other companies who are charter members aboard the DRM bandwagon. Is there something more to it than just "Sony = teh sux?"

    5. Re:This is Sony by Atomus · · Score: 2

      Agreed. There was a time (read: over a decade ago) I was naive to their practices towards customers and loved their products, but as the curtains pull away and shed light on how they treat their customers, I can no longer support them by buying their products (as I'm sure alot of /.'ers do now). And until the mainstream people are more informed and decide to not buy Sony products too, Sony will constantly be in control-freak mode. No amount of hacking, exploiting, copying, data-breaching, etc., is going to change the companies mission to stop piracy and home-brewing. Until some company creates another game system that welcomes home brewers and indie game developers, Sony will continue down this path....

    6. Re:This is Sony by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're the guy at the office who goes apeshit whenever someone plays Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" aren't you?

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    7. Re:This is Sony by jythie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Money is just tokenized power, control is another. Powerful people seek, well, power, and being able to control how people use what you sell gives just as much of a high has making lots of money off of it. That power then translates to respect within your community, which results in promotions and options at other companies.

      In other words, once you realize that the motivations are not corporate profit but instead individual advancement and status, such behavior seems a lot less insane. This is also the core of the MPAA/RIAA's behavior, both are industries where careers are made or broken by reputation, so control/power are more important to the individual then group profit.

    8. Re:This is Sony by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

      At least we no longer have to face the disturbing prospect of Steve Jobs taking over as Sony CEO. Surely that would have produced a future that would make Mad Max seem charming by comparison.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    9. Re:This is Sony by John+Napkintosh · · Score: 2

      Funny - I have a Sony clock radio and when I put my iPod in there, it plays music. It also wakes me up in the morning at the time I set on the alarm. I also own a Sony eReader, and when I tap on one of my books, the words come up on the screen and, when I swipe my finger across the page, it advances forward or backward accordingly.

      No masochism involved.

      --

      Long signatures suck.
    10. Re:This is Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      really? i find their TV's to be over priced for what is delivered. The quality is good, but samsung makes comprable displays for 60-70% the cost.

    11. Re:This is Sony by jd2112 · · Score: 2

      Funny - I have a Sony clock radio and when I put my iPod in there, it plays music. It also wakes me up in the morning at the time I set on the alarm. I also own a Sony eReader, and when I tap on one of my books, the words come up on the screen and, when I swipe my finger across the page, it advances forward or backward accordingly.

      No masochism involved.

      I have a Sony blu-ray player that in order to use any feature above just playing disks I had to create an account on Sony's web site and give them a bunch of personal information. I think this is necessary to update the device as well.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    12. Re:This is Sony by Lonewolf666 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, I would not trust Sony with anything that has a processor and might need a firmware update at some point.

      They have, however, made some pretty decent analog equipment in the past. I still have an old set of walkman headphones that works fine and sounds good after 20 years. The only thing I had to replace at some point were the ear pads.

      --
      C - the footgun of programming languages
    13. Re:This is Sony by Anrego · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The group of people who understand the nature of Sony, the relevance of this kind of behavior, or care at all is relatively small.

      Lest we forget, after the PSN hack and all that personal info got stolen, the absolute loudest cry was from gamers who wanted the PSN back up ASAP. The people who understood the nature of Sony's fuckup and that a huge chunk of their personal info just got stolen make up a very tiny portion of Sony's customer base.

      In addition to that, people are just plain used to companies being evil. It just happens that Sony is evil in a way that is particularily relevant to us. It's important to remind ourselves that the rest of the world really doesn't care about this stuff.

    14. Re:This is Sony by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You buy from Sony *and* Apple and say you're not a masochist? They're the two biggest offenders when it comes to control of content, proprietary formats and connectors and abuse of customers. You may be in denial.

    15. Re:This is Sony by gman003 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Note, however, that Nintendo is from a different region of Japan (Kyoto), with a significantly different culture.

