Courts Order Seizure of PS3 Hacker's Computers

[NoGooD]

I gleemed this article from Toms Hardware a bit ago. I'm curious to see what others think about the courts being able to order your computers confiscated for hacking a console since the court ruled this guy violated DMCA laws.

 

PS3 hacker George Hotz has been ordered to hand over his computers as part of a temporary restraining order.

 

Sony has been granted a temporary restraining order against the PS3 hacker which will prevent him from publishing any more information about his hack online. As a part of the agreement, 21-year-old George Hotz must also hand over all of his computers and hard drives.

 

The Register cites U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco who said Sony supplied substantial evidence showing the hack constituted a DMCA violation. Judge Illston also said that Sony was likely to “suffer irreparable harm” if the hacking continued.

 

The ruling comes as a disappointment to those who support Hotz, especially considering initial skepticism that the case could even be pursued in a California court because Hotz himself is from New Jersey.

[RoosterCogburn]

If you pay 300 dollars for something, you should be able to do w/e the f*ck you want with it imo. If they really want to stop it, they should offer the kid a job at sony and code or something instead of ruin his life for besting their product. They can learn alot about security from this guy.

Edited February 1, 2011 by RoosterCogburn

[Crasher]

If you pay 300 dollars for something, you should be able to do w/e the f*ck you want with it

[AntiThought]

If by doing whatever you want with it means damaging the income and thus future releases of the company whose products you enjoy then I think your brain has rattled a bit loose. Whether I agree with the decision or not he knew what he was doing was illegal and got caught. As far as taking his PCs I am not so sure it needed to go that far.

[Achiyan]

As far as taking his PCs I am not so sure it needed to go that far.

just send him a e-mail or something...thats what Comcast does to me for © infringment

 

all joking aside...i would look it up but im not...laziness. but the type of hacking he was doing could weigh in pretty heavy. if he was bypassing security checks to run copied games then maybe. but finding a loophole to ,say, play homebrew games/apps shouldn't have a need to confiscate PC's/harddrives. but someone had to be the guinnea pig to be made an example of.

[NoGooD]

Well this dude isn't new to the hacking scene. I think he/his crew were some of the first people to crack the iphone and created the jailbreaking techniques. The guy is no angel when it comes to hacking, but for this case, having the dudes computers confiscated b/c he hacked a console seems kind of bullshit to me.

 

Check him out for yourself. Most people on here have probably used something he created/hacked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz

[JoeDirt]

All computers get confiscated since prosecutions needs to establish how and which programs/computer he used to find the loophole/crack. Same thing happend to the gizmodo guy when he took that lost iphone4 and all that was on the computer where the pics of the phone but that was enough proof for prosecution to prove their case. Its common sense, commit a digital crime that might involve your computer if you get caught expect to have it taken away.

[Duckie]

I don't think it is really clear exactly what he did, but violating a terms of purchase are subject to punishment...