Strange! According to third party reports, court filings reveal that Sony tried to send Geohot $1 to prove that the hacker was taking donations. However, Geohot himself never requested any donations.
are u guys that gullible? take a second and think. jesus, did u all fail 6th grade common sense classes? a multi billion dollar company doing such an act? u people are freakin...meh wont even bother with u
lol, I read this somewhere else. Pretty hilarious. Almost pitiful.
I believe they were trying to do this to link his twitter to paypal or something.
But if he never formally asked for donations then Sony is really taking the stereotype of the "evil multi billion dollar company."
How much money can Sony even obtain from Geohot? Even if he somehow gets a prison sentence. It won't scare off hackers. It will just make them stay anonymous. lol
This reminds me of the lawyer who bought some very expensive cigars and insured them (against theft, damage including fires) and some insurance company actually insured them. The lawyer then proceeded to smoke his cigars and claim the money from insurance. The insurance company paid out and then took him to court for fraud.
Very amusing story (whether it is true or not I don't know) but kinda similar.
let me just remind you guys, donating isn't illegal, anyone could have donated to his paypal for any other LEGAL reason. What if for some strange coincidence he found my dog so I donated $300 to him, would that mean I am supporting his hacks? no. If Geohot's lawyer can point something like this out, the donating made by sony is invalid to be used towards this case.
Why would sony install rootkits on computers that play their CDs? That's extremely illegal. Maybe they failed their common sense class from 6th grade also?
Actully i think he had a donate banner right below the ps3 key at one point, almost sure of this. And that is illegal.
Even if he had a donate link during the hacking is still illegal cos that is money funding a hacker.
If sony send a dollar and that dollar arrived to geohot (witch probably did cos otherwise it wouldnt even be in the pappers), then he is going to have to awnser to that, and that is not a pretty picture for him.
Sony probably doesnt even want to win the case just exaust the resources of the kid, witch by any means is still bad for him.
lol @hsx9, doesn't work like that. Can a minor "donate" $6 to you for a pack of cigarettes? Or in a dry county can a person "donate" $25 to a clerk for free beer?
Known fact - Sony are world class at 2 things... marketing and suing smaller entities right up to the end and then dropping the case. all 3 console manufacturers are bullies, this is how they get so big.
read how sony did to LAME exactly the same thing they accuse these people. not respecting agreement.
trouble is that LAME is not profit software, the only tax is if you use software you keep it free. kinda like stealing from beggars hat.
off course, LAME has copyright done correctly as it is exposed on to you before you even download software. while sony way is illegal is most countries.
terms of service are not presented before you buy product and for example if you open package you also bought it. good luck with not agreeing to terms
@cemelc
http://fail0verflow.com/ read bottom of the page, it was like that even before they uncovered ps3 hack
Sony: "Then what's your donation button doing on your hacking website? We can even prove that clicking on your donate button will donate $1 into your account."
Geo: "I didn't ask for donation. I just happen to have a donate button on my website so people can donate to me. However, I never asked for donation."
N4G: "Geo's right. For example, a black guy can just come into my house in the middle of the night and point a gun at my head, and it's totally legal, as long as he doesn't say he's going to kill me. 'Cause you know, he never said he was going to kill me. He only pointed tthe gun at my head, then pointed at my cash. It was totally my my choice to give him the money. He didn't say he was going to kill me if I don't give him the cash. He merely pointed a gun at my head. So it's totally okay and he should not get arrest and charge for it."
Count: "Why do people on N4G thinks we give a shit about about what they say? Geo is going away for a very long time, and no amount of PS3 hate going on on N4G is going to influence the court's decision."
Even so they can't prove he actually was accepting donations for the PS3 hack which he was not. His iPhone hacking was declared legal in court. Sony is grasping at straws here as is the rest of their claims.
Doesn't mean he doesn't take donations for hacking other devices. I mean, if he's getting donations for 'hacking', it's easy for him to say "But none of the money I was donated in the time that I was hacking the PS3 was for that."
That's like Sony saying that none of the profits for the PS3 are going towards making the PS4. Doesn't really matter, money they are earning is being used to develop the PS4. Unless GeoHot suddenly stopped eating, drinking, and didn't pay whatever bills he has during the time he spent hacking the PS3, the donations he received and used to pay such things as well as equipment went towards hacking the PS3.
Sony tried to send Geohot $1 to prove that the hacker was taking donations. However, Geohot himself never requested any donations.
DANG, IF YOUR GOING TO BRIB ME... DO BETTER THAN A DOLLAR ...for crying out loud. if i was Geohot i would disclaim any donations too.... a dollar??? haaaaa.