      Think of the difference between a New York City company, and a Boston company, or perhaps a New Orleans company. It's... something like that.

      From what I can tell, Kyoto is much more conservative and traditional, but also more rural and more... relaxed, I suppose. They have a different accent (kansai-ben), which loosely corresponds to either a southern accent, or a boston accent, at least culturally.

      There's also the fact that Nintendo is now effectively run by the game developers - Miyamoto is still a Senior Managing Director, and Iwata (the President) worked on Earthbound and Kirby as a programmer. Sony, meanwhile, is run by businessmen, for business.

    16. Re:This is Sony by neokushan · · Score: 2

      Fuck me, I'd love to see your reaction if he'd called is a "Virii".

      --
      +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
    17. Re:This is Sony by BStroms · · Score: 2

      Because I don't generally take to boycotts or activism against corporations. When I buy something I ask myself two questions.

      1. Do I think the value of this object is greater than the money I'm paying for it.

      2. Is there a more cost efficient way to get the same value.

      My Sony purchases over my life have been limited to a PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP (and of course related software.) At least for those four items, I don't regret my purchases in the least. I definitely got my money's worth. To be honest, it's pure speculation that I wouldn't feel the same way most people here do if I'd actually been harmed by the company.

      I don't listen to music, so I had no impact from the rootkit fiasco. I never had any intention to put Linux on my PS3. Even for the hacking, I'd used a one off password that wasn't reused anywhere else, and didn't have any desire to use the PSN while it was down. So I basically got free games out of the deal without paying any cost.

    18. Re:This is Sony by Anrego · · Score: 4, Informative

      The OtherOS is actually a perfect example.

      In this community we heard about it non-stop for what feels like years. Outside this community, no one really cared. Yes Sony lost some business, but even if everyone who could explain in a sentence what the OtherOS thing was about stopped buying Sony, it would probably be a tiny blip on the profit statement.

      Same with the geohotz thing. Huge deal to us, non-issue for most. The rootkit thing is the closest Sony ever came to doing something that actually pissed of a large chunk of their users with an issue (outside the PSN thing, but again, people were upset for the wrong reason).. and even that most people wern't mad enough to swear of Sony products forever.. it was more of an amused "well that was naughty of them" response from the vast majority of people.

    19. Re:This is Sony by delinear · · Score: 2

      Particularly nauseating given how well they've demonstrated they'll look after your personal information. My last Sony purchase was a PS1. Admittedly the last time I tried it about 12 years ago it was still working, but only if I stood it upside down so the lid rested on the ground. Sony used to be the watchword for quality, then sometime in the 90s they figured they could trade on the name but reduce quality to boost profits.

    20. Re:This is Sony by Kohath · · Score: 2

      Because, to most people, buying an item from someone isn't like getting married to them. It's a game, not a relationship. It's a set of headphones, not a religion.

      I've never understood why people like you anthropomorphize a company of hundreds of thousands of people as if they were one person -- and not even a real person, but some style of outlandish cartoon villain. I suspect it's because believing fantasy stories is somehow more real or seems more personally fulfilling than anything the real world has to offer you.

    21. Re:This is Sony by Kohath · · Score: 3, Funny

      Funny - I have a Sony clock radio and when I put my iPod in there, it plays music. It also wakes me up in the morning at the time I set on the alarm.

      It secretly hates you. It's just biding it's time. It's probably playing subliminal messages to you while you sleep, to hypnotize you into buying a new one in 5 or 6 years because the old one seemed to work correctly for that entire time. It's unbelievably insidious.

    22. Re:This is Sony by Hizonner · · Score: 2

      First, a refund isn't adequate.

      Here comes the oblibatory car analogy: I buy a car from you. A week later, you decide you didn't want to sell it, so you come over to my house, hotwire it, and stick the money back through my mail slot. Sorry, not going to fly, especially not if, say, I miss work the next day and lose my job because of your actions. It's not your choice any more, and you are civilly and criminally liable for what you did, refund or no refund.

