Sony and GeoHot settlement documents leaked

Gamingbolt: The entire settlement documents detailing the court order between Sony and George “GeoHot” Hotz has made its way into the web.

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Just what everyone suspected. Not allowed to hack, unsurprising. Hopefully the idiot will re-offend, then the consequences would be a bit more interesting

[Pedantic91]

Could someone please just give us a quick summary ?

EDIT: Ah, got it now.

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Simply put, he's not allowed to hack sony products. It doesn't state too much more than that

[Acquiescence]

"Wow, he's not ever allowed to circumvent the security on any Sony device as long as it is against the law. If he does it without trafficking the information, he has to pay a $10,000 fine. If he traffics the information, he has to pay a $250,000 fine.

Sony have effectively tied his hands with regards to their products until the end of time, unless the law changes. He's still allowed to protest etc as that is a right."

And now he's boycotting Sony's products as a result. Ouch, Sony are really gonna feel that one!

[Istanbull]

So much for his claims about "Im going to haxor the Xperia Play and NGP"

He will never touch a Sony product again LOL

[NBT91]

Pretty much what has been said, he is not allowed to in any way alter the security in a Sony product or use a tool to do so.

I believe it also says up to $10,000 per a term being broken (should he do so again)

[radphil]

"And now he's boycotting Sony's products as a result. Ouch, Sony are really gonna feel that one!"

I know right! They'll probably go out of business and all. I mean those hackers definitely decide who lives or dies.

/sarcasm

(I know there was sarcasm on your end too. :p )

[phosphor112]

Actually that post is incorrect. He can't hack a Sony device EVEN IF IT IS LEGAL. It states that in a form of a legal contract and Geo signed to it, he can NEVER hack a Sony device for the rest of his life.

[mastiffchild]

Whatever, the meat of the discussions will NEVER be written down in a way that will be possibly made public. Either Geo gave Sony something hey wanted(most likely) or Sony offered HIM something-less likely, imho, as he had more face to lose having set himself up as a martyr and taking people's money for costs on that basis.

Either way the real REASONS they arrived at this legal outcome aren't known and this doesn't tell us much really. Whatever, my gut feeling is that, were I in Hotz shoes I really wouldn't have wanted to settle after taking such a high moral stance and the people's money who supported that stance. Naturally I could be way wrong but if Hotz had the upper hand n this wouldn't he be more free to act and speak about it?

Guess we'll never know for sure, mind.

[Jack Meahoffer]

He actually got off really easy. I think Sony realized the case wasn't going to stop the hack from spreading. Best to just lock him down and move on focus on firmware and other sites hosting the hack. Thats the real battle. It was more bad PR than it was worth.

[Mahr]

This is a pretty funny outcome when you think about it. There are not many crimes where the only punishment for committing them is that you are not allowed to do them a second time.

[RedDragan]

Jack Meahoffer, the only person who got bad PR from this was Geo. Sony were never expected to lose the case in the eyes of the law, and most gamers and non-gamers alike will see that Sony managed to tie down someone indirectly related to creation of piracy on an electronic device.

This is not bad PR for Sony, it is seen as victory by every company and every honest, hard working and paying customer.

[Shadow Flare]

Sony vs Geohot

Sony won

So much for geohotz amazing lawyers. I hope the people who support geohot see this outcome and realise that what they were fighting for is the right to steal. It was judged a crime. Geohot lost.

[zeddy]

leaked where?! is just a statement from sony blog!

[cemelc]

http://psx-scene.com/forums...

There first page of the thread, three pdf telling all you need to know

[gorebago]

Alot of criminals be they financial or other are repeat offenders.

My guess hacking is an addiction to this kid and sony effectively cut him off from them. He comes off as weak and smarmy and thus will succumb to his old ways.

Or sony is using him to gather evidence to locate anon and thus he might be a snake too. The guy that turned in the wikileaks suspect, Bradley Manning was an ex-hacker who befriended Manning and then stabbed him in the back.

[Therealspy03]

sony isn't the only company out there that makes hackable devices. i'm sure, if he is addicted like you claim, that he will have plenty of places to get his fix.

[gorebago]

That said, I wouldn't doubt them using him to bring down the other group of jokers. That's just the conspiracy theorist in me though. If I was someone in anon, I would stay far away from George Hotz, he's a marked man.

