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[Burger]

We knew Sony would be non-plussed about the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, and now we have a better idea as to the full extent of its anger. The company has filed suit against George "Geohot" Hotz, the "hacking group" fail0verflow (Hector Cantero, Sven Peter, "Bushing," and "Segher"), and numerous John / Jane Does over the exploit and its release. To be more specific, the company cites violations of Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, various copyright infringements, and other acts of binary malfeasance. A temporary restraining order has also been sought, asking that all "circumvention tools" be taken offline and his computers and related media (i.e. anything storing said tools) be impounded. It looks like Geohot's servers are being slammed at the moment, so we've gone ahead and hosted the relevant PDFs ourselves below. We're still sifting through ourselves and will let you know what we unearth.

http://podcasts.aolcdn.com/engadget/files/GeohotProposedOrder.pdf

http://podcasts.aolcdn.com/engadget/files/GeohotMotion.pdf

*bolded section to better illustrate multiple defendants.

[UPDATE Jan 11th]

Nilay here -- let's take a look at what's going on. This isn't a "lawsuit" in the traditional sense, since Sony hasn't filed a complaint for copyright infringement or whatever against Geohot and friends. Instead, the company appears to be trying to shove the genie back in the bottle and have the jailbreak and any information about the jailbreak removed from the web by filing a temporary restraining order. That might work in the short term -- Geohot's already pulled his pages down -- but history suggests that the forces of paperwork rarely triumph over the righteous anger of nerds, and that this code is out there for good. That said, we'll see what the court says tomorrow; although we very much doubt Sony's melodramatic proposed motion and order will be granted as written, we wouldn't be surprised if some sort of order is eventually granted -- and then from there a formal lawsuit is likely just a few days away.

[UPDATE 13th Jan]

We figured Sony would follow up last night's temporary restraining order against Geohot and fail0verflow for distribution of the PS3 jailbreak with a copyright infringement lawsuit, and well, here it is. It's actually pretty straightforward, as far as these things go -- Sony alleges that George Hotz, Hector Martin Cantero, Sven Peter, and the rest of fail0verflow are:

• Violating §1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids bypassing access control measures;
• Violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which forbids accessing computers without authorization;
• Guilty of contributory copyright infringement for encouraging and helping others to crack PS3s as well;
• Violating the California Computer Crime Law, which is the state computer fraud act (think of this as a backup fraud claim);
• Violating the PlayStation Network's Terms of Service (which feels meaningless, really);
• Interfering with Sony's relationships with other PSN customers (also meaningless);
• Trespassing on Sony's ownership right to the PS3 (this one feels weak) and;
• Misappropriating Sony's intellectual property (another weak argument, but there in case the copyright argument fails).


Sony's asking the court to forbid Geohot and fail0verflow from distributing the jailbreak and turn over all computer hardware and software that contain the jailbreak code, as well as unspecified damages and attorneys' fees. Yep, these boys done got sued -- and we're sure there'll be some serious fireworks once they lawyer up and fight right back.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/12/sony-follows-up-officially-sues-geohot-and-fail0verflow-over-ps/

I downloaded from pacer all 156 pages of documents filed in this case so far for anyone interested: http://www.thesangreal.net/gaf/sony.zip

[UPDATE 14th Jan]

Courtesy of GAF member Sangreal:

Sony has filed a new motion to seal the rest of the confidential info they forgot to seal in Document 4

Geohot's lawyer has filed some screenshots of his own in response to Sony's claims. Mostly in regards to Sony removing OtherOS support.

I'm uploading them to RECAP here:http://ia700401.us.archive.org/35/i...d.235965/gov.uscourts.cand.235965.docket.html

Thanks to our new PSX-SCENE member Sangreal who was kind enough to drop us all the latest court files.

The best reading is #04.pdf, which is 280+ pages of printouts from various forums, websites, etc.

And Sony has not been idle either. They filed new papers showing that forum users have been cloning and mirroring the various GIT's, also noting that at one point Mr. Hotz had removed the 'root key' from his website. It is clear that Sony has been keeping an Eagle Eye on all the sites practically minute by minute!

A strange tactic Sony is attempting to use against Mr. Hotz was to send him $1 via his paypal account, which was the same as his email address, to prove that he was taking donations, even though he never requested any donations at any time! -- Naughty SCEA!

But, not to worry, it seems Mr. Hotz has hired a very good lawyer and his defense filings are a testament to that. They make for good reading also.

[UPDATE Jan 14th]

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge here on Friday put off deciding whether PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz should surrender his computer gear as part of a lawsuit from console-maker Sony.

