Posted by PS3Hax Member News
, on 20/02/2011
The PS3 scene has had the legal side surface ever since the first day we heard about OtherOS exploit and PS3Jailbreak, and has been rolling to this day. For those who are not always up-to-date on the legal sides, I have basically put together an outline of what Sony has done, and is doing under your nose that you may not be aware of. I believe people need to know what the current lawsuits and cases at hand hold for the general populace and their rights. These include the Consumer protection rights and intellectual property rights. So here it goes.
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Sony…
Sony is ruining their image and trying to put all their recent bad deeds off on a group of people that have done nothing wrong. This is a group of people that Sony throws in the same category as software pirates. Their corporation needs to learn a few things, one of which is demonstrated very simply here:
Pirate can equal a hacker 
Hacker does not always equal a pirate
Sony has recently sued a group of people, one group being a “hacking” team that goes by the name of fail0verflow. They operate under a cause trying to enforce the consumer protection act. Sony originally sold the PS3 as an “open” system. This meant that another OS, or Operating System, could be installed for a limited usage. Several years later, Sony removed this option. That was a feature that factored into the cost, and an advertised function, of the system. They removed it anyway, and in doing so, openly broke the law. They now believe that they can just get away with it because they have highly paid lawyers… and they did get away with it.
The lawsuit (class action btw) was “swept under the rug.” Fail0verflow have taken it upon themselves to return this advertised feature to “Sony’s” system. They have not used any copy-written Sony code or intellectual property to do so. Any and all information and source code used to achieve their goal was actively and publicly documented. Without any legal backing, Sony decided they didn’t like that they were “losing control” of “their” property… so they sued.
Another party that Sony has taken offense to is a single person that goes by the name Geohot. His real, legal, name is George Hotz. He became famous for the original “hacking” of the iDevices. These included things such as the iPod touch, iPhone, and most recently the iPad. George operates under the pretense and belief system that if you as an individual purchase something… it is yours. Many people, I believe, would agree with that. If you walk into a store today and buy a new laptop, wouldn’t you want it to do the things you bought it for? Wouldn’t you want to be able to run your own software on it? For instance, let’s say someone happens to be a software developer. They walk into best buy and buy a new Sony Vaio laptop. They then, take it home and begin to develop a software application (anything, it doesn’t matter) for their new laptop. Then Sony sues that person running something on “Sony’s” hardware that they themselves did not authorize. Is that right? Is that justified? No. 
George opened up the ps3 to a new world of “un-authorized” software… He made it possible for people to do what THEY want with THEIR hardware that THEY bought with THEIR money. Why is this wrong? In Sony’s eyes its because they no longer possess control. They can no longer manipulate the consumer. George has, in the past, won similar lawsuits dealing with the circumvention of digital security dealing with the iDevices. These lawsuits made it legal for people everywhere to run what they want on their hardware… at least when it comes to cell-phones and ipods. The PS3 is no different, it is still yours, it is still the consumers. You never sign a contract upon purchase that says; “I’m paying for this but I give all ownership rights to Sony.”
Sony denies these “Robin-hood lies” and states that the real reason these people are doing these things is to monetarily harm their business and make it possible for piracy to ruin their sales. I want to say right now that nothing that either the fail0verflow team or George Hotz have ever released or had in their possession could ever enable piracy on the ps3. This has been proven in court and in practice. I know that piracy has surfaced; it is currently an issue not only with the ps3 but countless other devices on the market. That is a moot point. Piracy has nothing to do with the cases at hand. Sony also states that all the work the parties have done has been done illegally with illegally obtained copy written code. This too is known to be false as everything has been documented and has been public knowledge for the last several months.
Now that I have shown that Sony has no legal backing to their claims, and that the parties in question have done nothing “legally improper,” let me point out some of the things that Sony has illegally done and gotten away with.
I have already mentioned Sony’s open removal of the “OtherOS” capabilities of the ps3, which is in direct violation of the Consumer Protection Act. However, I now add that Sony also openly steals and hosts their consumers’ private information. Sony included what is basically a rootkit in the system software of the ps3. A rootkit is computer software that allows a remote party, in this case sony, to have “root” access to a computer. This means that Sony can, at any time, do essentially anything on your system. They can see what you’re doing, see what you’ve done, delete your files and access your personal information. Rootkits, by any definition of the law, are illegal. I will also state that Sony does indeed actively collect the information of every single PS3 user to date. Upon boot, the PS3 gathers up everything that Sony asks for and sends it away. This does not require you to be signed onto the playstation network or even have an account. It only requires you to turn on your ps3 while connected to an active internet connection. 
The things Sony collects are surprising. They log your use time, they collect data logs on the things you do, videos you’ve watched, music you’ve listened to, games you’ve played, messages you’ve sent and websites you’ve visited. They get things like the times and durations that you do each of those things for and even how many people were using it (based on number of controllers synced to the system and reoccurring differences in the data logs collected). They know how many and what devices are connected to the system through usb and the complete and full content of those devices. This includes things like flash drives and camera cards. Sony also logs your billing information, home address, credit card information, security question answers and countless amounts of other very personal information on what is now an insecure network. Does that make you feel safe as a consumer? Who would of thought that using a “media center” or “game system” could lead to mass identity theft? Does Sony hold any responsibility for this? Doing this without your knowledge if I may add? Well, sadly, that depends. That depends on just how much money Sony has to throw at their lawyers… and that’s a lot.
I’m very tired and have probably left out many valuable points and pieces of information. For this reason I ask you to research this subject for yourself and see what you learn. After that you should also take into consideration what the upcoming lawsuits brought forward will do to or for people like you. If Sony wins the cases at hand then we are basically just allowing them to walk on us… to get away with things that are so obviously illegal. Sony thinks that they can manipulate us, the consumers, the people who they rely on as a business. They think that they can just take advantage of us and that we will take it lying down. These upcoming cases will have a huge impact on how consumer protection and intellectual property rights evolve over the coming years. This is not something that the general public, which is currently oblivious to the situation at hand, should take lightly. This is where, after all my ranting and raving, I ask you, as a people, to rise up and make it known that big business and corporations like Sony cannot walk all over us. They cannot expose our personal information making us vulnerable to real hackers everywhere. They cannot say that they own something that is so obviously ours. I know many of you will not know what to do with this information, many of you will not know how to help or necessarily want to.
All I ask is that you spread the word. Make this known to people. Make this known to Sony. With knowledge comes power, with ignorance comes oppression. Make this known and protect us, the people, the consumers… the public.
Reply back with your thoughts on this article, and if you agree with Sony’s stance and decision making in the entire “PS3 hacking and what Sony should have done differently in dealing with the situation.