If he was smart, he would use his talents for far less nihilistic aims and do something productive with his life that won't result in a lawsuit. I've managed to do it so far and It's not hard.

[harrisk954]

Here are the settlement terms:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND ADJUDGED by consent of the Parties that Hotz,
whether as an individual or as a principal, officer, director or employee of any business
entity, and his agents, servants, employees, distributors, suppliers, representatives and all
other persons or entities acting in concert or participation with Hotz who receive notice of
this Judgment, shall be and hereby are permanently enjoined and restrained from:
A. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the
law;
B. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the
terms of any SCEA or SCEA AFFILIATES' license agreement or terms of use
applicable to that SONY PRODUCT, whether or not Hotz has accepted such
agreement or terms of use, including without limitation:
(i) reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of the Sony Product;
(ii) using any tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption,
security, or authentication mechanism in the Sony Product;
(iii) using any hardware or softare to cause the Sony Product to accept
or use unauthorized, illegal or pirated softare or hardware; and
(iv) exploiting any Sony Product to design, develop, update or distribute
unauthorized softare or hardware for use with the Sony Product.
If any term of such SCEA or SCEA Affilates' license agreement or terms of
use applicable to that Sony Product shall be determined by Congress or by a
court of law in a final non-appealable decision in an action to which SCEA or
an SCEA Affiliate is a party to be illegal and unenforceable, then such term
shall not be binding on Hotz.
C. CIRCUMVENTING any of the TPMs or security iany SONY PRODUCT;

[harrisk954]

D. TRAFFICKING in any technology, product, service, device, component, or
part thereof that, at the time of Hotz's trafficking, circumvents any of the
TPMs or security in any SONY PRODUCT, including but not limited to the
Ellptical Curve Signature Algorithm ("ECDSA") Keys, encryption andlor
decryption keys, dePKG firmware decrypter program, Signing Tools, 3.55
Firmware Jailbreak, andlor any other technologies that enable unauthorized
access to andlor copying of the PS3 System andlor enable compatibility of
unauthorized copies of other copyrighted works with the PS3 System.
E. Distributing or posting any SCEA or SCEA Affiliates' confidential or
proprietary information relating to any SONY PRODUCT;
F. Knowingly assisting or inducing others to engage in any of the conduct set
forth in A-E above solely directed at any SONY PRODUCT or that otherwise
constitutes contributory liabilty under the law.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that any violation of this Injunction
and Order by Hotz shall result in his payment of stipulated liquidated damages in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per violation at the election of SCEA or SCEA's
Affiliates. In the event that the violation involves distribution or TRAFFICKING by Hotz of
softare, hardware, or any CIRCUMVENTION DEVICE, or knowingly assisting the same,
each distribution of said softare (including downloads via the Internet), hardware, or
CIRCUMVENTION DEVICE shall.constitute an independent violation, up to a cap of two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000). Such liquidated damages shall be an
optional alternative to demonstrating actual or, if relevant, statutory damages.IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that any action or proceeding (other
than a declaratory judgment action) that may be brought by SCEA or SCEA Affilates
against Hotz arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement
Agreement or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties'
Settlement Agreement or this Judgment, shall be brought in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of California. TheParties further agree that any action or
proceeding (other than a declaratory judgment action) that may be brought by Hotz against
SCEA arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement Agreement
or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties' Settlement
Agreement or this Judgment, shall be brought in the United States District Court for the
District of New Jersey or the state in the United States of Hotz's current permanent
residence. The Parties agree to waive any venue or jurisdictional challenges consistent
with this paragraph. The Parties further agree that the laws of the state of California shall
govern to the exclusion of the law of any other forum in any action or proceeding brought
by any party arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement
Agreement or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties'
Settlement Agreement or this Judgment.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that entry of this Judgment shall
conclude this action to the prejudice of any and all claims or cross-claims deemed merged
and barred in accordance with the law.

