Sony to Inspect PlayStation Hacker’s Hard Drive

Wired: SAN FRANCISCO — PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz must allow console-maker Sony to comb through his computer’s hard drive and retrieve information “that relates to the hacking of the PlayStation,” a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s ruled from the bench in Sony’s ongoing legal action against the New Jersey hacker, who goes by GeoHot. The lawsuit is in connection to the 21-year-old being the first to fully hack the 4-year-old console, a jailbreak allowing it to play pirated and home-brewed games.

[Loner]

He probably secure erased everything when he got served with papers.At least i hope so

@ Below

There is no restore points left because the entire drive is erased including the operating system.Theres no way to get back anything when its done correctly

[Dante112]

It'd be funny if he forgot to erase his computer restore points if he did try to erase his stuff.

Edit: I love wikianswers. Is this true?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/H...

[Persistantthug]

It could get embarrassing.

[BattleAxe]

This just in...

"Sony to give hacker Proctology Exam"

[peowpeow]

It is true to some point. There are ways to permanently delete files, since when you normally delete it's basically still there and new data overwrites the old..but there's software for a perm delete

[Mahr]

Tampering with federal evidence carries much stricter penalties than copyright infringement, which is what geohot is currently on the hook for. Erasing the data would be an exquisitely bad move.

[smoothdude]

Well it would be a win for Sony if he did erase his harddrive as all his work will be lost. Everybody make sure that you donate $0.01 to GEO HOTZ via credit card because it costs money to charge a credit card. He would be losing money.

Hey it is my money, I can do what I want with it. Sound familiar?

[Enigma_2099]

@Dante112

Ever seen Forensic Files... yup, it is. I've seen several cases solved using this technique.

@Persistantthug

Funny you mention that... You weren't by any chance in that epic Fark.com thread a few years back, were you?

[bluwulf]

They can't restore thermite.

Bitches love thermtie.

[uxo22]

He's not stupid, I'm sure he has backed his hard drive up in several placed. He probably has friends that has copies of everything he has.

I also thinks it sets an erie precidence for a judge to grant such a thing. I'm sure sony will comb through things on his hard drive that is not related to the PS3 which would be an invasion of his privacy. A classic example of how big business can pretty much do whatever they want in this country. They can probably sell your kids into slavery if the get the right judge in a courtroom.

What's up next? The MIAA will be claiming the hard drives of many people that they claim has stolen music. Software companies will be requesting the inspection of computer systems for suspected software pirates. A lot of you people are glad for sony's victory, but you won't be glad for what it hold to future privacies.

Mark my words, this is not a good thing.

[Biggest]

But that WOULD be stupid. No one involved in illegal proceedings is stupid enough to give all the info to other people. If they do, they won't be involved with illegal proceedings for long. Adding more evidence and witnesses is stupid as hell.

[nveenio]

Seems like this judge is siding with Sony.

That's a good thing. It's a sad world when you can't make a profit off of something you've worked so hard to create. Hackers like GeoHot think that taking Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness from big companies gives it to everyone else, but that's just not true in cases like these.

[HolyOrangeCows]

@Persistantthug
You mean hobbit and goblin porn.

He probably already backed it up and set atomic magnets to the hard-drive (Like in "The Core"), but if there's still info, I'm sure it will be quite useful to Sony.

Death to the hackers.

[badz149]

what do his parents think at the time like this? I don't think they're happy. maybe this will make them regret letting him in the basement for too long!

[GrandTheftZamboni]

@uxo22

If you are right about the privacy concerns who should we blame? Sony, legal system or hackers?

[Inside_out]

I don't agree with hacking but i can't stand companies like Sony who think they can just walk all over everyone's rights when they feel like it. They have very little evidence and are grasping at straws, trying to over turn laws...this is bullshit. I felt sorry for Sony in the beginning of this whole mess...not anymore. If the kid did something wrong...charge him, if not go back to Japan.

What's to stop Sony from putting some thing on the hd. It's a farce at this point. They have nothing and now are trying to make shit up. Geo needs a Donald Trump type of lawyer to slap Sony straight.