Sony sued Hotz on Tuesday, alleging Hotz’ posting of the code to crack the PlayStation 3 was a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions. Sony, which is also seeking unspecified monetary damages, also wanted Hotz to remove any code the New Jersey man had uploaded to the internet last week.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, without deciding any of the merits of Sony’s DMCA claim and other allegations, said she was unsure whether the lawsuit should even be tried in her courtroom. She wondered aloud whether the case should be aired in the 21-year-old’s home state of New Jersey, where the hacking took place.

“I’m really worried about the jurisdictional question,” the judge said from the bench during a 20-minute hearing.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/playstation-lawsuit-limbo/

[UPDATE Jan 27th]

Court grants Sony's temporary restraining order against Geohot, PS3 jailbreak still available everywhere

It looked for a moment like Geohot and fail0verflow might beat Sony's DMCA lawsuit over the PS3 jailbreak on a jurisdictional technicality, but things didn't go their way: the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted Sony's request for a temporary restraining order forbidding Mr. Hotz and his merry men from distributing or linking to the jailbreak, helping or encouraging others to jailbreak, hacking into the PS3 or PSN, or distributing any information they've found while hacking. What's more, they've been ordered to turn over any computers or storage media used to create the jailbreak to Sony's lawyers -- although we've got a feeling Geohot's attorneys will raise a bit of a fuss about that.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Sony's won anything substantive -- it's just proven to the court that the jailbreak will cause it ongoing harm while the case continues, and it still has to actually win its formal lawsuit to collect any damages or a permanent injunction. And let's not forget that forcing Geohot to stop distributing it won't stop anyone else -- in almost an exact mirror of the deCSS case, we're already seeing the jailbreak mirrored all over the internet. Way to learn from history, Sony.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/court-grants-sonys-temporary-restraining-order-against-geohot/

 

[expy]

And Fail0verflow apparently. Should be reflected in the title since it's in the article as well.

 

[Dead Prince]

Who will win?

 

[Square Triangle]

 

[scitek]

Fair use? I don't have any idea how this will shake out. Is it breaking the law to hack a system now?

 

[elektrixx]

Huh. I didn't know Bushing was a part of this too.

 

[godhandiscen]

I wonder if Anon will go after Sony for this.

Did MS sue when the Xbox 360 got hacked, why is it so different this time?

 

[Veins]

This guy has certainly made a name for himself between the iPhone and the PS3. Although it looks like Sony doesn't have a leg to stand on with this lawsuit according to some in the CFW ban hammer thread.

 

[human5892]

The age of piracy has concluded forever.

 

[Canova]

Shit just got realz

 

[Lambtron]

Fair use?

Not under DMCA it's not! Thanks for that!

 

[GodfatherX]

Who will win?

not Sony, they basically just opened the floodgates to everyone who knows anything about hacking/coding that never cared about the PS3 or the jailbreak

 

[ghst]

A temporary restraining order has also been sought, asking that all "circumvention tools" be taken offline and his computers and related media (i.e. anything storing said tools) be impounded.

panic button.

 

[RomanticHeroX]

I'm pulling for Sony.

 

[H_Prestige]

So when Sony loses this they won't be able to ban CFW from PSN without breaking the law?

 

[Zeliard]

You reap what you Sowny.

Sony removes OtherOS from the Slim, gets their shit hacked, and now they're scrambling.

 

[Ravidrath]

Can they even sue most of failOverflow under a U.S. law?

Most of the guys in the video seemed to be foreign.

panic button.

And an unrealistic one, considering that the files are already everywhere.

 

[DonMigs85]

If stolen keys were really involved then does Sony indeed have a chance of winning?
Reminds me of the Bleem! days, Sony never actually won but the defendants couldn't afford to keep going.

 

[godhandiscen]

So when Sony loses this they won't be able to ban CFW from PSN without breaking the law?

Yep.

 

[Razor210]

Is there a precedent for this with other consoles?

 

[Why For?]

I didn't think jailbreaking or modding was illegal in the US though.

Won't they be a good chance of getting off?

 

[angelfly]

Not under DMCA it's not! Thanks for that!

As I posted in the other thread what he did is covered under the DMCA in the research exemption.

 

[ismaboof]

Yep.

Well there goes PSN

 

[BoboBrazil]

This just got main coverage on engadget, which is huge. I don't even think he got this when he released the cfw did he? Now alot of people are going to know about this. Some attorney will probably offer to do this one free for the attention.

 

[HaRyu]

So when Sony loses this they won't be able to ban CFW from PSN without breaking the law?

I would think that it would prevent them from going after the people making the CFW. Sony would still be w/in their rights due to the terms of services to ban consoles off of PSN.

 

[Srsly]

This will bring more attention to the exploit and only mean more jailbroken PS3s lol

 

[Ravidrath]

Reminds me of the Bleem! days, Sony never actually won but the defendants couldn't afford to keep going.