I'm honestly surprised at the idiocy displayed in the comments here.
Do people not understand that in order to validate the presence of a PayPal account that GeoHot used to receive donations for his hacking activities, Sony has to have proof that it exists on their end in order to subpoena the records of said account?
It was not to prove he received donations for this project, it was to prove he receives donations for hacking in general. And, it's up to the court to prove if GeoHot's donations during the period that he was hacking the PS3 could have been used to fund the hack.
Sure, GeoHot never asked for donations for the PS3, but he did ask for donations in his hacking activities, which included hacking the PS3.
Honestly, idiocy has run rampant here since this the TRO was made public.
If thats true...I just lost a lot of respect for Sony. If Geohot is guilty, then prove it in COURT. This $1 crap is clearly a desperation move. If I were the head of Sony games division...I'd sue Geohot as well, but I wouldn't use a b.s. tactic like that.
@socomnick- Sony wants to prove that Geohot takes donations. Which would mean that he makes a profit from hacking. If Sony can prove that Geohot profits from hacking...then the case is a slam dunk for Sony.
The thing is, Geohot doesn't ask for donations. So if this DID happen, Sony just made themselves look very stupid. Btw, the article said that Sony TRIED to do this. So, Geohot wasn't dumb enough to fall into Sony's trap.
hey, i love my ps3, not to mention i love my games even more. but, please... do not call sony righteous company who really care about you. they are in it for the money
Why is this a bad move on Sony's part? I don't get it?
The guy hacks, then releases stolen codes online knowing that this will spur on pirates and other hackers. That's all he does on his site - hacks, teachers others to hack and brag about his hacking. Then he has a donation button linked to his paypal so he can take in money.
If a guy is sitting on the street corner, playing a saxophone, and he's got a hat in front of him - it's pretty obvious that people are paying him for playing his sax. He's profiting from playing a sax. If someone does the same thing but just sitting there - he's begging. Money given to him is his profit for begging.
George Hotz hacking on his site and then putting his hat out is him profiting from his hacks. In this case, profiting from stealing confidential codes and passwords and making them public. If he hacked your computer, stole your personal information and passwords and then posted them on your site and took money for it, most of us would take issue with that and rightfully call the police. This is no different. The guy already tried to compromise the PS3 once - he was never going to stop and in the meantime he was profiting from it and enjoying his celebrity.
It's about time someone put the breaks on this kid. I'd love it if, like in other hacking cases, not only does he get jail time but he's prohibited from using computers in the future. I've seen the courts do this before and I'd love to see him computer-less, serving me burgers somewhere.
You're assuming way too much contrary to what's actually happening. What he released is made for homebrew and even he says he didn't enable the capability for you to pirate games with it because that's something he doesn't support.
And he specifically never asked for donations because of this code being released. He's had a donation option open before that point already.
This is a bad move for Sony because #1 he apparently didn't accept the money, and #2 it looks like a desperation maneuver. If they were confident that they could beat him in court, then why resort to this tactic? It looks like Sony is looking for anything they can get on the guy to use, which is understandable, but you'd think there would be better ways to do it.
And if Sony wins, Mr. Hotz will still be gainfully employed. You think the government or any number of big companies would let his skills go to waste? Oh no, you won't be seeing him working in fast food any time soon.
There is something called "reckless driving". Even if you have no intention to kill someone but you do, you will still be held accountable to that.
GeoHot can pretend whatever he wants. Assuming his exploit would not lead to piracy is at least "reckless" and irresponsible. He, especially with his intellect, should have know about the consequences of his doing.
Thats just...pathetic from Sony. Why are they so desperate. I dont see MS or Ninty going all berserk over piracy.
Makes me almost feel sorry for them.
@below: I understand but please...PS2 piracy was rampant and almost didnt hurt Sony at all. What makes them think this time around it will kill them. Look at the 360 software sales...its almost hard to believe that console is pirated as hell. Sony should just calm down..
you know if i own sony company or microsoft or whatever company and i see someone go and says i hacked your system or whatever device we make. i would be really pissed and ill try to stop that person.
Oh you mean Microsoft ban hammering 1 million hacked XBOX 360s or Nintendo successfully suing a man who released Super Mario Bros Wii out on the internet?
Lets say you own some shares of Sony (SNE). You hear that a major blow has hit the company in this hack or whatever you want to call it. Sony's response is either, Sue people responsible to calm investors while working on fix or leave people responsible alone while investors dump stock and leave Sony with less working capital. Win or not it buys them time with investors.
LOL only 1 dollars
Ah crap...Bad move Sony!
Of course only $1.
That dollar should of went to PS Move marketing. It would of been a better choice.
LOL.. desperate move.