[mac_sparrow]

"What's to stop Sony from putting some thing on the hd"

Umm, the fact that they won't get the original, they'll get a backup. Do you really think that they look for evidence on the original drive?
What if it were set up in such a way that a failed attempt at cracking encryption wiped the drive?

They'll get a copy, then they have to note where the evidence is, and prove its existence on the back up that the court has.

[Ju]

Gehot is all about openness, isn't he? He want's to open company secrets and publish them.

Now we want to be concerned with his "selective" privacy? In the worst case he gets what he cries for. He has to make his own stuff public. Good job. Welcome to the other side of the fence.

So far he had no problems to define for everybody else what privacy is for a company. I am sure if he is true to his argument he can open all his tools and research.

[nveenio]

Bubs for Well Said. Don't let Sony have privacy, but demand it for yourself? Hypocrisy...the idiot's kryptonite. Looks like GeoHot is lying in the bed he made. Karma win.

[DragonKnight]

@cez of rage: Very little evidence? GeoHot ADMITTED to doing it. I'm pretty sure that that's all that any judge would need to grant this kind of request. You act as though there is reasonable doubt as to the fact that GeoHot hacked and distributed the keys. He openly admitted to it thinking the iPhone ruling would save him.

On another note, I'm sure that the judge will probably order supervision so that Sony can only look for relevant data.

[Thecraft1989]

No its not when the HDD is formatted multiple times that's it. But formatting would probably be tampering with evidence meaning a bigger punishment than Copy right infringement.

[GodsHand]

@ Dante112

You, any anybody can recover deleted data. But if you overwrite the data over and over again with useless data, nobody can recover that. I once had a programe called system mechanic, which installed another trash bin on your desktop that was labled incinerate. With in that floder was a utiltiy to overwrite deleted data up to 10 times with garbage files. The only problem with it that I found was the larger the file, the longer it took to delete at a 10 times overwrite.

[MRMagoo123]

I dont think he would of deleted his HD i suspect he wouldnt of even thought for a second sony would get control of it so would not of deleted anything i hope they find some embarrassing pics that "somehow" get leaked involving him and his mum and a tub of butter

[AndrewRyan]

Hacker's are not stupid. They get rid of all the traces of their work.

[SephireX]

Let's hope Geohot wins the case because God help the PS3 if he doesn't. Hackers will rip it to shreds with vengeance against Sony who are to blame in the first place. Sony included the OtherOs feature which Geohot used to get the root keys. They are to blame and them only. Of course the dumb non-technical non-knowledgeable Sony fanboys will disagree but their opinions don't count in my eyes.

[blahblah]

yes, it is. shredding would actually be as long as writing same size file. fat32 for example only changed first letter in file name to greek letter pi and marked place as available. but, as long as that was not rewritten, file still existed

although, there are shredding tools and more importantly, there are encrypted partitions (preferably partitioned over many files) with dead mans hook. and i'm quite sure he used the second one.

as i have quite a lot of sensitive informations on my notebook (like ssh keys and passwords for servers i maintain), i have to use that. even if i lose my notebook, unless you exactly know how to prevent dead mans hook during 5 min time limit, encrypted disk wipes into nothing. the only way to avoid dead mans hook is to put disk into other version of os, but good luck mounting that one as it depends on original. and the only time disk got wiped was when i worked drunk as hell, too drunk to remember.

but hey, happened to NASA
http://www.nextgov.com/next...

so always, if you sell your computer use tool like
http://www.dban.org/

[DaTruth]

"This just in..."

"Sony to give hacker Proctology Exam"

They are saving that for his cellmate to do!

[Guitardr85]

@ Seph

And your opinion doesn't count either...But the court's does and THEY are siding with Sony. GET OVER IT!

The era of emo heartbleeding kids is over

[diatom]

Great, take a civil DMCA case to a felony contempt of court/destruction of evidence charge...

Bankruptcy is 1000X better then cell mate lovin.

[dabri5]

He's being sued, not taken to court for a crime. There is a deference. He won't be going to jail for this. Not unless the authorities press charges, which they haven't. This is a simple matter of Sony wanting to shut him down so he can never do this again, while delivering a message to anyone else who is thinking of doing it.
I swear, based off of peoples comments, hacking the PS3 is the equivalent of killing the president/ prime minister.

