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Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw)
Groklaw has an in-depth look at the temporary restraining order [PDF] granted on January 26 to Sony against George Hotz for restoring the ability to run Linux on PlayStation 3 consoles. "Hotz is also ordered to hand over to Sony "any computers, hard drives, CD-roms, DVDs, USB stick, or any other storage devices on which any Circumvention Devices are stored" in his "possession, custody or control." I guess it's off with his head, too, then, because he surely knows how to do what he did. People who live in countries that don't have the DMCA also know. Just saying.
[...]
I would have thought Sony would be more technically clueful about the Internet, but what they do well is get the law to help them out. That's the purpose of the DMCA, if you think about it, to scare people so they won't do what they otherwise can do. So Hotz is in some hot water at the moment, I'd say, an object lesson, and it'll stay that way until the hearing, a date for which is not yet chosen. And from my reading, I'd say after that too, at least with this judge."
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Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 28, 2011 22:54 UTC (Fri) by AndreE (subscriber, #60148) [Link]
What a fucking joke
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 29, 2011 6:28 UTC (Sat) by creemj (subscriber, #56061) [Link]
Unfortunately, the deepest tragedy here is that it is not a joke.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 29, 2011 9:16 UTC (Sat) by branden (subscriber, #7029) [Link]
It looks like Sony is aiming to overturn the California precedent established by Pavlovich v. Superior Court.
http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Pavlovich_v._Superior_Court
(Remember DeCSS?)
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 29, 2011 10:09 UTC (Sat) by mchazaux (guest, #64024) [Link]
Will they also sue everyone who says "Hey, I know how to run homebrew on the PS3?"
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 30, 2011 7:17 UTC (Sun) by jzbiciak (✭ supporter ✭, #5246) [Link]
While they probably won't, this whole incident reinforces my decision to not actively participate in the homebrew scene for modern consoles.
I don't have a PS3 but I do have a Wii, and it isn't hacked. It's not worth the aggravation.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 30, 2011 22:03 UTC (Sun) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]
Two points.
What if the reason you bought the PS/3 was to take advantage of the ADVERTISED ability to run linux? It was advertised as BOTH games AND linux. Sony now say "either or, and if it breaks we'll force you down the games choice". So if the main reason you bought it was to use the - ADVERTISED - super-computer capabilities, they have just - in the words of various computer misuse acts around the world - "adversely and without permission affected your ability to use your own computer".
What GeoHotz has done is give you back the ADVERTISED capabilities of your computer.
And he hasn't hacked a thing, not in the sense Sony allege. You can RUN GeoHotz's exploit on a completely UNmodified PS/3, and when you take the CD out it will STILL be a completely UNmodified PS/3. The problem is, GeoHotz has made Sony look like fools, and they don't appreciate it.
Cheers,
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 18:32 UTC (Mon) by daniel (subscriber, #3181) [Link]
"The problem is, GeoHotz has made Sony look like fools, and they don't appreciate it."
Fools seldom appreciate being exposed.
Speaking as the much abused owner of a PS3. Oh wait, of three PS3s, two of which failed at great expense to me. Sony to me is now a dirty four letter word. Big change from when I first got the PS3, I was the biggest booster around. Linux and open standards and all that. Then the beancounters got control.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 19:48 UTC (Mon) by foom (subscriber, #14868) [Link]
You must not have been paying much attention to sony if you think this is unusual behavior for them...
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 22:27 UTC (Mon) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953) [Link]
Yea no kidding. Seriously I vowed to never purchase a Sony Product again about 20 years ago and I've held to that mantra since. That company won't see a dime from me ever again. What you ask is standard operating procedure for the company. My incident involved sitting a support line for 45 minutes on long distance then being hung up on, then finding out later that their support line only had certain hours but they didn't tell you that or turn the robot call queue off after hours. So you call, sit in the queue till the computer decided you were on to long then hung up on you. Wash, rinse repeat.
And the worst part is, that's the most minor thing about my experience that made me hate that company with a passion.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 20:07 UTC (Mon) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877) [Link]
> Sony to me is now a dirty four letter word. Big change from when I first got the PS3, I was the biggest booster around. Linux and open standards and all that.
I second this. I bought a fat PS3 for a *reason*. The slim had just come out, and I wanted OtherOS to play with Cell (not being able to justify a multi-kilodollar Cell board at work let alone at home) *and* a gaming system to occasionally kick back with co-workers and family.
I have to confess to not really even thinking it possible (i.e. it never even entered my mind as something to be concerned about) to erase an advertised feature (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OtherOS for some references; someone's got a list going somewhere iirc) from a system after it changes ownership. Guess I was wrong. It's now clear that you can't trust Sony specifically nor any DRMed system in general to continue permitting you to use it regardless of whether it's an advertised feature or not.