      Sony's legal situation isn't that clear cut for several reasons... but their ethical situation is exactly the same, and given that any contract that gives them any "right" to do what they're doing is a surely a contract of adhesion, possibly unconscionable, and possibly contrary to public policy or even direct statute, they're not exactly in the clear legally.

      The refund is not going to be an adequate remedy for a lot of people, and even if it were, it's not Sony's choice to make.

      Second, small claims court doesn't help.

      Small claims court usually has a filing fee, and you have to go down there and appear, thus spending time that has a real monetary value. Then you get to spend more time and money getting Sony to notice your judgement and pay it, possibly including threatening to take them to "real" court". It's not feasible to do that to get a $15 refund or a $50 refund. For most people, it wouldn't be reasonable from a financial point of view if it were less than several hundred dollars. And small claims court can't give you any injunctive relief, either let alone give any third party any injunctive relief.

      The only people who mess with small claims court are going to be people who want to spend lots of time to make a point, and there aren't that many people like that. Sony is therefore pretty much free to steal all it wants, as long as it steals it a little at a time. The only real court remedy for something like this is a class action, and that's a huge project that has its own problems.

    23. Re:This is Sony by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The OtherOS is actually a perfect example.

      In this community we heard about it non-stop for what feels like years. Outside this community, no one really cared. Yes Sony lost some business, but even if everyone who could explain in a sentence what the OtherOS thing was about stopped buying Sony, it would probably be a tiny blip on the profit statement.

      Same with the geohotz thing. Huge deal to us, non-issue for most. The rootkit thing is the closest Sony ever came to doing something that actually pissed of a large chunk of their users with an issue (outside the PSN thing, but again, people were upset for the wrong reason).. and even that most people wern't mad enough to swear of Sony products forever.. it was more of an amused "well that was naughty of them" response from the vast majority of people.

      OtherOS was perfect. Microsoft learned with their Xbox what happens when hackers and pirates share a common goal - one inevitably helps the other. In that case, the Xbox-Linux folks found vulnerabilities that they told Microsoft about, in exchange for a legit way of running Linux. Microsoft rebuffed them, and Xbox Linux released their installation tools. The pirates siezed upon that and Xbox piracy was born.

      OtherOS was the same - those who wanted homebrew had a perfect outlet for it, and busy playing there meant the pirates really didn't have much they could do since homebrew in OtherOS was restricted.

      But remove OtherOS and all of a sudden those hackers had to break into GameOS to run Linux... and now that GameOS was broken, pirates could come in with ISO loaders. And then researchers came in and studied the hacks and realized what else they could do until ti cascaded to the point where the keys were discovered.

      The Xbox360 has suffered piracy attacks, but also has a homebrew avenue (XNA studio). The interesting thing is while there's piracy on the Xbox, the integrity of the system hasn't been compromised - you cannot plug a modded Xbox into Xbox Live because the dashboard is signed and reports back to Microsoft, and unsigned dashboards don't really run.

      PSN though is another story - with the master keys available, the whole "trust the client" part of PSN doesn't exist anymore, and you can get CFW's for PS3 that let you play ISOs AND get on PSN.

      And all of it happened within a year of Sony removing OtherOS. Hell, the PSN hack was just over a year later (April 1, 2010 - OtherOS was removed. Aprile 2011 - PSN hacked).

      You know, if Sony continually does this, one could make the Vita's PSN ability worthless if games keep getting removed.

      I understand Sony's reluctance about piracy, given it helped speed the demise of the PSP, but perhaps if Sony wasn't so greedy on the PSP on the first place. Like how UMD videos could get full 60fps video decode, while memory stick videos could only do 30fps (later fixed). Or how an "install to memory stick" feature wasn't implemented to allow loading UMD games off faster memory stick. (Sony could use MagicGate to lock the UMD image to one PSP and require the UMD to be present to play the game, negating piracy fears a la the Xbox 360). But they didn't, and CFW made the whole PSP experience far better - the benefits of loading games from memory stick meant less loading screens to wait through, full res full framerate videos, etc.