[ThanatosDMC]

What about Sony's rights?

[DragonKnight]

@SephireX: You're kidding right? Let me explain 2 things to you.

One. Having knowledge in technology has absolutely nothing to do with anything in the context which you used the phrase. You don't have to have knowledge in hacking to disagree with GeoHot.

Two. Allow me to form for you a chain of events. Sony releases 60GB Phat PS3 with OtherOS feature. This feature allows the installation of the Linux OS, granting the ability to use homebrew apps and games through said OS. Sony provided that feature LEGITIMATELY. Was it good enough for hackers? No.

GeoHot decided to use that feature to hack the PS3. His original claim for doing this? To open access to the RSX GPU, which Sony blocked for memory reasons.

Sony implemented a "two birds with one stone" maneuver when GeoHot did this. In order to address memory footprint issues of the PS3's hypervisor, as well as stop GeoHot in his tracks, Sony not only removed OtherOS from older model PS3's but removed the feature entirely from the Slim model even before GeoHot's original hack attempt.

So, all of you saying that this hack was due to the removal of OtherOS are forgetting a simple fact. That being that WITH OtherOS still available in the beginning, hacking attempts were still made for other reasons.

It is a lame attempt at justification to say that anyone hacked the PS3 to restore OtherOS, because the hacks were attempted even with OtherOS. Hackers just don't want to admit that they want free games. Because they look bad if they do.

So no, hoping GeoHot wins this case will do absolutely nothing. If he wins, hacks continue and get worse. If he loses, same thing except hackers won't be so public lest they get sued as well.

Think before typing.

[Blacksand1]

One down many more to go Sony.

[Noami]

i think right about now hacker see sony as the same Jew saw Hitler.

[phinch]

Noami................

I'm sorry but that's not even comparable

[nycrekid]

naomi

That is about the dumbest thing i have every read on N4g. If that was the case every single hacker in the world would be dead.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

@Nycrekid

So what about all the other people on here saying things like "hackers are scum of the earth, they deserve to be raped" or "Hang them!"

It's really disgusting how all of you are reacting to this situation.

[Biggest]

That isn't comparable either, ZombieNinjaPanda. Hackers have proven themselves to be criminals. If they end up in prison they will probably be raped. I haven't seen anyone say "Hang them!" yet. But when they do, it'll be considered a bit excessive. It is no where NEAR the moronic bullshit that Noami typed.

[ActionBastard]

Formatting a hard drive doesn't mean anything. Data IS recoverable. Welcome to 2011.

EDIT: It is true. I worked for a data recovery company and yes, magnets coming in contact with school drives, did happen and all were restored. Unless there is physical damage to the drive, you can get anything back. IT Forensics exists for a reason. If he did move it to a NAS, the logging of whatever OS he uses capture the "move" and still, if deleted can be restored probably helping secure a second warrant.

[kaveti6616]

that's not true. magnets can wipe drives completely. and who's to say he stored his info on his main drive. maybe he relayed everything to an NAS. That way, Sony has to obtain another warrant before they can search his other property. By that time, who knows what he'll do.

Edit:
@anarki

Exactly, this guy is a professional hacker. The chances that he hasn't already wiped his drive using an external method such as a magnetic field conductor is very slim.

I even think he could have done this as a precaution as soon as he found out he was being sued. Sony waited a little too long to get a ruling to seize his property.

[Anarki]

When a computer formats a hard drive, it leaves behind ghost files... There are ways to completely format the drive, but it requires external hardware xD

[kneon]

As Action Bastard said, a magnet is not going to securely erase a drive. There are programs to completely erase a drive, they involve repeatedly overwriting the drive, many times. If you've got someone really determined after your data it will take quite a few passes to keep them from getting at your data.

[Dark_Overlord]

I depends how it is deleted, if the file is deleted then overwritten there is no chance of recovery

[smoothdude]

Yeah, but is he only 21 and 21 year olds aren't the brightest crayon on the box.

[kaveti6616]

I stand corrected. magnets don't do the trick.

at below, he is not like most 21 year olds.

