Geohot needing donations for lawyers

http://geohot.com/

Geohot is accepting donations to hire more lawyers to assist his case with SCEA. I know some people here may not like him, but remember, this isn't entirely about him. Despite your personal opinions of the guy, I think it'd be a good idea to send maybe a dollar or two his way.

I already sent him 10 dollars, I may not like Geohot's personality all that much, but I dislike Sony's views of the consumer even more.

Thanks for reading,

Sincerely, C-K

 

Hmm I resolve most of my legal issues by hitting the books. I'm sure a smart man like him could too. If it is a question of money he can't compete with Sony no matter how much you throw at him but luckily the most ingenious things happen on a shoestring budget, so for that reason, I'll do hima favour by not be sending him a penny.

 

I strongly feel his demands will not be met, but I do hope at least Sony doesn't win. I have always strongly felt consumers should be able to do whatever they want with their hardware. What if your coffee maker said you could only make decaf? Sure the PSN is separate, and you don't own that. Having access to it is a privilege, not a right. By choosing to mod and giving up the PSN though I don't feel your previously purchased games should become disabled if you get banned. They are your purchases and disabling them will only lead to people supporting piracy more.

 

This is ridiculous.. even if you had leased the PS3 you'd still be able to treat it like its yours. Sony want people to effectively "rent" their software and buy their console box as a set-top box of sorts for games. If they want to go down that road they better not charge 600USD-250USD for the privilege.

As I see it, if you pay a fuck ton of money to buy a console it should be yours.

 

I'm with you on that... If I was renting the unit for x amount each month then fair enough. But shelling out £250 - £300 tells me the machine is mine and I can do what I want with it.

Oh well.

 

In most countries, sony can't do shit about you doint whatever you want with your hardware. They can however refuse to let you use their online services if you have modified anything.
Think of it as a private club. You are told that you can get in if you appear in your standard-issue suit. They offer you a choice of hats though (=offer you to install another OS). After some time, they have a change of heart because peples hats are getting so big that they get caught up in the wiring near the ceiling. So they tell you: If you want to get in, sign this no-hat-policy.
You can keep wearing your hat, but then you may not enter the club anymore (i.e. you can keep your other OS, but then not use the online service anymore). Plus, new bonuses are members only, so you may be stuck on whatever stuff you have aquired up to that point to go with your suit (= newer games may not work, you can't get access to new firmware features).

To reflect this new policy, new suits are handed out without hats from the beginning

Oh, and Sony will not sew any suits that have been modified in any way if they get ripped apart at the seams (i.e. if you have a YLOD and your console has been modified in any way, no service for you, sir).



I know, silly comparison, but that's about how it works over here.

 

I honestly don't think his demands are that outrageous. A legal path to homebrew and he gives them info on how to stop firmware being hacked? Sounds good to me. Sony should just settle out of court. Of course they can't be seen to compromise so that won't happen.

 

I'm sure he is intelligent, but representing himself in any capacity would be the dumbest thing he could ever do... Ever.

Like bringing a water pistol to a gunfight.

 

Every single EULA out there states the same thing... That you don't own software as much as have purchased a license to use the software as the authors of said software had intended for you to use.

We ought not fool ourselves as Microsoft has sued in the past over similar things (although not xbox related) and so has nintendo back in the nes days with the nes10 lockout chip.

 

Screw Sony. They got My Lik-Sang and they got my PS3, What's next?

 

See my later post in this thread. I totally changed my stance on this after a re-think.

 

That's been my thoughts exactly on this chapter.

When I heard he'd released a custom firmware with his name on it that was capable of running pirated games, it just seemed to me like one hell of a smoking gun for the inevitable lawsuit. A proof-of-concept timing attack to enable a linux kernel to boot, that's one thing, but a piracy-enabling replacement firmware when you're an adult living with the DMCA above your head is just asking for it.

 

Geohot is a guy that should be making 100k a year at google or facebook for his coding skills.

Instead his megalomaniacal ways have him fuking around like this with hacks so he can gain praise from a bunch of 17 year olds in "the scene"

In my opinion (if anyone cares at all, I'm still giving it lol) he has personality issues that keep him motivated, and ultimately now will be a downfall for him.

 

No. I've done it myself. I've even faced eviction, did all of the work myself without consulting support groups or any crap like that and guess what? I'm still not homeless! A friend of mine is a solicitor but the only thing he did was proof read what I had written and say it was spot on.

The law is out there for all to analyse and interpret. The training teaches you everything you need to know, except for everything you need to know. It may help give a head start with procedural bureacratic bullshit and a rough idea of where to begin but not much more than that. Maybe they also learn some latin to sound smarter which technically is void as the courts also have to use the lanuage of the land and as latin is dead it will probably be in english...

You can stick it to the man, after all they are just a man like any other but you can stick it to the corporate machine too, you just need to try.

Also lvsteven, you can get paid or get a legacy, it is uncommon to have both or neither. I guess Geohot chose legacy...

 

I've got to go with lvsteven here, fighting Sony in a courtroom without experienced legal aid would be an absolutely crazy move. I'm sure arguing an eviction notice in a local magistrates court is no fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not comparable to this situation.