[metsgaming]

nvm i missread

[tatotiburon]

lol he released all the code before the lawsuit over the internet, in the future he can just to release any other hack with other name and sony can't track him...he is a good hacker, do you think he will upload anything from his house? hahahah...do you remember dar alex? the psp hacker, he gived up the psp hacking for some time because sony was breathing around his neck but he continued his work using other nickname, uploading files to unknown servers, in seconds thousends of people donwnloades this files and started to share it, imposible to track the source....do you actually think that geohot didn't know that already? hahahahaha

[rabidpancakeburglar]

I'm pretty sure that they could get the IP address of the poster and he'd be pretty buggered

[NaiNaiNai]

really, what if that someone uploaded it from there local library, or school, work.

Simply put there are ways around it. heck you could even log on using someone elses account names and do it so it won't be tracked back to you.

Its really easy to get by.

Same for just going over to someone elses house and doing it.

or even making a file that is sent to someone elses house that autouploads it if they detact a torrent program.

All sorts of ways to do it. lol think outside the box.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

The thing is he has 250,000 good reasons to not even try.

[socomnick]

whats stopping him from hacking sony products and then having someone else release the info.

Damage is done though, the hacking community has united against sony and each and every Sony product from now on will be Priority #1 for hackers.

Free games for all.

[Finger-Eater]

Because no one would to risk themselves from getting sued by Sony. Who in the right mind after this would go up and support hotz by releasing his info? They will just get sued too.

[Mahr]

"Because no one would to risk themselves from getting sued by Sony"

If the most severe outcome to being sued by Sony is not being allowed to hack Sony products in the future, then how is that a risk?

[OhMyGandhi]

hope it was worth it.

[Brian5247]

So basically if Hotz does anything resembling hacking a PS3, or urges on others to hack, he's insta-fined 10 grand/goes to jail. Good.

[supremacy]

fatality flawless victory lol jk.

But yeah i kept telling people this all this time, there is just no way this guy would handle the heat. And all his donators are out to be feeling pretty down right about now, what a waste of money, what a waste of time.
So much for them rap videos, and what this does is changes things for companies like apple and even Microsoft as well. They better thank Sony for sticking to their guns with all this none sense.

Well? time for the other cases, up next. The whole Other OS debate. And after LG.

As for them kids boycotting on the 16th, i wonder how many of Sony's stores can they get to with that tiny number of followers. I mean Sony after all have these stores located practically everywhere, meaning not just here in the US.

[NBT91]

And $250,000 if he makes the information public I believe...

[aGameDeveloper]

It is $10,000 per distribution, up to a max of $250k. So 25 people need to download what he makes public for the maximum to apply (pretty likely, but figured I'd be precise).

[rrw]

bit. basically it saying he cannot hack every sony product including future NGP

[Darkfocus]

only the fine no jail time but it's actually up to 250,000 if he spreads the hack

[Soldierone]

I doubt he can come up with 250k dollars, he probably wont even be able to come up with 10k dollars without donations. If he isn't spreading it, why would anyone donate?

Thus he will get put in jail for failing to follow agreement. And if he does come up with the money somehow, Sony would thank him for the nice donation of stupidity.

[jeeves86]

I love how at the beginning of this, he had several demands if Sony wanted to settle.

Bahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!

[psb]

Geohotz is such a fool. Now, let's see how he faces his supporters after coming to an agreement with Sony, whom he said he'll fight with till his last breath.

[Iamback]

J.w manipulating people? Didn't see that one coming.
Will he return funds that he raised? Guess not. O well serves you right suckers.

[Godmars290]

Now the question is who leaked it just hours after the announcement.

Money on Sony?

[cyborg]

believe

[Eamon]

I think it's Sony too.

This only shows the injunction that geohot has to abide to.

Is there a separate one for Sony too? Or am I wrong?

Either way, what's stated on the document is pretty much what was expected.

[UnwanteDreamz]

He agreed to an injunction. The end

Sony just drops the lawsuit against him.

[just_looken]

AT GODMARS

Download the pdf look at page 9 his signature is there maybe its time for payback? hmm.

[Godmars290]

By all rights, given that he got noting he's asked for publicly, he's lost. What point is there showing how his hands are tied?

[darkdoom3000]

Sony has more to gain by leaking it.

It both undermines geohot's official sony "Boycott", by making it apparent that it's a forced boycott.

and shows the heafty fines.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Haha sucks for him. He can't do anything to Sony whatsoever or he's in trouble. Hell if someone else hacks it and he links someone to a webpage with the hack he is distributing the content and can be fined $250,000. lol ouch. So basically he's got keep his nose clean and stay out of any and all hacking related to Sony or in general. One slip up and you better believe Sony will hammer him.