[branchedout]

@smoothdude

I would love to see your box of crayons.

[GameSpawn]

People replying to Action Bastard about being able to get away with simply deleting files just don't really understand how hard drives really work.

Hard drives store information as magnetic 1s and 0s or positives and negatives. However, due to the physics involved that information on your hard drives is not a HARD 1 or 0, there can be faint differences in magnetic charge leaving a "ghost" of the data where it was written to. Overwriting the data doesn't make it completely unrecoverable. The only way to delete data and still use the drive is to ZERO the entire drive multiple times (Mac OS gives you an option of 7 pass, takes an f-ing long time, or if your paranoid a 35 pass erasure, takes an eternity). You cannot erase just one file or specific files on your hard drive this way because hard drives write data randomly to different areas based on where the head "bounces" to, making the task of completely erasing one random segmented file impossible. Take a Computer Org and Physics class for god's sake.

In the end like AB pointed out; the only quick and easy way to make data recovery impossible is to physically destroy the drive (you can simply drill three large holes around the radius of the platters, laptop hard drive platters may even shatter when this is done).

Of course Mr. Hotz cannot begin to do any of these due to the amount of time required (7-35 pass erasure) or suspicion involved in destroying evidence as well as a felony in doing either.

[ct03]

If you worked for a data recovery company, then you should be aware of certain standards used by Governments to ensure that none of the data is recoverable. Of course you can wipe a hard drive clean to a point where nothing can be recovered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[blahblah]

@GameSpawn

and you seem not to understand how partitions work;) you are 100% correct about hdd.

but, what do you do when you soft mounted encrypted partition which is constructed from various files over 2 or more drives? good luck mounting it in any other os and good luck even discovering it. simplest trick is to create few file partitions over 2 or more drives, make raid 0 over them and create encrypted partition. now with one file missing, you will never get anything. and good luck discovering that fact. finding "needle in the hay" just got new meaning

[rumplstilts]

@ Action Bastard

You used to work for a data recovery company? Any funny stories?

[Armyless]

Low-level formatting can be done through BIOS with SCSI controllers. It writes 1's or 0's across the entire drive.

[GameSpawn]

@Blah

Partitioning is still virtual. You have no physical control over how the hard drive "partitions" the physical disk. While you may think you have split a drive into three distinct chunks, for better allocation and access of data your drive may be slit into even more sections that are then linked together by address in the partition table.

RAID is a whole different animal, but for the most part the same, just with more physical disks. All this means is that there are more platters to put data. Now if any chunk of a RAID in a non-mirror/non-parity setup is removed the you have "mostly" garbage. However there is software/hardware out there that can reconstruct large chunks of data from incomplete RAIDs.

Also, if you overwrite data even in a RAID, encrypted or not, the "ghost" data can still be retrieved and reconstructed, just as in a single drive only more drives' data must be collected and reconstructed. If you say "But the data is encrypted and would appear as garbage", the partition table is not and the order of the data is still retained; even "ghosts" of the partition table can be recovered, so if it changes you could to some extent reconstruct that even.

The only way to completely have something unrecoverable while having a usable drive is to overwrite it numerous times. Again though, due to hard drives being Random Access Devices, you can only ensure something is erased by overwriting the ENTIRE disk (not just the partition).

Also, if Hotz encrypted his data a simple court order would force him to remove his encryption or hand over the password used for the encryption on top of only raising further suspicion of his actions. Kinda goes to the old saying "If you aren't guilty, then what have you got to hide."

Remember there is a reason data recovery is not cheap, because the REAL tools work very well and are very expensive. Outside of physically destroying the drive or mutli-pass erasure (which takes FOREVER), nothing is out of the realm of what can be recovered.

[diehardgamer1000]

oh im sorry why do u hope he deleted the stuff,i don get it.do u hate SONY tht much.

[house]

because hes one of the two

one. he thinks that the so called "hack" is for home brews and such when in reality its just for pirating games.

or two.
he just wants wants Sony to fail when im not sure why any one would want that for any game company

edit:
below i was going to say that but i don't like pointing fingers with out knowing... is that true btw?

edit 2: http://ask-leo.com/how_shou...

