Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
PlayStation (Games) Sony Security Software The Internet Games

Sony Using Copyright Requests To Remove Leaked PS4 SDK From the Web (arstechnica.com) 156

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Sony appears to be using copyright law in an attempt to remove all traces of a leaked PlayStation 4 Software Development Kit (PS4 SDK) from the Web. That effort also seems to have extended in recent days to the forced removal of the mere discussion of the leak and the posting of a separate open source, homebrew SDK designed to be used on jailbroken systems. The story began a few weeks ago, when word first hit that version 4.5 of the PS4 SDK had been leaked online by a hacker going by the handle Kromemods. These SDKs are usually provided only to authorized PS4 developers inside development kits. The SDKs contain significant documentation that, once made public, can aid hackers in figuring out how to jailbreak consoles, create and install homebrew software, and enable other activities usually prohibited by the hardware maker (as we've seen in the wake of previous leaks of PlayStation 3 SDKs). While you can still find reference to the version 4.5 SDK leak on places like Reddit and MaxConsole, threads discussing and linking to those leaked files on sites like GBATemp and PSXhax, for example, appear to have been removed after the fact. Cached versions of those pages show links (now defunct) to download those leaked files, along with a message from KromeMods to "Please spread this as much as possible since links will be taken down... We will get nowhere if everything keeps private; money isn't everything." KromeMods notes on Twitter that his original tweet posting a link to the leaked files was also hit with a copyright notice from Sony.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Sony Using Copyright Requests To Remove Leaked PS4 SDK From the Web

Comments Filter:
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Usually it's desirable to get SDKs into the hands of programmers.

    • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      Usually it's desirable to get SDKs into the hands of programmers.

      ..when you ask money for said sdk, then not.

      dunno if they have some other sdk for download only content though.

    • by jonwil ( 467024 )

      Sony wants developers who will sign all their NDAs and follow all their rules. Sony doesn't want their SDK in the hands of people who will use it to break open their system (either to run software not approved by Sony or to pirate stuff). They also dont want it in the hands of people who will do things like crack open their proprietary file formats.

    • Then you don't know the history of Nintendo.
    • They don't want people to make games where Sony doesn't take a cut of the revenue.

  • Both PS4 and Xbox One are capable x86 machines, locked into proprietary operating systems. I'm not sure what will come out of this, but if they were to properly open up the device, say to be able to install a Linux distribution, we'll have a truly cheap and solid piece of hardware.

    I'm not holding my breath though, this is only the first step, and a lot needs to happen before Linux on PS4 would be possible.

  • KVM (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DMJC ( 682799 ) on Thursday July 20, 2017 @11:40PM (#54850835)
    Would this be enough documentation to enable a KVM based emulator for the PS4 to be developed? Gaming PCs would easily b powerful enough to run a PS4 game if they're executing native X86 instructions and can passthrough the GPU layer to a modern graphics card.
  • So.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Thursday July 20, 2017 @11:41PM (#54850841)

    Copyright law being used for what it was intended then? Rather than something snarky like the summary claims - people are distributing the SDK without permission or reasonable grounds for fair use, and Sony is using the law to prevent someone from distributing copyrighted material without permission...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by KiloByte ( 825081 )

      Copyright law being used for what it was intended then?

      Censorship? Yeah. Just like in the days of the Worshipful Company of Stationers.

      • Wow, theres that nasty, dirty word that Slashdotters just *love* to throw around - "censorship".

        I bet you personally love to perform a bit of "censorship" on your own credit card details, passwords, PINs, security details and sex life... doesn't make it a *bad* thing to do so.

        But then we have your sig, don't we. Just shows how out of touch with reality you really are...

        • But then we have your sig, don't we. Just shows how out of touch with reality you really are...

          Lemme paste one of my prior comments [slashdot.org]. The rest of discussion is worth reading, too:

          -------------------

          Many folks call copyright (rather than copyright violations) "theft", but I'd go farther. Being a form of censorship, it is a crime against humanity.

          A mere war against lives is limited in scope. With free dissemination of ideas, oppressive regimes don't last long -- note how the first thing they try is blocking communication among protesters and jailing of authors/journalists/etc who dare to voice somethin

          • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

            Actually I am getting a little suss they are using it for publicity, relatively free publicity. Bunch of lawyers letters and everyone repeats every where and then they say sorry but in the interim, news stories every where. You just can't trust the buggers any more.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Removing their own SDK is fine, removing the open source SDK base don the discovered PS4 jailbreak isn't.

    • by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

      Copyright law being used for what it was intended then? Rather than something snarky like the summary claims - people are distributing the SDK without permission or reasonable grounds for fair use, and Sony is using the law to prevent someone from distributing copyrighted material without permission...

      It doesn't matter. There's a difference between theory and practice. Some things sound good in your mind but when they come out you're like "Hey, that sounded better in my head." :P Theory is a construct of your mind, Practice is in the material world. When it doesn't work in practice, it means the simulation you ran in your brain wasn't accurate.

  • by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Friday July 21, 2017 @12:29AM (#54850935)
    The only way to get rid of it now is with a rootkit!
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Spare us the rhetoric about homebrew and stuff. Anyone who had been playing console games knew the main reason for jailbreaking a console is to run pirated games.

    I live in Asia, and experience showed that having a jailbroken system is inversely correlated with the number of games having localized versions: PS2 broken since launch - nearly none, PS3/4 not jailbroken long after launch - many localised games.

    I own a PS4, I say big "Fuck You" to people trying to JB the PS4, you are trying to ruin the gaming p

  • as Linux is already fully running on the PS4. Basically more or less everything is already reverse engineered, ... https://github.com/fail0verflo... [github.com]
  • "We will get nowhere if everything keeps private; money isn't everything"

    Then give your own stuff away for free.

  • They are using copyright to remove information they do not own: the open source SDK not written by Sony. This is a clear abuse of copyright law. They should be placed in a copyright "time out" box for doing so: temporarily open season on all Sony copyrights. They are willfully and knowingly abusing our laws for their own gain.

    At a philosophical level, I wish that all proprietary, undocumented computing hardware fails. I wish that they are not viable products and fail in the marketplace. I miss the days of C

  • Many moons ago, the MPAA tried this trick and they failed because it was posted all over the internet and on T-Shirts even! DVD Jon FTW.

    Good luck with that Sony. You can't bend the universe to your whims. I hate to break to you. But by all means, go ahead and try.

"If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong." -- Norm Schryer

Working...