[supremacy]

Well that's the price you pay for fame, well at least in this case.

Want to show off and brag, go ahead and lose your head. Is what i say to kids like him.

[redDevil87]

This should serve as a warning to other hackers hopefully

[debian_zac]

whats wrong with hacking? hacking != cheating...

whats wrong with a DIY approach to repairing or adding features to consoles?

[sashimi]

They wanna add a feature to a console? make their own console or do it on PC where it is a OPEN platform.

Hacking may not = cheating but it will more than likely lead to cheating and piracy since this is humanity we are speaking of and they are a greedy bunch.

[Soldierone]

Common curtesy would be nice in the hacking community. No 10 year olds that think flying in COD is cool are allowed to touch the hack. Then I will be fine with hackers.

You can break the code yourself? Then your not a hacker and shouldnt be touching this stuff...end of story.

[DERKADER]

So basically he got away with a slap on the wrist. This tells me either Sony knew they weren't going to win or realized that they'd actually lose more money if they sued due to court fees, lawyer fees and what not.

[radphil]

When the hell did settlements equal loss?

[supremacy]

My dude if anyone was going to lose any money it was him, Sony is doing fine these days they are in the profitable side of things.

Because lets face it, does it even matter to Sony? no. I mean they have other cases going on as we speak, all they care about is winning their cases and sending that message whatever that may be. If anything they(Sony)know, they can always make that money back within the stretch of a quarter or two, i couldn't say the same for this kid who...

Is a regular joe with an ego the size of a mountain whose financial status clearly doesn't compliment his confidence.
He had to rely on donation money which realistically wasn't going to make much of a difference here.

So compared to him, i say Sony's finances are endless wouldn't you say?

However i will say this, whenever two giants clash its a whole different story and your assessment in that regard would than make more sense.

[DragonKnight]

Umm, it's more than likely that Hotz' lawyers asked for this settlement because Sony were bound and determined to fight this to its most bitter conclusion. This slap on the wrist as you call it is likely the result of Hotz' lawyers realizing they don't have a snowball's chance in Hell and begged Sony for leniency.

Notice the silence of his supporters on this article? They all thought he was going to win, and as was said from the very start, he didn't.

[JD_Shadow]

"Notice the silence of his supporters on this article? They all thought he was going to win, and as was said from the very start, he didn't. "

Because they still could win, because you are not realizing the true reason behind WHY people were, and still are, hacking the system: OtherOS removal, which N4G's posters seem determined to defend Sony to the death about.

You still have the galf guy who is going to fight to the death, you still have Anonymous (obviously), and you still have the OtherOS suit.

Thing is, though, it doesn't seem like Sony is giving up ANYTHING in this settlement. They don't agree to not go after homebrew efforts, or anything like that (PLEASE shut the fuck up about if that's a viable reason or not). They wanted Hotz to give EVERYTHING up, but them to continue their ways. Meanwhile, there won't be ONE PS3 fanboy that even LISTENS to the other side on this site. Fucking backstabbers we got here.

Thing is, though, the OtherOS issue is not dead, and that's the ONLY reason the PS3 was ever hacked. It seems as though Sony really doesn't want to have to reinstate that in any way because it costs too much money for them to maintain (and fail to anyone who tries to make any hacker the scapegoat about OOS removal).

Yeah, Hotz made a COMPLETE 180 and is acting like a coward (especially when he could've had Sony by the balls in this case).

I guess money does buy happiness. And I guess that we have complete douchebags commenting on this site.

[DragonKnight]

I'm sorry but would you and everyone PLEASE give up the OtherOS issue. Honestly. For goodness sake you didn't care about it when you had it, and everyone and their mother knows that. Only reason people are b*tching is because of a vocal minority of hackers that GeoHot got riled up thought they could do whatever the hell they wanted to thanks to Linux. People want what they can't have, it's human nature, but virtually no one used the feature.

It is a lame excuse to whine about something and try to get easy money from Sony. It will go nowhere. Listing your examples, here we go.