[Karooo]

hes a xbox only owner, jealous little girl

[Anarki]

Loner, are you entirely sure about that... There are ways to get data back..

[Persistantthug]

.

[SLAYMANIO_ULTIMATE_1]

WOW you really know nothing about hard drive BACK DOORS.

[DongHungLong]

He isn't legally allowed to delete anything as its evidence tampering since the minute he was served it was considered evidence. Secondly he can complete get rid of the data... If its written over its almost impossible to recover. And it only gets harder from there the more it is written over. The government doesn't have programs that can create data from nowhere. There are several programs that write junk datafiles that completely fill your empty space. After 5 or 6 writes the chances of finding even a small part of anything that was there is next to none.

[Zinc]

If he removed the data before they even filed the initial court documents, it's not evidence tampering. If he was smart (and he is, let's be honest here, in the common usage of the word) he would have taken those steps before this went down, because this is not the first time he has been through this sort of rodeo.

If that's the case, he would have done nothing illegal - with regard to the erasing - because, this is not a criminal case, it's a civil one.

[nycrekid]

I think you guys aare giving Geohotz too much credit. he is bright year but he isn't too smart. his age is showing. His has gotten in the way.

If he was really smart he would have just kept his mouth shut and go about this business without declaring war on Sony by not only releasing the keys, but also bragging about it.

Idiot if you ask me. you gotta know when you pick your fights man

[Scotland-Tha-Brave]

why would you hope that geohot cleared his hard drive? i hope the cunt didnt so sony can bust him.

[Holeran]

So now we know Loner is a piece of dirt hacker also. Shut yer stinking pie hole, theif.

[madpuppy]

He probably has hot swap hard drive trays with multiple Operating systems and files on them, It's not like Hard drives are always bolted inside the case anymore.

[harrisk954]

If he erased the hard drive or in any way altered it to prevent the inspection, he would be in contempt of Court. Then, his problems would go from facing a civil lawsuit with money damages (which he could avoid by going bankrupt) to a criminal offense and possible jail time.

[Xander756]

He was told that he wasn't allowed to do that though so that would be committing a felony.

[Scary69]

Sony sure wiped that smirk off his face, I hope Geo has money too pay all these attorney fees coming his way.

[the_best_player]

replace hard drive :D

[bailoutbenny]

GeoHot doesn't even need to erase anything.

If he was using TrueCrypt, he could have a hidden volume that should be undetectable.

The 5th Amendment prevents him from being compelled to reveal any passwords. He could just give Sony the encrypted drives and tell them to have fun.

If he wanted to erase data, there are plenty of file shredders available that do secure deletions. He could even use a disk wiper to just clean up the free space on his drive, giving the appearance of not having deleted anything.

He could also have done all of his work on removable drives, which it is very difficult to prove they even exist and that he is the owner.

There are many ways to attack this problem from GeoHot's perspective.

[uckitsay]

That would be funny though and a little ironic if Sony couldn't break his encryption

[internalbit22]

Wait till he gets anally probed, inspected and interfered with while in jail, that should teach him to think twice about hacking the ps3.

[ilikecookies]

You sony fanboys are really something. Geohot never hacked the ps3 or anything for pirating purposes. Geohot hacked the ps3, i-products, etc.. for homebrew options. It is so that you can install your own custom programs on it. Stop being so butt hurt about your precious ps3. I bet all you iphone or ipod owners have them jailbroken so that you can steal your apps. That's still stealing too you know.

[ShinFuYux]

It'll be funny if sony finds porn he made with his dog, then....mysteriously it got in the internet.

[-Alpha]

That would be rather disturbing.

[kaveti6616]

that would be some very good revenge.

[smoothdude]

I would watch it :)

[SoSLy]

I'm pretty sure you can't reproduce stuff like that if you didn't get permission. I learned that in MANswers :D

I bet you he hacked his dogs for "more" features

[rockleex]

Lol, "hacked".

[Dead_Cell]

Nothing is ever erased.

[MWong]

You can say that again. The only way to actually erase a HDD is set fire to it. You can restore a HDD with no restore points on it. If you can't personally do it they have places you can send your CPU off to that will restore it for you.

