F-YOU Sony!!

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Ok, so I figured this would be the best place to post this. This directly relates to EVERYONE here.

If this lawsuit gets passed we are ALL screwed. Essentially, Sony is trying to get a case passed against some security researchers that have been able to "jailbreak", "root", "reimage" their PS3s so that they can once again put an "OtherOS" on like when they originally released. BUT, they are not stopping their, they are trying to get a precedent passed that would allow a device manufacturer to bring legal actions against people for modifying their devices AFTER they have purchased them. Meaning, in our case, if you buy a phone and modify the OS from exactly what the manufacturer has "approved" YOU are committing a CRIMINAL OFFENCE.

I SAY "F-YOU SONY!!!"

This is directly from the EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, if you are unaware of who they are or what they do I stress to everyone here that you learn a little about them from www.eff.org.

January 19th, 2011

Sony v. Hotz: Sony Sends A Dangerous Message to Researchers -- and Its Customers

Commentary

Co-authored by Corynne McSherry and Marcia Hofmann

For years, EFF has been warning that the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be used to chill speech, particularly security research, because legitimate researchers will be afraid to publish their results lest they be accused of circumventing a technological protection measure. We've also been concerned that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act could be abused to try to make alleged contract violations into crimes.

We've never been sorrier to be right. These two things are precisely what's happening in Sony v. Hotz. If you have missed this one, Sony has sued several security researchers for publishing information about security holes in Sony’s PlayStation 3. At first glance, it's hard to see why Sony is bothering — after all, the research was presented three weeks ago at the Chaos Communication Congress and promptly circulated around the world. The security flaws discovered by the researchers allow users to run Linux on their machines again — something Sony used to support but recently started trying to prevent. Paying lawyers to try to put the cat back in the bag is just throwing good money after bad. And even if they won — we'll save the legal analysis for another post — the defendants seem unlikely to be able to pay significant damages. So what's the point?

The real point, it appears, is to send a message to security researchers around the world: publish the details of our security flaws and we'll come after you with both barrels blazing. For example, Sony has asked the court to immediately impound all "circumvention devices" — which it defines to include not only the defendants' computers, but also all "instructions," i.e., their research and findings. Given that the research results Sony presumably cares about are available online, granting the order would mean that everyone except the researchers themselves would have access to their work.

Not content with the DMCA hammer, Sony is also bringing a slew of outrageous Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims. The basic gist of Sony's argument is that the researchers accessed their own PlayStation 3 consoles in a way that violated the agreement that Sony imposes on users of its network (and supposedly enabled others to do the same). But the researchers don't seem to have used Sony's network in their research — they just used the consoles they bought with their own money. Simply put, Sony claims that it's illegal for users to access their own computers in a way that Sony doesn't like. Moreover, because the CFAA has criminal as well as civil penalties, Sony is actually saying that it's a crime for users to access their own computers in a way that Sony doesn't like.

That means Sony is sending another dangerous message: that it has rights in the computer it sells you even after you buy it, and therefore can decide whether your tinkering with that computer is legal or not. We disagree. Once you buy a computer, it's yours. It shouldn't be a crime for you to access your own computer, regardless of whether Sony or any other company likes what you're doing.

Finally, even if the researchers had used Sony's network, Sony's claim that it's a crime to violate its terms of use has been firmly rejected by courts in cases like United States v. Drew and Facebook v. Power Ventures. As those courts have recognized, companies like Sony would have tremendous coercive power if they could enforce their private, unilateral and easy-to-change agreements with threats of criminal punishment.

Sony's core arguments — that it can silence speech that reveals security flaws using the DMCA and that the mere fact of a terms of use somewhere gives a company permanent and total control over what you do with a device under pain of criminal punishment — are both sweeping and frightening, and not just for gamers and computer researchers. Frankly, it's not what we expect from any company that cares about its customers, and we bet it's not what those customers expect, either.

Attachment Size
Sony_Complaint.PDF 2.59 MB
Sony_Motion_For_TRO.pdf 207.03 KB

Related Issues: Coders' Rights Project, DMCA, Free Speech, Innovation, Terms Of (Ab)Use

Related Cases: Facebook v. Power Ventures, US v. Drew

looks like they wont be releasing the bootloader for the x10 any time soon....

Next thing you know car manufactures will be trying to get legal approval so if somebody modifies the car in anyway they will be committing criminal offense.........yeah right! lol

But seriously, we pay so much money for a device and not being able to modify it freely is just dumb. Personally I would sell those devices and not bother to buy any anymore since I wouldn't want to support such a company with such a attitude.

I think it is kinda fun.

As I jumped to the page I had been logged out and what was the add that was displayed in my original post??

Discounts on PS3s, games, and move. Ironic, dontchya think??

LOL

Actually even if sony wins it will only apply to consoles (for now), but if they lose the legal precedent will be changed from allowing mobile phones (a closed system) to be modified to allowing game consoles, mobile phones, and who knows what else. This is a bit of old news if you keep up on the psp/ps3 scene though but still interesting and at times funny. If you guys want to see the guy in question here http://www.ps3-hacks.com/2011/01/14/...w-with-geohot/ it's the same guy who jailbroke the iphone for the first time. He beat apple before, now let's see sony go down and even more systems open up legally.

But seriously, we pay so much money for a device and not being able to modified freely is just dumb.

start getting use to it now

it used to be that the huge companies couldnt stop people from hacking, so they just kept tabs on it and used the threat of losing your account as 'leverage'.

now that they have the upper hand, the law will work with them much more.

sony always had the updates trick. again, they couldnt stop people hacking, but the hackers couldnt hide it either, so a new update messed up your hacks and sometimes your device.

now they are gonna give you all hell...

you think sony wants you to play your own mp3s and watch your own videos???

if sony had the power to stop you eating food that you didnt buy through playstation, they would happily watch you starve to death.

its the entertainment industry. key word: industry, ie, to make money.

if they made a better device, with more fair options instead of trying to milk everyone dry, then they would gain so much from the people like me (and millions others) that dont want to give them our money because they are ****s.

I bet they'd make a lot more money if they allowed modifications, and supported them (for a price!)

wow... if they did that android devices would go extinct... theyre barely functional without mods

You guys are missing the point. If sony wins it only applies to systems not already in the DMCA which right now says "mobile phones". We're safe regardless unless you're also into console/handheld modding. Sony is just throwing a hissy-fit because their security got bent over a barrel.