No, they can't win. If you truly think the true reason people are hacking the system is OtherOS then you're naive. Why hack the system for a feature you never frickin' used when you had it legitimately. Doesn't make much sense does it? That's because OtherOS is the poster child, the face, the scapegoat as it were. It is a catalyst that "the scene" is trying to rally behind as a legitimizer for their illegal actions. You're one of those people that are whining about Sony removing an advertised feature, and as I have stated before, I shall state again. LINK OR STFU!!

Graf was dealt with more harshly than GeoHot was, and you can bet he will continue to be dealt with harshly if he so much as blinks at a PS3 again. When the PS3 was broken wide open with the master root keys WHERE THE HELL WAS OTHER OS?!! Do you see people using it? Hell no, because it's not about OtherOS. Not for GeoHot, and NOT for Graf either.

Anonymous aren't even worth mentioning. Their crusade is laughable, and they are only succeeding on pissing of the userbase while Sony sits back and laughs at them. They are no threat to anything.

The OtherOS suit will go nowhere, and in the unlikely event that the plaintiffs win that case, it still does nothing for GeoHot or "the scene". At best it would force Sony to release a firmware reinstating the option for OtherOS but it doesn't mean that Sony will have to allow Linux, or won't block off most of the PS3's resources to another OS.

You bring up PS3 fanboys, meaning you're pretty much calling the majority of the user base fanboys for not wanting the PS3 to be compromised. You want to know why no one is listening, because the hackers and their supporters are B.S.'ing everyone. No one believes for one second that this is about homebrew and emulators when the pinnacle of that scene is on PC's. You can convince one or two people into being that gullible, but we weren't born yesterday alright. Be real here.

Keep on spewing that it's about OtherOS, covering up the fact that it's about piracy, cheating, hacking PSN. It cost Sony NOTHING to put the feature on the console. They don't have continuing costs for the feature. If anyone had a cost issue with it it was IBM. OtherOS ate up system memory, that is true, and no one used it. Stop living in denial and trying to cover up the truth. GeoHot lost, this isn't the Apple case, and this was called right from the start.

[GarandShooter]

@ darkpower

Just give it up already. You complain about people not listening. Did you ever stop to think your argument may be weak and you're running on nothing but emotion. Look at your posts.

"They don't agree to not go after homebrew efforts, or anything like that (PLEASE shut the fuck up about if that's a viable reason or not)."

"(and fail to anyone who tries to make any hacker the scapegoat about OOS removal)."

You want to be a debater and the debate moderator as well. That alone tells me your arguments don't stand on their own. Your angry tone speaks volumes. I also don't understand how you've been backstabbed. What weakness did you expose to N4G users that was used against you?

So tell me then, what is the truth behind Sony's diabolical removal of the Other OS feature?

And lastly, lets assume you're right. You've been singing this same song since this began. Nobody on N4G listens. Yet you continue to sing...and bang your head against a wall...to what end?

And to take a page from your book...Please STFU about slippery slopes and loss of consumer rights, etc.

Kind of makes it hard to have a decent discourse, doesn't it?

[GraySnake]

@ darkpower
THEN SHOW ME THE FREAKING COMMERCIAL FOR OTHEROS!

god I'm so sick of hearing that shit... "blah blah it was an advertised feature! I payed 600 for it! blah blah blah" ITS NOT EVEN ON THE FEATURES PART OF THE GODDAMN LAUNCH BOX!

I'll change my tune when I see the Advertisement that is all about it.

[radphil]

@darkpower

"Because they still could win,"

You realize settlements is just that...a settle between BOTH PARTIES. If they still could win, then they could have continued on said situation.

A settlement defines legal requirements of the parties, and is often put in force by an order of the court after a JOINT AGREEMENT by BOTH PARTIES.

[Unknown_SNAKE]

now Some Donators are realy pissed off LOl

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

The donors should be pissed off at themselves...no one else.

[debian_zac]

yea cause believing and hoping for the dmca to get changed is wrong... the law is unjust and grats corporations to much power after the point of sale

[afterMoth]

The people who donated are maggots, I don't feel bad if they are out of money.

[debian_zac]

how are they maggots? what is wrong with wanting to be able to unlock a device than be able to teach other how to do the same?

[JonnyBigBoss]

GG playout.