[Dead_Cell]

And of all people, SONY are handed the keys to his Hard-Drive. A company that excels in working technology.

Yer fucked broski.

[SLAYMANIO_ULTIMATE_1]

Well the best way to erase 100% of the hard drive with 100% recovery proof, you will need to put it in you're microwave. IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING!!!

[Mnemonic-DK]

No need to set anything on fire - Just "boot and nuke" the HDD... simple!

http://www.dban.org/

The program overwrites every sector on the HDD several time with random data - that makes the original data unrecoverable.

[MWong]

@ Mnemonic-DK

Yea I've heard of that Boot & Nuke, but it's like a condom only works 94%-97% of the time. They even say it on the page works on "MOST" computers.

[Theonik]

I find the fact that a company is allowed to do that frightening i'm sorry for you Americans, your legal system is a complete joke. The judge in this case is friggin' nuts.

[Mnemonic-DK]

@ MWong

The method of overwriting the HDD with random data is foolproof - It is impossible to recover the original data after that, provided that the overwriting is low-level, and not done by at simple quick format.

But you may encounter some weird HDD controller where the program cannot communicate properly with the electronics, e.g. a MFM or RLL controller...

MAN, I feel old now! :D

[Op24]

Good he deserves to be punished. He'll be lucky if Apple dosen't find a way to restore the case against the Jailbreak for the iPod. I can see a VERY LARGE FINE heading his way

[TheGamerBible]

Satans right hand man is about to meet the firm fist of god's justice. Hacking will always lead to damnation.

[Darkspade]

What a tard

[madpuppy]

hacking is NOT the problem, dopey, without hacking you wouldn't enjoy the games we play on our consoles and PC, there wouldn't even be an internet.

Now Cracking, that tends to be illegal. A "hacker" is another name for a Programmer or one step further a programmer that enjoys programming. A "Cracker" is someone that tries to access networks illegally and Cracks DRM and encryption protections, or even Virus creators, they would be crackers or Black Hat hackers.

[Pedantic91]

Strange, i always managed to enjoy my NES/PS1/PS2/PS3/PC/Wii without ever actually hacking them.

Stop speaking for everyone, it's making you look bad.

[madpuppy]

@pedrami91, you misunderstand, A hacker is simply a programmer. in other words a developer. and hacking is the act of making a program.
Naughty dog hires hackers (programmers) to make their games. I don't know where you got the stupid idea that I meant that to play a game you had to somehow be a hacker.

let me say this one more time. A "hacker" is a "programmer", game and software companies hire programmers to make the games and software we ALL enjoy and play.

Without hackers or programmers there would be no games or operating systems or software in general.

A "cracker" or a "black hat hacker" are the "bad" programmers. they create viruses and crack encryption on games and software. essentially illegal stuff.

pedrami91, you must have poor reading comprehension, because, what I wrote and what you think I wrote are miles apart.

[MajestieBeast]

Big win for Sony.

[McDomination]

If GeoHotz is intelligent enough to circumvent the PS3's security, then he's smart enough to wipe his drives, encrypt his data, or to simply not give sony the correct HDDs. This is all PR for Sony. He's safe.

As for the people that have no idea what they are talking about, look up Gutman's Algorithm. Data CAN NOT be recovered if properly erased.

[AssassinHD]

Wiping his drive would just land him in jail for evidence tampering, or at minimum contempt of court.

[R2D2]

Who is to say that he did not tamper with his HDD before the case.

Plus as some people have pointed out he can give Sony one of his many personal dummy drives with pics of him and gramdma.

[GoldPS3]

LOL

[palaeomerus]

Projection much?

[The_Quiet_Man]

Probably more like some hobbit homo erotica with lap dancing dwarfs. After all he styles himself based on frodo. He'll be the lord of the rings alright, in prison, that's if Sony has there way, lol.

[jalen247]

LOL

[Mahr]

"The judge also backed off on an order that Hotz “retrieve” the code from anybody who he may have forwarded it to."

You don't say!