They're not running a business - it's a bunch of hobbyists.

So unless they lose everything and die in the streets from starvation, I'm not sure how this can possibly stop them from doing anything.

And, of course, they have already passed it on to thousands of other people.

 

[railGUN]

:lol

Sony, you are crazy.

 

[mf.luder]

Is there a precedent for this with other consoles?

Well there was that recent Xbox modding case where they tried their hardest to keep Bunnie from testifying for the defense. The case got thrown out due to some bonehead moves/confessions by the prosecutor.

But also the jailbreaking case that said that jailbreaking was legal. Couldn't find a better link.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/feds-ok-iphone-jailbreaking/

 

[iammeiam]

I didn't think jailbreaking or modding was illegal in the US though.

Won't they be a good chance of getting off?

They don't have to win to wear these people out, unfortunately. They've got the money and legal team to push this out forever. Yay legal system!

 

[Veins]

If stolen keys were really involved then does Sony indeed have a chance of winning?
Reminds me of the Bleem! days, Sony never actually won but the defendants couldn't afford to keep going.

Yeah I could definitely see it going this way. geohot is only 21. And I assume there will be a long and drawn out legal process which will cost heaps of money to defend against.

 

[phosphor112]

Regardless of whoever wins, this is a game changer for this whole thing.

 

[Zoe]

Who will win?

Does geohot have million-dollar lawyers at his disposal?

 

[MidnightScott]

Wait, did the hack somehow allow it to play pirated games? I know nothing about the PS3 jailbreak.

I could see them suing him if it did that, but if it allowed the PS3 to install another OS on it then I think that's bullshit.

 

[FLEABttn]

You reap what you Sowny.

Sony removes OtherOS from the Slim, gets their shit hacked, and now they're scrambling.

Removing OtherOS from the Slim was a cost saving measure. That's hardly a "reap what you sow" type deal.

 

[Kaako]

Let the battle commence.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Regardless of whoever wins, this is a game changer for this whole thing.

Disagree. The tools are out there. Sony wont be able to stop this runaway train. If they lose though it will definitely be significant. A win? Not so much.

 

[angelfly]

Does geohot have million-dollar lawyers at his disposal?

Hopefully the EFF steps in.

 

[saunderez]

Does geohot have million-dollar lawyers at his disposal?

No but this is the kind of thing that the EFF normally lends a hand in.

Edit: Damn beaten!

 

[nbcjr]

this will certainly backfire on sony. They have no ground to sue, they are trying to pull a play-asia/lik-sang stunt and make george go broke financially.

 

[angelfly]

Removing OtherOS was a cost saving measure. That's hardly a "reap what you sow" type deal.

What costs did it save by removing it from customers (like me) who paid for and used it.

 

[Bay Maximus]

Regardless of whoever wins, this is a game changer for this whole thing.

.

 

[RobertM]

I wonder if Anon will go after Sony for this.

Did MS sue when the Xbox 360 got hacked, why is it so different this time?

They did, actually. http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/california-man-goes-to-court-for-modifying-xbox-360/

I thought "fair use" would work this time around, but seeing how their wasn't any ruling on the Xbox 360 case yet, this sets a bad precedence for the future of hacking consoles.

 

[Brannon]

Good grief, isn't this like suing the common cold at this point? I'm pretty sure there are people just as talented but with much less recognition playing with the keys now, and with a lot of the work already done.

Even IF Sony wins this, they won't stop the hacking, and others will just release tools and programs under anonymous names and torrents and what not. Sony does not have a coherent plan here, I think.

 

[railGUN]

What costs did it save by removing it from customers (like me) who paid for and used it.

Nothing... we were pure profit. =(

 

[Zoe]

Wait, did the hack somehow allow it to play pirated games? I know nothing about the PS3 jailbreak.

I could see them suing him if it did that, but if it allowed the PS3 to install another OS on it then I think that's bullshit.

It allowed people to sign apps that could play pirated games. There was discussion of such a method in the OT right before this news hit.

 

[Benjamin1981]

Instead of suing these people, Sony should hire them to shown them how to make a more secure system for the next console cycle.

 

[FLEABttn]

What costs did it save by removing it from customers (like me) who paid for and used it.

Note that the quote I quoted referenced the Slim specifically, so my response would be to such conditions.

 

[Sew]

Even if Sony wins, it won't accomplish a thing. Except to prove that they can beat up little guys.

It's a shame big companies like this can't find a way of riding the horse once it's bolted, instead of shooting the people who opened the gate.

 

[nbcjr]

Removing OtherOS was a cost saving measure. That's hardly a "reap what you sow" type deal.

the removal was never a cost saving measure. other os works in slims, all that is needed is a software modification.

the cost of maintaining the feature has to be close to zero.