  2. Too overzealous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You mean overzealous? Or Too zealous?

    1. Re:Too overzealous? by gman003 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sony goes so far as to require *two* modifiers saying "they're going too far". Just "overzealous" doesn't cut it - they're too overzealous.

    2. Re:Too overzealous? by gnick · · Score: 2

      So if they're too overzealous, does that imply that there's an appropriate level of overzealousness?

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    3. Re:Too overzealous? by Dishevel · · Score: 2

      I once heard someone describe another person as "Overly stabby".

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  3. DoS idea by ameen.ross · · Score: 2

    Just overload them with blog posts of people bragging about being exploitable.

    --
    $(echo cm0gLXJmIC8= | base64 --decode)
    1. Re:DoS idea by ameen.ross · · Score: 2

      D'oh. Used square braces..
      Bragging about (game) being exploitable.

      --
      $(echo cm0gLXJmIC8= | base64 --decode)
    2. Re:DoS idea by gman003 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Brilliant plan.

      *ahem* Personally, I've found exploits in the following games:
      Army Corps of Hell
      Asphalt Injection
      BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
      Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
      Dream Club Zero Portable
      Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
      Everybody's Golf 6
      F1 2011
      Little Deviants
      Lord of Apocalypse
      Michael Jackson: The Experience
      Ridge Racer
      Shinobido 2: Tales of the Ninja
      Touch My Katamari
      Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
      Uncharted: Golden Abyss
      Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition
      Wipeout 2048
      Tales of Innocence R
      A-men
      Ragnarok Odyssey
      Gravity Rush
      Sumioni: Demon Arts
      FIFA Football
      Rayman Origins
      ModNation Racers: Road Trip
      Lumines Electronic Symphony
      Hustle Kings
      Escape Plan
      Dynasty Warriors Next
      Super Stardust Delta
      Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
      Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
      Ben 10: Galactic Racing
      Reality Fighters
      Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
      MotorStorm: RC
      Plants vs. Zombie
      Top Darts
      MLB 12: The Show
      Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7
      Unit 13
      Little Busters! Converted Edition

      Your move, Sony

    3. Re:DoS idea by neokushan · · Score: 2

      The interesting thing is that this does actually give certain known PSP/PS3 hackers the power to remove ANY game from the PSN. All they have to do is say "New exploit found in x" and poof, it's gone. Sony isn't removing these games when the exploit is released, they're removing them as soon as it's mentioned what game it is.

      --
      +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  4. Are they going to repost after fixing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If so.....then they did the right thing and I don't see the problem here.

    If, on the other hand, they just never put them back up and don't refund the people who purchased these games.....then there's a problem.

  5. Oh boy... by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here come all the OMG SONY SUCKS people.
    Guys, they're a company out to make profit, and they're going to put the game back up in time.
    ANY company would do the same thing if suddenly they're product they were expecting revenue from was suddenly able to be accessed for free.
    I'm not discounting that Sony does a lot of scummy stuff, but is not one of them in my eyes.

    I'm going to take such a huge karma hit for this comment, how dare I go against the flow.

    --
    What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
    1. Re:Oh boy... by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 2

      Guys, they're a company out to make profit, and they're going to put the game back up in time.

      In your dreams. The only thing they will do is, after some ten games or so, they'll stop pulling games just because some modder bragged about them "being exploitable". Maybe earlyer if bloggers overdo it, and brag about too many games at once. Maybe later if the bloggers are smart and wait a couple of weeks between each different game...

    2. Re:Oh boy... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Guys, they're a company out to make profit, and they're going to put the game back up in time.

      Kind of like how Apple still has all those pornography apps in its app store? Sometimes companies think that can realize greater profits by basically screwing their customers, and there is every reason to think that Sony is such a company.

      I'm not discounting that Sony does a lot of scummy stuff, but is not one of them in my eyes.

