Sony's Official Statement Regarding PS3 Hacking 312
tekgoblin writes "Sony has stepped up its stance on anyone circumventing protection of any kind on the PlayStation 3 and released a statement addressing it. Most recently Sony had barred George Hotz (Geohot) from releasing any more information about the console whatsoever. Now, Sony has their eyes set on other users that may be trying to use pirated software or modded PlayStation consoles on their network. The statement reads: 'Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the "System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System" and the "Terms of Services and User Agreement" for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently.'"
"Unauthorised" software (Score:2, Insightful)
Firstly, just to state the obvious: I know that most people using these hacks will be running pirated games, and only the tiniest number will be using homebrew software.
But having said that...
Sony's statement refers to both pirated software AND "unauthorised" software. In that context, unauthorised must = homebrew. Software that you've written yourself, or the author intends you to use. Yet if you use it, Sony will cut you off from PlayStation Network, greatly reducing what you can do with the official games you've bought.
How is that even legal?!?!
I own my PS3. Sony shouldn't be able to take any action that prevents me from using it. If I want to pirate games (which I don't) then Sony can pursue me through the courts. They shouldn't be able to "confiscate" all of my legally-bought games as punishment, which is effectively what they're going to do.
Problem solved (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, that's fixed that one then, hasn't it? With a statement like that, it's clear that piracy on the PS3 is good and dead.
Or maybe not.
Seriously, I don't see what Sony were trying to achieve here. I think anybody who mods their console (hardware or software) to run homebrew or pirated games will do so with the expectation that they will not continue to be able to use PSN features for long. All Sony have probably achieved is a minor Streisand-effect, making sure that even more people know that it's now possible to pirate PS3 games.
That said, I do applaud the policy of banning modded consoles from the PSN (and hence from the online components of PS3 games). The big attraction of console online multiplayer for me (and I suspect for quite a few others) is that playing on a locked-down system does reduce (albeit perhaps not eliminate) the scope for cheats outside of the exploitation of game-specific glitches.
Why is this news? (Score:5, Insightful)
I really have to say something here... I have a hard time understanding why this is such a big deal. Bear with me here...
You are buying a product that works within a closed ecosystem, including Sony's Playstation Network. If you mod your PS3, of course Sony is not going to let you play on their playground because they have no way to determine if your box is cheating or doing other non-good things while being attached to their network. Why is this so hard to understand?
Think about it this way... you are an IT manager for a large company. You manage thousands of desktops and hundreds of servers. What would you do if your employees started taking their laptops home and installing a modified or hacked OS, and then proceeded to bring those laptops to work and connected them to your managed network? Would you like that? Or would you ban those laptops from connecting to your network? This is precisely what Sony is doing and I don't disagree with it.
Note that I'm not against modding and hacking, on the contrary, I am a self-taught hacker with an electronics degree and nearly 30 years of computing experience. But even I understand that if I buy product A that comes with service B, service B may be taken away or unavailable if I modify product A. Sorry, but that's the breaks when you buy into a closed ecosystem. Same thing goes with Apple's walled-garden approach.
Now, if you want to mod your box, fine, just don't expect support or service from Sony. You don't need to use Sony's network if you don't own any games that require it. If I modded my own box, I would expect that I can no longer use any associated services. However, intentionally bricking a device is a whole other topic...
Re:"Unauthorised" software (Score:5, Insightful)
If Sony didn't ban cracked PS3's from PSN, and my gaming experience was affected by active exploits, you can bet I'd be screaming for George Hotz's head on a platter, your homebrew be damned.
Re:A posteriori (Score:5, Insightful)
The condenced version of sonys TOS/EULA:
"We guarantee nothing, we promise nothing, we reserve the right to do anything we want or terminate this agreement at any point. You have the right to do absolutely nothing but we may decide not to punish you from doing some things if we feel like it. We also may change this agreement at any time and you shall have agreed to those changes as well automatically by agreeing to this"
it's remarkably similar to the agreement that comes with most antivirus software.
Re:"Unauthorised" software (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, fuck your rights. I want my bread and circuses!
Digital Fascism... (Score:1, Insightful)
What can you expect from a company that does not have any remorse on hacking your computers (cd rootkits) just to keep you in check?
Re:Why is this news? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait until PS3 games require online activation, which won't work if your PS3 is banned from the PSN. Will you see the big deal then?
Re:"Unauthorised" software (Score:4, Insightful)
This is rather like a couple of kids playing. Your friend Sony has invited you over to play at his house and invited you to bring over your toy robot for a robot fight. However, when he sees the flame thrower that you grafted onto the arm of said robot, he declines to allow you to bring it into his house.
Although flame-throwing robot toys
Re:Why is this news? (Score:5, Insightful)
I haven't done ANY modding to my PS3, yet it is still a shell of its former self with the aforementioned features now gone. I played by their rules and got screwed anyway. So I have NO sympathy whatsoever for them. DIAF Sony.
And your analogy is a little weak in that when you are issued a COMPANY laptop, you aren't out any money and of course you should only do things related to your job description with it. The paradigm changes once it is hardware that YOU pay for.
Re:It's your own fault for purchasing Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
I yanked the cable from my PS3 months ago. Until such point as I have OtherOS/AsbestOS or something else to run a media center frontend on, it doesn't need a network connection.
I'll probably have to block the thing from going outside my home network via a filter on the router anyways if I ever plug it back in, since at that point the PS3 will be "modded" to run linux. Sigh.
Of course, you wouldn't believe how many of these fucking PS3 games nag, nag, nag about "would you like to connect to PSN? please connect to PSN! I can't go online if you don't connect to PSN! You can't use the online features because you're not on PSN! For the love of god I have to be connected to PSN at all times or I'll die!"... it's really fucking ridiculous. I'm loading up a single player game, my PS3 doesn't have a network connection, for the love of god if there isn't an active connection the game should not pop up 5 or 6 fucking nag screens telling me I should "go online" when all I fucking want to do is play the single-player game.
Eh. Sony's not getting any of my money through PSN, then. And if I want to get a game via download, chances are I can get it on my 360 with little to no trouble. If I have any inkling that a game's going to be "incomplete without the DLC" and I really want the game anyways... see the 360.
Sony's just shooting themselves in the foot.
Re:It's your own fault for purchasing Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that Sony, being the control-freaks that they are, will likely take steps that will punish *you*, even though you're completely innocent. Don't have your PS3 connected to the internet? Sorry, all future games require online validation before you can play them--and no refunds. Have limited hard drive space? Sorry, all games now require partial installation to the hard drive. Got an older PS3 model? Sorry, a PS3 Slim model is required to play this title. Haven't updated your system software in a while? Sorry, all games now require the latest PS3 update to run. Wondering why you're suddenly perma-banned for no reason? Sorry, we got a false positive that you were running unauthorized software--tough luck, buddy.