[Shazz]

He's gotta be pissed off about never being able to hack Sony products but I bet the suckers who donated thousands to him are even more pissed lmao . He's probe sitting counting all your cash he has left as I type this .

[AssassinHD]

It seems like a viable business strategy to me.

1) Take a stab at a major corporation.
2) Wait to get sued by said major corporation.
3) Ask for donations under the pretense of fighting the good fight.
4) Agree to play nice with said major corporation.
5) ????
6) Profit!

Edit: I forgot to throw in a South American vacation between numbers 3 and 4.

[kneon]

Seems a lot of effort and risk for not a lot of reward. How about getting a job instead?

[AssassinHD]

Whoah whoah slow down there. Now you are just making things complicated. Why collect a steady paycheck when you can just follow the above fool-proof plan?

[RIP_Weazel]

..next up, GeoHot launches his fantastic xbox pyramid investment scheme!

[Father Time]

He said he'd donate the excess money to charity. If he doesn't I believe he can be arrested for fraud.

[AssassinHD]

People did not donate money to him for it to go to a charity. People donated to him in an effort to help him fight for their right to modify their hardware, or at the very least to get Other OS back. If he accepts money under that pretense, and turns around and gives money to charity (that he will no doubt write off on his taxes) then it is still basically fraud.

[Ares84]

I don't think that this is enough. He should be jailed!

[prodg52]

He'll be back once the NGP drops.

[AssassinHD]

At $10k per violation he certainly won't be taking credit for it.

[supremacy]

lol i guess some people just don't read the text well.

[Burning_Finger]

Now, he's officially an Microsoft fanboy by default. :)

[ash_divine]

Well that's perfect because a lot of his supporters are too. j/k

[darkdoom3000]

Well, more than likely hes gonna want to hack the nextbox.

[DarkBlood]

well this will put a hault on the whole hacking business etc etc but its not a permanent solution thats for sure.

[Firewire]

He realized he was screwed and took the easy way out. So much for his "I live for hacking, no one will ever stop me" crap.

And all those people that funded his ride to defeat got the shaft!

[_Empath_]

Good, there too broke to buy games but they got money to donate to this disrespectful cu**.

[verawarez]

I think this is full of sony fanboys, the true is that SONY PS3 is not doing really well even in security, why i should make any additional comments if i know where the people's heart and mind is

So The ps3 hacking is not over someones will follow after geo

I understand geo and his settlement, and i even don't understand Sony by now, i think NGP has a lot technology but the problem is creativity

Would learn some from apple ipod, ipod touch and ipad they are really good items

See you

[radphil]

What the hell happened to....I dunno....actually working for companies instead of thinking you're slick.

[BigMassacre]

Huh?

[jay2]

Basically he's putting all the money stupid people gave to him into hacking the 3DS, because he can't save it up to hack the NGP.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Who knows only time will tell.

[branchedout]

Sounding kinda like a Jim Kong Il type deal.

Everyone here wished the worst for the guy, but it pretty goes like,
"hey. We ain't sending you to jail. just... Don't hack nothing we got or else you'll have to pay some money."

"Kay."

And off he goes Scott-free. Meanwhile, he's accumulated a metric crap-ton of fame in the gaming world.

[CernaML]

We may just have our next Mark Zuckerburg.

[DragonKnight]

Not fame. Infamy. He's the Rebecca Black of the gaming world. People know him, and what he does, but the majority can't stand him.

[Yo Mama]

He wasn't going to get jail time anyway. It was a civil lawsuit. Those are about money.

[GarandShooter]

And of course you have the proof that it was Sony who went to him to settle and not the other way around.

And here I was thinking that the defendants in a case, when they know they can't win, are the ones who initiate settlement talks. Silly me.

[VoggNogg]

Wow... that settlement is interesting... So pretty much sends the whole Licensing Agreement out the window... Pretty much if you own a Sony product (bought or gifted) you automatically accept and adhere to the Licensing Agreement (which can be altered at any time)... Whether you accepted it or not...

What a message to send to other corporations about this.

[DragonKnight]

Only for him really. I don't think Sony will come after people for things like case mods and the like. This conditions are specific to him and the hacking scene. Sony would lose in a case where they tried to go after someone who changed their product into an aquarium or something.