      So just hearing a rumor that a particular game might have a bug that could be exploited is now enough to pull the game? Interesting definition of "not scummy..."

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    3. Re:Oh boy... by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 2

      So just hearing a rumor that a particular game might have a bug that could be exploited is now enough to pull the game? Interesting definition of "not scummy..."

      FTFA:

      On March 1, the hackers at Wololo.net first publicly announced that their homebrew Vita Half Byte Loader (VHBL) worked by exploiting a vulnerability in a downloadable copy of the PSP title Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, releasing a video of Doom being loaded onto the system by way of proof

      I'd say it's called a fact if they provided proof. Sony probably tested it themselves before taking the games down.

      --
      What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
  6. Thanks for educating people Sony by RichMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sony is educating millions on the power of Digital Rights Management (DRM). The more educated, informed and angry people we have the better.

    I am sure Sony's licensing agreement says "Sony does not have to provide anything for your money". I would love to see the lawsuits flame up over this. Of course the agreement will also say "contests to the agreement must happen in East Texas(or whichever jurisdiction is most favorable to Sony)" and that that the customer waives the right to class actions lawsuits.

    If you are being shafted by Sony on this sorry, see if you can get a class action lawsuit going and buts that "customer (dis)agreement. If you are not being shafted by Sony, lets thank Sony for the education on DRM it is providing to a wide range of the public.

  7. I can't imagine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can't imagine why Sony would possibly have a corporate culture of paranoia regarding security issues.

  8. And yet again by Pi1grim · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Way to go Sony, that ought to teach those pesky customers of yours!

    Actually, I think Stallman should thank Sony for reenacting every scary story he is telling when explaining horrors of verdor lock-ins and proprietary format traps. This ought to stick it to those, who kept saying that no company would be suicidal enough to treat their customers this way.

  9. Sony used to be a respected company by mrpacmanjel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow! Back in the day (70s-80s) Sony made some cool stuff - I'm talking about Trinitron tvs, open-reel tape machines and awesome stereos. The quality was amazing. A popular "rule-of-thumb" was you can gauge the quality of a CRT-based telly was how heavy it was - Sony was always heaviest!!!! Until some competitors were caught adding lead(?) weights into the tv box!!

    Sony is a sad shadow of it's former self.

    Well done Sony you are on the road to utter irrelevance.

  10. Let it go already! by mrpacmanjel · · Score: 2

    Expensive mobile device and overzealous company policy..oh proprietary format too.

    The device flopped over Christmas here in the UK & retailers were desperately promoting special offers and discounts as soon as it was released.

    Sony & Nintendo have to learn the mobile gaming sector has got a lot more competitive and in most cases competitor's games are cheaper too.

    I'm afraid this business model is done.

    I thought "Honeybadger" was stoopid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

  11. Re:Piracy destroyed the PSP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Piracy destroyed the PSP software market.

    Crap hardware, the usual Sony bullshit with weird Sony proprietary formats (UMDs? Really?) and lack of decent software killed the PSP. It wasn't very good. People were not interested. They did not buy a PSP. QED.

  12. I won't touch their hardware, either by KingSkippus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not a fan of their hardware, either. In 2000, I bought a Sony home theater system, thinking I was getting good quality with the "good" brand. Within a few months, the DVD changer got jammed and I couldn't watch any DVDs on it. It was under warranty so I sent it in to be repaired. They kept it for almost two months. I was absolutely livid. When they finally sent it back, it had a nasty scratch down the left side, and the icing on the cake was that it STILL didn't work! So I unplugged the thing, stuck it right back in the box that I had just gotten it out of, and sent it back. I waited a few more weeks, finally got it back, and this time it worked, though I was still pissed off at the scratch.