[Darkspade]

Money Is Power and it shows here

[Yehshuah]

he probably has buncha porns in his hdd

[lodossrage]

the very MOMENT he does that he'll be in a worse situation than he is already. Copyright penalties are nothing compared to evidence tampering penalties

[peowpeow]

Hey, does it matter if he erased them before SONY was issued a warrant? Or is that evidence thing in effect from an earlier date?

[lodossrage]

Well to be fair, if he erased it BEFORE Sony had the warrant issued he wouldn't be tried for tampering. However, this story is kinda old. Sony issued this warrant a couple of weeks ago.

And even if he formatted his equipment. His old data is still recoverable. Computers these days make ghost files in you computer even after formatting.

[NicSage]

wow, this is great news. Maybe people will think twice before talking publicly about hacking consoles.

Lets face it people will hack consoles, except now they will think twice about giving it out publicly. Assuming Sony wins this, I think they will & more power to them.

I'm glad to see these hackers/cracker facing charges.

[ReBurn]

Hotz had to know this was coming, considering what happened to him before. That's why I would be surprised if Sony actually finds exactly what they're looking for on his hard drive.

[Enigma_2099]

Sadly, I think you're right.

[nikoado]

Whats the legal situation if he had already deleted/formatted his drive before he was even served?

[Holeran]

Screw him, all this is doing is allowing the .25% of the population to screw with the other 99.75% of the population via hacking thier games. Hotz is a piece of trash who cares about no one other than himself(trying to be cool) get a life and start to do something constructive instead of destructive.

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

Now Sony is gonna find out Frodo is into hobbit porn.

[Merivigian]

@smoothdude: "21 year olds aren't the smartest crayons in the box"

.... he hacked the ps3 when nobody else could -.-' what more is there to say?

[badz149]

FailOverFlow did and he just used their findings for personal fame! he backed up when OtherOS was removed, remember?

[ForROME]

The First thing I would have done right when I got served - is smoked my current hard drive and put a new one in the computer - better yet the day I gave out the info to the public I would do it

If he actually left data on that hard drive, or keep that hard drive at all and didnt destroy it, I lose all respect.

If he did, then their case will have nothing

[antihiroprotagonist]

In a week from now we'll find out from wikileaks that Sony paid off the judge. Also, for everyone hating on Geohot and other hackers; please go fuck off and die. I'm saying this as someone that makes his livelihood from the game industry and also spends a good deal of it back into it...Look at the Wii and 360...Hacked to hell and back; both companies still rolling in money. Now fuck off and leave this guy alone. He's just a scapegoat; you talentless chickenshit capitalistic, misinformed motherless fucktards.

[BlackTar187]

well most of my family is in the game industry from EA to Ubisoft to Blizzard and guess what none of them feel the same way you do.

Had a uncle at Bandai but they were just bought i beleive and he moved on.

[lizard81288]

"Meanwhile, Sony is threatening to sue [.pdf] anybody posting the code, even though Sony accidentally tweeted it earlier this week."

Sony vs Sony!

[Hozi89]

For those of you who want homebrew...learn to hack the ps3 yourself and keep it to yourself. Simple as that.

[danthebios]

Geo at one time thought he was untouchable,now he must feel like a dumb ass.Hes not smilling anymore.Good job judge.let us prevent piracy for the sake of good quality games in the future.Geo did a big No no,which is to show it to everyone,he should have kept it for himself.

[Gothdom]

If he deleted the files, he's screwed, if he didn't, he's screwed.

Also, the judge stated that anything related could be used, so Sony can ask for the people on his MSN or whatever messenger he used.

[InTheZoneAC]

anyone else think Geo hotz just looks like his ps3 sucked his brain completely dry?

[Threesix]

Sony seems to be like that comical sheriff that wants to catch the bad guy but they seem to make a mistake at every turn. If they open the computer and find nothing but pictures of him wearing shirts saying "I <3 Sony!" it would fit right in with everything that's happened so far.

But then again so would Sony planting a dollar in his house and claiming he had a made a profit off the whole thing from them.

[SKUD]

Its CRACKER not hacker!!!.

[BlackTar187]

yea people get those confused but unless you used crackers int he past i wouldn't blame them.

[antihiroprotagonist]

Only old and disgruntled coders call people crackers. Hacker is now an umbrella term and is far more commonly used. From that perspective; hacker is actually a more often used term. The original meaning of hacker also applies to computer systems.