As a result, my Wii (bought specifically for games) is now deprecated in my house, as is any other DRMed system that I can't easily break out of (I can therefore buy DVDs but not BuRay yet). No DRMed games. No DRMed systems. Just no. If it obeys someone else, it's not *mine.*
There are some contradition... Posted Feb 1, 2011 8:35 UTC (Tue) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] As a result, my Wii (bought specifically for games) is now deprecated in my house, as is any other DRMed system that I can't easily break out of (I can therefore buy DVDs but not BuRay yet). But Wii is easy to crack: you don't need specific model version, you don't need to solder anything and Nintendo failed to do anything to close it in four years. Pretty much DVD-level "protection": yes, it's there but it's not annoying enough to actually bother anyone. You can buy the latest version of Wii with latests firmware and crack it in minutes. The only thing you'll lose over older Wii is the ability to play DVDs - but all other homebrew programs will be accessible. It's now clear that you can't trust Sony specifically nor any DRMed system in general to continue permitting you to use it regardless of whether it's an advertised feature or not. Yes, you can. The rule is simple: don't attach the thing to the internet or at least don't upgrade it and firewall all SONY servers. It'll be interesting to see how this lesson will affect stability of the net in the future. I don't mean that PS3 will crash the Internet by itself. But PS3/XBox360/Wii gives convincing object lesson to the children with a simple morale: Upgrades are pain, they will hurt you, avoid them if possible. I doubt it's good lesson for future internet security... No DRMed systems. Just no. If it obeys someone else, it's not *mine.* Come on! Wii (with freeboot) and XBox360 (with BootMii) obey without questions. They will only ever disobey if you'll let them - but this is true for any other non-DRMed system, too: if you'll run the trojan on your Linux system it also may decide to stop obeying you. Just consider future upgrades as trojans and you'll be well. There are people who'll defang these trojans and so you'll be able to use these tamed versions. PS3 is not at this stage yet, but then: custom firware was only out for a few days, it's not yet robust enough to actually use... and it does not include OtherOS (AsbestOS is cool, but it's not an OtherOS). P.S. Still happy user of OtherOS under firmware 3.15.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 18:33 UTC (Mon) by tuna (guest, #44480) [Link]
I looked at the box that my PS3 came in and it did not mention any otherOS function as far as I could see. The only place where it was mentioned was in the manual (where it also said that all functions were subject to change).
Do you know anywhere where SCE "ADVERTISED" otherOS functionality for the PS3?
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Feb 3, 2011 3:26 UTC (Thu) by djm (subscriber, #11651) [Link]
They advertised it on their website: http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/manual.html
Filing this lawsuit a rational action? Posted Jan 29, 2011 10:54 UTC (Sat) by CChittleborough (subscriber, #60775) [Link]
PJ says she "can't believe they [Sony] think this will work". I suspect that the people who decided to sue are acting rationally, but in their own interests rather than Sony's. While the software division struggles to produce and deploy some new DRM system, the legal division will be telling everyone that they did everything _they_ could do.
(BTW, don't miss PJ's update about 321 Studios.)
Filing this lawsuit a rational action? Posted Jan 31, 2011 12:12 UTC (Mon) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
Sony is a prime candidate for a demerger of the current corporation's media and consumer electronics businesses. One only has to look at the rise of Samsung in numerous electronics markets (home entertainment, cameras, computing) - a company which has pretty much admitted to emulating Sony's original vision - and wonder what kind of success Sony might have been enjoying had it managed to keep on top of its actual competition.
Filing this lawsuit a rational action? Posted Jan 31, 2011 22:37 UTC (Mon) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953) [Link]
There's one thing about success that Sony never understood. Customer Service. Sony has always been of the opinion that the customer is always wrong. Someone would have eaten their lunch even if they didn't have an entertainment division making the electronic division do stupid things. You can only screw so many customers before you don't have a business anymore. Look at Packard Bell, they don't sell computers in the US anymore for exactly that reason.
Filing this lawsuit a rational action? Posted Feb 2, 2011 22:17 UTC (Wed) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link]
Agree 100% I have a DVD player from them which is too stupid to handle hidden SSID's. They keep releasing firmware for it but most seems to be aimed at getting me to buy some service or another.
Disgusting.
GitHub takedown Posted Jan 30, 2011 12:22 UTC (Sun) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link]
On related news, found on slashdot: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2011-01-27-son...
GitHub takedown Posted Jan 31, 2011 12:26 UTC (Mon) by AndreE (subscriber, #60148) [Link]
DMCA to the rescue!!
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 15:40 UTC (Mon) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link]
How can it be a "Temporary" Restraining Order if no date for the hearing was set? Apparently logic and law don't intersect in this case.
Sony Wins TRO - is it "Temporary"? Posted Feb 5, 2011 0:36 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link] How can it be a "Temporary" Restraining Order if no date for the hearing was set? Apparently logic and law don't intersect in this case I presume you're referring to the fact that the order expires when a hearing on making the order more permanent takes place, but a specific date for that hearing hasn't been set. It seems logical to me. It's temporary because it's only going to be in effect for a few days. It hadn't been decided at the moment it was issued just how many days that would be but that will be decided soon. The order specifies the date of the hearing as whatever date the parties agree on. Nobody expects the order to go on forever. That's what temporary means. If for any reason the date doesn't get set in a reasonable amount of time, I would think a judge would rule the order expired anyway. In many jurisdictions, 90 days is the maximum a TRO can live.
Sony Wins TRO, Impoundment (Groklaw) Posted Jan 31, 2011 17:43 UTC (Mon) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]
Just order Sony to surrender all its computing equipment while the rootkit case is evaluated and be done with it.
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