Fellow Hackers Blast Geohot For Sony Settlement

RedEaredSlider writes "The hacker who settled with Sony after the company sued him for modifying his PlayStation 3 console is getting a lot of flak for not taking the fight further. 'Night Breed' [wrote], 'So basically you settled for a job and took people's money, giving them a false hope of settling for their rights? What do you plan to do with the money that was donated to you to provide a cushion for the legal battle? I hope you will be paying all those people back since you obviously didn't live up to your word.'"

Inevitable but maybe a good thing

[Anrego]

Much as I think this battle needs to be fought geohot is an attention seeking ass, and it’s a shame he was the one who was slated fight it.

I think it’s actually a blessing in disguise that he decided to save his own skin. Not saying I wouldn’t do the same, I’ll admit it, when it comes to me or the greater good I’ll go with me and screw everyone else. However there are lots of noble idealists types who would fight themselves in prison and then keep at it and that’s who needs to be fighting this thing, not some annoying jackass.

As for donations wasn’t the plan for unused (so in this case, most of it) money to go to the EFF.

And just cause I’m already pseudo flamewar-ing, we really don’t need another Kevin Mitnick in the world.

To the EFF

[KingAlanI]

Wasn't it pointed out in the last GeoHot story several times that unused donations would be sent on over to the EFF?

Re:Armchair Hackers

[halivar]

The best part is how the haters aren't the ones who were being sued. They have no vested interest, and nothing to lose. Screw them.

Misleading

[Anonymous Coward]

Hotz didn't "settle for a job" and it's assumed that he is going to donate remaining legal funds to the EFF. What some misinformed blog commenter says is irrelevant.

A possibility

[Anonymous Coward]

Geohot can't talk much about why he settled, but his replies on his blog [blogspot.com] suggests a plausible reason: he realized he was unlikely to win the case (suggesting that the judge was biased) and chose to settle to avoid setting a legal precedent.

Re:this is a

[poetmatt]

Actually it's pretty freakin accurate. He gave up to just get the lawsuit over, and took substantial hits to his own freedoms.

Geohot essentially "won", but the settlement was a joke, especially considering it roughly translates to him accepting an unrealistic permanent injunction. Really, not supporting "PS3 infringing activities" that aren't specified? Say it ain't so!

1. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the law
      2. 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:
                  1. reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of the Sony Product
                  2. using any tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism in the Sony Product;
                  3. using any hardware or softare to cause the Sony Product to accept or use unauthorized, illegal or pirated softare or hardware; and
                  4. 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.
      3. CIRCUMVENTING any of the TPMs or security in any SONY PRODUCT;
      4. 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 and/or decryption keys, dePKG firmware decrypter program, Signing Tools, 3.55 Firmware Jailbreak, and/or any other technologies that enable unauthorized access to and/or copying of the PS3 System and/or enable compatibility of unauthorized copies of other copyrighted works with the PS3 System.
      5. Distributing or posting any SCEA or SCEA Affiliates' confidential or proprietary information relating to any SONY PRODUCT;
      6. 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.

He had this case in the bag from the issues at hand, and instead settled giving Sony a major advantage. The facts were on his side bigtime unless there is something we don't know about.

Re:this is a

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The main complaint is that he was asking for donations to fight this, and then more or less bailed on the fight. That's the only valid complaint in my opinion, then again, we don't know if and how much money was raised. It pays to be wary of donating to a legal defense fund, you can't be certain it will be spent the way you want it to be spent.

Re:Get off your high horses

[spire3661]

All that is great unless you consider statements from the Geo himself.

"They picked the wrong guy to sue"

"Out of business is jail for me and you're suing me civilly"

"I want the settlement papers to contain the words OtherOS and an apology from Sony"

Now can you see why people are disappointed? He talked ALOT of smack and then backed out. I think he is due some deserved criticism. What concerns me most is that the MAJORITY of this discussion is about the donation money and not about the true issues of the matter.

Re:this is a

[jmac_the_man]

George Hotz had just graduated high school when he did the iPhone hack in 2007. I remember him being hailed as famous and everything when he came to RIT. (I was news editor of the magazine there at this point; we were trying to get him to do an interview with us.)

Anyway, he was a freshman the year after I was, and I'm 23. He's no more than 21/22. It's theoretically possible he has a family, but given his age and the fact that he's the subject of a Slashdot story, I doubt it.