[Emilio_Estevez]

That's not what it means. Nothing was decided about the legality of jailbreaking the PS3. They basically decided to drop to court case and in return Geo can have absolutely nothing to do with "the scene"

[AssassinHD]

Nothing needed to be decided about the legality of jail-breaking the PS3. It is already a violation of the DMCA to do so.

People were hoping that Hotz would win and get an exemption established for game consoles. That did not happen, therefore no exemption will be made.

As it stands smart phones are exempted from the DMCA, not game consoles.

[Dart89]

Well he did win something in the end all of the money that people sent him i bet he's rolling around in the money right now xDDD.

[NBT91]

So now I wander, if he could face another case?
I mean he got donations to help with legal fees, and now he has no more legal fees so he has all that money. Surely that is another case altogether?

[Emilio_Estevez]

Nope, those are donations/gifts. He did not say they were for any services/products, so they can fight it with paypal or their cc, but he'll prolly keep it and donate it somewhere like he said he would do.

[sikbeta]

Holy Crap! the douche has his hands tied like forever, he will not be able to even think about touching a Sony Product anymore bwahahahaha! XD

[OMGitzThatGuy]

Like he can't hack it and give it too a dev team. But I think he will hack other products that come in contact with Sony products such as apps. What if he hack the Andriod OS so when the Playstation thing comes out it can get all the games free.

[artsaber]

What you describe falls into distributing which bears the more hefty penalty of $250,000 minimum. No wonder Geohotz has so many problems if he has friends like you.

I have seen people do stupid, but taking a PERSONAL risk of being fined $250,000 just to give someone a hack for a Sony product not turning a profit is the definition of insanity.

He's done with Sony, perhaps he can find a way to make XBL free for all gamers instead.

@Deadeye below - You had a question asking "How do you go about policing this?" It is the same way people get caught defrauding medical disability claims - someone catches said person red-handed. Just one time is all it takes. These people somehow have the belief that THEY (them personally) will never get caught, that no one would pay attention to THEM exclusively, and they(or Geo) wind up like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[NBT91]

You guys seen the comments he is making on his blog?! What a JOKE...

"George Hotz said...

@CheeseBiscuit I am fighting your fight, in the best way I know how. You'll just have to trust me."

That was in response to angry donor... So yeah he is telling them he is fighting their case in the best way he knows... apparently by backing down from the company and agreeing tot heir terms? lol

[OMGitzThatGuy]

One down, 2 million to go.

[dead_eye]

I do have a question How would you go about policing this??

[ReBurn]

Completely passively. There is no stipulation in the settlement for monitoring.

[a_bro]

That noob got Pwned.

[firetaw]

because of the leak goerge did with the other os hack. its unlikely the other os feature will ever be comming back to the ps3 unless sony is confident that they have fully secured the feature.
so good luck with that. in other news, cant wait to see if sony brings out chrome for ps3.

[Neko_Mega]

How sad, now he thinks he can keep fighting Sony with another group. This isn't going to end well for him and the others.

[Ve3tro]

The most punchable face on the internet.

[Hayabusa 117]

"I fought the law and the, law won..."

Shame, shame, shame, dissappointed. I'm not gona lie, I was hoping that if hotz won the case it would usher a new era of...well, whatever they said would happen. Though I never use pirated games (apart from old emulators, which count apparently) I do support torrents. Shame hotz copted out and couldn't be the hero.

It's interesting that we don't know what sony's end of the bargain was. Wonder if it's something Sony has to do (otherOS?) or if it was actually Hotz that wanted the terms of the settlement to be secret since he cowarded out.

Oh well. Feel sorry for those who donated to hotz.

[Orionsangel]

A new era where we can do whatever we want with our PS3. Including hack the service. Everything is free! We make the rules! Anarchy! Wooo!

Okay now back to reality.

[Hayabusa 117]

Well, y'know, an era where the publishers aren't greedy and don't get 90% of the profit :)

[Kingdom Come]

I'm sick of seeing this ugly scums face plastered over N4G. I'll be glad to see the back of him. He's got one of those faces you just want to punch...

[zackacloud]

How that will put a limit for him ?

Easily hack sony product give to another person to publish

The end

Sorry about bad english

[esemce]

Sadly Sony won big time.