[blahblah]

and usual hacker (who doesn't crack) feels the same as somebody would start calling murderers by your name. or do you also name all people carrying guns soldiers? how would that sound to you, or better how would that sound to some soldier who takes pride in being one "soldiers gunned down 3 teenagers..."

if you use umbrella term, use it correct with white|gray|black hat hackers.

hacker is only used like that because hollywood didn't have enough brains to get the distinction and common people just followed. so everything was popularized with term "hackers". but then again in movies you can see hacking firewall being hacked by percentage... or even better, discovering multinumber password where it resolves them one by one.

[phatfreddy1978]

Maybe he should've been trying to hack his way into finding a girlfriend rather than doing the wrong thing.What goes around comes around.

[SephireX]

To any idiots out there who think Sony will beat the hackers, I give you this: http://psgroove.com/content...

[AssassinHD]

No one is expecting Sony to beat the hackers. This is merely a small battle in a larger war. Beating George Hotz will be sufficient enough to set a legal precedent.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I dont really care if Geohotz loses...its not a criminal case...just monetary so he will feel it in the wallet.

What does have me concerned though is this tidbit: Sony is also asking Judge Illston to order Google to surrender the IP addresses [.pdf] and other identifying information of those who have viewed or commented about the jailbreak video on Hotz’ private YouTube page. The game maker is also demanding that Twitter provide the identities of a host of hackers who first unveiled a limited version of the hack in December.

Giving Sony the ability to come after and check up on anyone who viewed or commented on his video is crazy. This is the kind of big brother oversight that our Constitution is suppose to protect us from.

[Darkseeker]

They're not gonna find a single thing on his hard drive. He obviously made a backup, which sony has no access to, and deleted all his hard drive.

Any sane person would do that.

[TheTruth89]

Ok now, for all those who are saying Geohot should wipe the hard drive clean, encrypt the data and so on, wheres a bit of legal tidbits for you. If he tampers with the data concerning the case in any way or attempt to hide or remove it, the judge has the right to pretty much find him guilty and push the max penalty against him. There has been several court cases in the USA where people have attempted such things (Most notably in the Music industry and Music file sharing) where defendants tried to delete the music, encrypt, wipe or damage the hard drive and was then fined the max penalty possible in the case, sometimes up to millions of dollars and the maximum probable jail time.

from ps3hax

[sprayNpray]

The number of fellow PS3 owners who looked the other way when SONY took a big s*** on the loyal fans who bought launch PS3s and used the OtherOS sickens me.

It reminds me of a line from Boondock Saints:

"Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the INDIFFERENCE of good men."

You think only of yourselves and not the big picture, where giving sony this right could lead. I can only hope that this ends as well as the jailbreak of the iPhone did. Big companies don't care about their fans, they care about $$$$

We should be mad at those who wish to pirate games, not those that simply unlock a console for homebrew code. So here's to you geohot, best of luck.

[ZILLA]

is what this POS should get(period)

[Fatal Blow]

Best way to delete your hard drive is just throw it away in the river put a new hard drive in with crap

[iliimaster]

this asshole derserves all of it.... damn punk i cant even play the games i bought online ! because of these dumb hackers mw2 online is unplayable

[SkyGamer]

Wow so many ill-informed people rejoicing that your very freedoms are now at the mercy of corporations? Are you serious? I hope that the people who are parading this as a victory for sony gets their personal lives shown to the world and see how it feels to have your dirty laundry open to the public. Yeah go sony?! What a joke.

[iliimaster]

really? i paid good money for my system and games ! to play them how they were ment to be played but this guy along with others messed that all up.... so applaud who you want but when my money and time get waisted then it pisses me off... this jerk did this to himself sony didin't pick on some guy off the streets get it right

[Captain Tuttle]

You people who support this scare me. You guys are OK with a corporation having the right seizing your PRIVATE property and inspecting it, something that was previously only to be done by law enforcement with a search warrant? If this doesn't get shot down by a higher court I fear for the future. Anyone who supports this either has nothing to lose (lives in their parents basement) or is too simple minded to understand the implications.