    Within a month after the anniversary date of my purchase, all of a sudden, the center channel speaker started making this hideous noise. It wasn't the speaker, it was the port on the system the speaker was plugged into. If I swapped it out with a different speaker, the different speaker made the noise. I couldn't hear crap, so I called them back up. They said they'd be happy to repair it--for a few hundred bucks. I explained that although more than a calendar year had passed since I bought the thing, it had been in their repair facilities for over two of those twelve months, and I felt that they should give me credit for that time and repair the thing for free. They refused to budge.

    So I unplugged the damn thing, hauled it to an electronics recycling center, and swore never to knowingly buy another piece of Sony hardware again. I had such a bitter taste in my mouth from the experience that I didn't even buy a replacement component; to this day, I just use the speakers on my television. Wow, things sure have changed since the days I wrote a script to hit Amazon's site and page me when a PS2 was available so that I could get one on launch day. After all of the other crap that's gone down, the root kit, the other OS option, the PSN hackage, the filesharing lawsuits, stories like this hitting WAY too often... I used to be a Sony fan, but for ten years now, and for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't use their stuff even if someone gave it to me for free. Which is a shame for Sony, since in the past ten years I've finally gotten enough disposable income to afford fancy electronics. And as the techno-geek in my family and circle of friends, I've also advised many consumers with money in hand to avoid their stuff.

    1. Re:I won't touch their hardware, either by Hatta · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm still using a Sony amp from the 80s. Goes to show you what a decade or two of corporate greed can do.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  13. Re:It hurts by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People said the same thing about MS and Apple, the problem is that most consumers have a nasty case of beaten wife syndrome.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  14. Re:Piracy destroyed the PSP by Captain+Hook · · Score: 2

    Hostile enemies should be treated like hostile enemies.

    Or in Sony's case....

    Paying Customers should be treated like hostile enemies.

    --
    These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
  15. How is Apple a bigger offender than Nintendo? by tepples · · Score: 2

    True, they're two big offenders, but in my opinion not the two biggest. How is Apple a bigger offender than Nintendo?

    1. Re:How is Apple a bigger offender than Nintendo? by tepples · · Score: 2

      It takes one screw on the Nintendo DS to take the battery out and change it.

      So in other words, it is your opinion that Apple's policy against replacement of the rechargeable battery by the end user outweighs Nintendo's policy against software development by a home-based business. Do I understand you correctly?

    2. Re:How is Apple a bigger offender than Nintendo? by gorzek · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To explore this a little bit, consider that Nintendo is a gaming company. Everything they do is centered around producing video game consoles and games to play on them. As long as the devices they sell can do that, I imagine most people don't care that they are locked down. Plus, it's not like you can do homebrew/hacking any more easily on the Sony or Microsoft systems.

      Apple, on the other hand, sells more general "lifestyle" devices. The iPhone isn't just a phone--it's a media device, it's a portable game console, it's a web client, etc. etc. And given that it is advertised to have those capabilities, I think it's fair for some to cry foul at the fact that even though the device can do a lot of things (and is advertised thusly by Apple), it can only do them Apple's way, for no good reason except that Apple wants to maintain strict control over the platform.

      Granted, most people don't care how hackable and open a particular device is, and I just avoid this whole issue by not purchasing Apple products. But I don't think the comparison to Nintendo is valid, because Nintendo sells devices for very specific purposes, and Apple's control of the iPhone is criticized because it is a more general-purpose device, intentionally crippled to serve Apple's interests.

      --
      Check out my world simulator thingy.
    3. Re:How is Apple a bigger offender than Nintendo? by gorzek · · Score: 2

      Ah, but you just illustrated the point perfectly. The only reason they "allow" jailbreaking is because a court said they couldn't forbid it.

      Given the choice, they absolutely do opt for maximum control over the device you paid for.

      --
      Check out my world simulator thingy.
  16. Re:Again... by stewartjm · · Score: 2

    Actually viruses are virtually extinct in-so-far as malware goes. A classic computer virus was an executable, that when run, found other executables and modified them so that they would also spread the virus to further executables. Most malware these days only ever performs the infection step once per computer. These programs can generally be classified as worms or trojans, but not viruses.