[jon1234]

haha he looks like a dingus in that picture

[NeloAnjelo]

I copied and pasted that on Anonymous' Facebook fanpage. I have been involved in a
one man vs 30,000 plus Anon supporters for a few days now. That felt good. No response from them yet. I think I'll now paste it on Geohot's blog and signed myself Anonymous... Oh the irony... :D

[Orionsangel]

Let's Boycott Sony! Waaah!!! Until Uncharted 3 and MGS5. Then what do we do? Oh no they work on Sony PS3. I can't buy them! I must listen to this little dork and boycott Sony. Yeah right!!! This little midgets living a Fantasy Land Where he thinks he matters.

[boxninjah]

geohot turned white hat?

[Dogs_PinoyPOOD]

Geohot's face in that pic jus makes me wanna punch him in the face

[ForROME]

SONY got owned in this case, this was not a case that will make future hackers feel scared in the least, poor outing.

[a_bro]

"SONY got owned in this case"

explain to me how...

if theres anyone that got owned here, its GeoHot.

[ReBurn]

I don't know about anybody getting "owned", but with the way it ended the whole thing was just a massive waste of time and money. All of this wrangling for a promise to never do it again.

Seems like a tie to me.

[ForROME]

its safe to say SONY wanted a little more than a "no little boy dont do this again"

They wanted to take him down and set an example, did you read the leaked papers? SONY wanted a lot more about 99% more than they got.

Safe to say there will be no hackers un determined because of this case.

[Bolts]

Settlements. That should stop the hackers Sony. Way to go, you sure showed them who's boss LOL.

[Ninjamonkey82]

imho i just read that and my head is spinning i can read. Im pretty sure Hotz can't so im sure his head is doing some freaky shit bout now. Sony 1 Hotz 0 tbh.

[TBONEJF]

The ugly rat loss. Now he won't even get a chance to break the XPERIA PLAY PSP phone or the NGP. Just go back to your APPLE products dumb ass and you probably spend all the donations the people give you money for.

[Treyb3yond]

What a punk. Annoying face too.

[emk2004]

i would bet this stops nothing. hes only breaking usa law if he hacks a sony product. if he hack the ngp in a different country, then uploads the info into a that country's web domain hes broken no laws, just like you can smoke weed in Amsterdam and not be charged in the us. Sony would have to fight in that country to, no to mention every hacker has his work already.

[insomnium2]

OMg so that's it? Sony won hands down and Geohots hands are tied? WOW! I believe this court ruling will be used against ANYONE hacking ANY Sony product from now on. I bet at Sony hq they are popping shampaigne bottles for this. Sony single handedly won against the hackers.

[ChronoJoe]

lol read the thing.

basically he can't do anything to Sony products without getting screwed six ways till sunday. He can't even make homebrew apps and get away with it. Let alone publish any information on how others could do the same.

Even if he violates it for personal use he automatically owes Sony $10,000, and if he distributes any of the information $250,000. (per violation).

Sony won. They got EXACTLY what they wanted. Basically he can't aid hacking their products in the future, and he can't distribute any of the information he's already gained in doing so. This has set a president too of course, big step forward in the war against piracy, and all that stuffs.

[Tzuno]

This will never stop this mastermind as he can upload things on internet completely anonymous believe me there are many methods to be undetected.

[sam2236]

Is it just me or does he looks like a complete idiot in that pic? I just want to punch him for some reason...and I don't even know the guy!

[TheMART]

Rectification, as far as I know, he can't ever hack a Sony product, when he's within the area where this is signed under that specific law.

"22
23
A. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the
law"

The document states SCEA, which is America. I wonder what happens if he decides to move to Europe, Russia or where evers.

He just wanted to be done with this courtcase I guess, probably moves on and jumps on jailbreaking some more Apple devices which has been found legal. Its still strange as jailbreaking a PS3 isn't any different really from jailbreaking an iPhone.

Well Sony, one down, but there is an army still out there working on hacks. What you're gonna do, sue 100k people like you did with Hotz and Graf Chokolo in Germany?

BTW Craf is working harder than ever, pumping out much stuff including Linux dual boot for PS3 Slims. He has no monies to sue, so what you're gonna do Sony with that 1 mln. Euro claim you try to put on his ass?

I hope the NGP gets hacked within no time, just for the lulz