 

It is 100% comparable. It is a question of scale. Also I wasn't before a magistrate, I was before county court judges and later a high court judge too so... I'm not saying I got the exact outcome I wanted, but I still didn't lose and the door is always open should I be in the mood to go back so

He can do it on a limited budget. Throwing money at it will only do one thing: pay the laywer which wasn't needed. All you need is time, effort and the will to act and the megacorps are nothing. Besides, people politically opposed to Sony or this system will offer their services for free. As I have no personal motivation as it is not my war I will not be one of them.

I'm just saying it can and has been done and if it was my arse on the line again I'd relish the challenge!

 

He's closed his donations site after reaching his target of $10k.

Amazing what people will do with their money.

 

Because its a good cause. Obviously there are better causes (Charitable ones) but its a serious problem to many people.

 

The guy is a fucking prick.

I would bet all my possessions that he has more than enough money to do what he wants to do without donations. He's always boasting about sponsorships, scholarships, job offers etc. He's won countless tech awards and competitions.

Also, have a Google. There isn't any solid fact that Sony plan to sue him.

For all we know he could have just scammed shit loads of people out of a tidy sum.

I could be completely wrong and I probably am but Geohot doesn't deserve any help or financial aid, he brought this all upon himself.

I agree that Sony shouldn't be so aggressive with their punishment however in some regards they do have a reason to be a bit miffed.

When I go to a shop to buy a toaster it's only designed to toast bread. If I work out a way to cook eggs with it and let the whole world know, the manufacturer of the toaster is gonna be pissed when they have to spend a fortune on taking tech support calls, threats about potential damage to people's health etc when someone buys it second hand and blows their eyes out etc.

So I go to the store to buy a PS3. I look at the box. It plays PS3 games, PS1 games Blu Rays and has a few other features. Its a PS3, I want it to play PS3 games online and offline without any trouble. This is what Sony advertised it as being able to do so I'll go ahead and buy it.

I plug it in to find it's been returned to the store after being banned. Fuck.

I have to spend my life downloading countless updates to enjoy a game I purchased for £40 because some nob heads can hack the PSN. Fuck.

I used to have OtherOS but again some fiddling jack-ass messed with it and now it's gone for good. Fuck.

I can't use certain 3rd party pads due to some kind of circumvention technique exploited by none other than a few nob heads. Fuck.

Who am I going to complain to...Sony. Who do I sue...Sony. Who has to set up extra departments to deal with this stuff...Sony. Who has to think twice about releasing a game due to piracy worries...developers. I can't honestly blame them for wanting to kick this guys ass. I'd say 5% of the consumer market max cares about homebrew. In this climate, Piracy will completely destroy the PS3. They already offer their PSN service free, why should they spend more cash to monitor all of the hackers who will soon flood every game?

GeoHot is a smart guy, if he had any sense he could have shown people how to access the PS3's internals just for the sake of homebrew and kept the parts about piracy quiet. Naturally someone would have found a way eventually but this dick flamboyantly announced it to the whole world and even attends seminars about it.

I get what people are saying about how when they buy a machine it's theirs and they can do what they want with it. But honestly is messing around with a few homebrew games and apps and playing a few unsupported file formats worth the shit storm that will come from it and ruin the average PS3 experience for the other 95% of the market? Anybody who gives this any serious backing is clearly looking forward to typing PS3 into piratebay.

You bought a PS3 because it's a PS3 and that's Sony's stance.

Want to watch movies in a different format? Re-codec them or buy a TV.
Want to play homebrew games...PC.
Want to use emulators...PC with PS3 controller support.
Want to cook eggs...buy a frying pan.
Want to play PS3 games online and offline, buy a PS3 and leave the fucking thing as it is.

George Hotz has forced Sony to seriously rethink the future of their prime console and they're at risk of losing a lot of money and a lot of business. I hope they crush him.

Because we're all part of a particular scene, we like fucking with emulators, technology and code and yet when someone comes along with a dedicated open source console, begging for sales (pandora, GP2X etc) we don't even look twice. Someone hacks the PS3 and we're all shouting; down with the evil corporation! Death to terms and conditions like tree hugging hippies all whilst trawling eBay for the downgraded firmware version PS3's so we can get on it, when what we wanted was there all along.

Ironically in 6 months time we'll be slating the console as all it will host will be 360 ports as the 3rd party dev scene totally collapses due to rife piracy and fear of poor sales. YOU reading this might not be a pirate but you know damn well that there's hundreds and thousands of them outside your door.

Fuck I'm angry, time for tea and a cigarette.

 

K let's assume legacy refers to what we call "civil defender" in the united states

That is meaning he has no lawyer so they provide him with one.

The problem is that he is not in a criminal trial, this is a civil trial meaning there will be no jury of his peers (in most cases civil trials are decided by a judge) and he is not entitled to any legal council provided by the state.

If it were "the people vs George hotz" he would get a free lawyer at least but this is "Sony vs George hotz" so he gets jack shit unless he can find someone who cares enough about the principles to take the case for free.

Also remember that the American legal system is very very subjective to opinion.

This reason alone is why he would never in a million years win in court vs the Sony legal machine.

A lawyer is hired to interpret the law and present it to the judge and argue the case.

In the USA there are different types of lawyers that specialize in certain cases. Right now he needs a copyright and intellectual property rights specialist.

Without it he will go to jail.

Why jail? Yes i did indeed day this was a civil and not criminal case.

But in america when you lose a monetary judgement and fail to pay, without a good lawyer you are headed to jail.