Sony vs. Geohot Litigation Settled: The Winners and Losers

Sony vs. Geohot Litigation Settled: The Winners and Losers

In a somewhat surprising turn of events Sony has settled its dispute with George Hotz over the publication of a jailbreak for the Playstation 3 which has opened the door to hackers and pirates alike. But in this case's aftermath, who has come out better off and who has left bruised and scuffed?

The case, which up until this point, had been rolling along rather swiftly, producing new developments on a daily basis, has now been complete halted and dissolved. The complete terms of the settlement were recently leaked via psx-scene.com which reveal that not only is Geroge Hotz been placed under a permanent injunction on the current hack but faces a fine of $10,000 for any future attempt to hack a Sony device and a $250,000 fine for attempting to distribute details of the hack.

In a somewhat terse, say-sorry-like-you-mean-it-and-play-nicely manner, a statement by Sony said:

"Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us . . . Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal."

Geohot, a little more joyous, having wriggled out from under the thumb of big, bad Sony, also gave his thoughts:

"It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier . . . I'm happy to have the litigation behind me."

While the irony of that statement (namely the mass piracy and consumer hassle that he has caused) staggers me, it is not the purpose of this article, instead I want to look at who has gained the most and who has lost the most from this case.

Sony Loser

The original intent of this litigation was to both take GeoHot down and to send a clear message to all hackers that Sony is not to be messed with. While the current terms of the settlement basically prevent GeoHot from hacking and distributing information of those hacks on any Sony device on the threat of significant fines, essentially rendering him out of the picture for hacking the new Xperia or the Next Generation Portable; it's a somewhat Phyrrhic victory when considering that a) the PS3 has now been permanently hacked b) Sony has now attracted the attention of every single other hackers out there, instead of scaring them off, and c) Anonymous is now also on their case and seems to be giving them hell. All in all it is clear that this litigation, while putting GeoHot out of commission, will in no way repair the damage already caused.

GeoHot Winner

While it is true that it is no longer safe for him to hack Sony devices and a large contingent of the gaming community hate his guts (not that he ever cared) he has gotten away relatively Scot-free. Now he is free to hack another day, and I have no doubt that he'll pop back into the news sooner rather than later (hopefully with another rap video).

Hackers/Pirates Winners

Yes, I've placed hackers and pirates together, but guess what? More often than not, they're the same thing. Anyway, it is very clear that hackers and pirates have come out of this whole situation far better off than before; not only do they have free reign to turn their PS3s into toasters and "borrow" copies of games but they won't be too shy in the future to hack Sony devices.

Gamers Losers

There is no doubt in my mind that this entire debacle: the initial hacking of the PS3, Sony's attempt to repair the problem, the litigation and the Anonymous attacks will cost us gamers dearly. The expenses which Sony has and will incur may very well affect the quality, range and price of games, as well as leading to more patches and DRM that we must endure. It's always the same old story when it comes to piracy and hacking; only the perpetrators benefit in the short run, while everyone else must suffer. Unfortunately, with this somewhat disappointing compromise, Sony has shown a kink in their armour which I have no doubt hackers will spot and exploit, and I fear this will happen all over again when the NGP release sometime next year.

But that is just my opinion; I want to know what you think: do you agree or am I just another ignorant blogger? Leave a comment and let the debate rage!

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Source:http://igamek.com/

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