Settlement in George Hotz Case

[DPyro]

Nevermind, here is the order:

II. ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND ADJUDGED by consent of the Parties that Hotz, whether as an individual or as a principal, officer, director or employee of any business entity, and his agents, servants, employees, distributors, suppliers, representatives and all other persons or entities acting in concert or participation with Hotz who receive notice of this Judgment, shall be and hereby are permanently enjoined and restrained from:

A. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the law;

B. Engaging in any unauthorized access to any SONY PRODUCT under the terms of any SCEA or SCEA AFFILIATES' license agreement or terms of use applicable to that SONY PRODUCT, whether or not Hotz has accepted such agreement or terms of use, including without limitation:

(i) reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of the Sony Product;

(ii) using any tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism in the Sony Product;

(iii) using any hardware or software to cause the Sony Product to accept or use unauthorized, illegal or pirated software or hardware; and

(iv) exploiting any Sony Product to design, develop, update or distribute unauthorized software or hardware for use with the Sony Product.

If any term of such SCEA or SCEA Affilates' license agreement or terms of use applicable to that Sony Product shall be determined by Congress or by a court of law in a final non-appealable decision in an action to which SCEA or an SCEA Affiliate is a party to be illegal and unenforceable, then such term shall not be binding on Hotz.

C. CIRCUMVENTING any of the TPMs or security in any SONY PRODUCT;

D. TRAFFICKING in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that, at the time of Hotz's trafficking, circumvents any of the TPMs or security in any SONY PRODUCT, including but not limited to the Ellptical Curve Signature Algorithm ("ECDSA") Keys, encryption or decryption keys, dePKG firmware decrypter program, Signing Tools, 3.55 Firmware Jailbreak, andlor any other technologies that enable unauthorized access to and/or copying of the PS3 System and/or enable compatibility of unauthorized copies of other copyrighted works with the PS3 System.

E. Distributing or posting any SCEA or SCEA Affiliates' confidential or proprietary information relating to any SONY PRODUCT;

F. Knowingly assisting or inducing others to engage in any of the conduct set forth in A-E above solely directed at any SONY PRODUCT or that otherwise constitutes contributory liability under the law.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that any violation of this Injunction and Order by Hotz shall result in his payment of stipulated liquidated damages in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per violation at the election of SCEA or SCEA's Affiliates. In the event that the violation involves distribution or TRAFFICKING by Hotz of software, hardware, or any CIRCUMVENTION DEVICE, or knowingly assisting the same, each distribution of said software (including downloads via the Internet), hardware, or CIRCUMVENTION DEVICE shall.constitute an independent violation, up to a cap of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000). Such liquidated damages shall be an optional alternative to demonstrating actual or, if relevant, statutory damages.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that any action or proceeding (other than a declaratory judgment action) that may be brought by SCEA or SCEA Affilates against Hotz arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment, shall be brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The Parties further agree that any action or proceeding (other than a declaratory judgment action) that may be brought by Hotz against SCEA arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment, shall be brought in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey or the state in the United States of Hotz's current permanent residence. The Parties agree to waive any venue or jurisdictional challenges consistent with this paragraph. The Parties further agree that the laws of the state of California shall govern to the exclusion of the law of any other forum in any action or proceeding brought by any party arising out of, in connection with or by reason of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment or to enforce the terms and conditions of the Parties' Settlement Agreement or this Judgment.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that entry of this Judgment shall conclude this action to the prejudice of any and all claims or cross-claims deemed merged

and barred in accordance with the law. The undersigned hereby stipulate to the above facts and conclusions and consent to the entry of this Judgment, which may be signed in counterparts. Signatures can be obtained and exchanged by facsimile.

[DukeEsquire]

Because he is demonstrably smarter than most of the people who designed the PS3's security?

Is someone that jacks a car smarter than the engineer that designed it?

Besides, there are plenty of smart people that I wouldn't trust with a dull knife. GeoHotz clearly gets a kick out of fighting authority figures. Do you really think he would operate efficiently in a corporate environment?

I don't know how much hiring experience you have, but being smart is only one of many factors that goes into a the hiring process.

When I'm interviewing students and new attorneys, 90% of the people that get past all the steps before they land on my desk are already smart enough to fulfill the basics of the job. I'm testing them to see if they are personable, respectful, respond well to directions, reliable...etc.

GeoHotz flunks so many of those qualities. We all know he is smart; we also all know he can be quite a douche.

[Corris Veteran]

And Sony... I'm starting to think they might be able to come at my house one day, take everything Sony I own, because I painted the damn things in a different color.

You seemingly didn't know what this case was about, it had nothing to do with the physical condition of anyones PS3.

Sony tried to hire one before?

You know companies do this all the time right?

This just happened to be one person who was being vocal about it because of the case, it isn't anything new.

[DPyro]

So it looks like Geohot is going underground.

[yekGLzhQ4Qju1FtAVcC4]

Good for Sony.

I'm sure this legal judgement will protect their systems better than any software could. :) It also teaches everyone here a lesson; if someone is bugging you, sue them! Fear can be an excellent motivator :laugh:

[DPyro]

How much do you want to bet within the next couple months 'someone' releases a new CFW to screw Sony.

[hondaa]

Nevermind, here is the order:

Thanks. I read the first post and really didnt see any win or lose for Sony or Hotz.

Well, its pretty simple (even thought the settlement doesnt allow it): Keep hacking and have someone else release the findings/work without involving you. You lose credit/history but you do what you want to do. Sony will have to go thru the SAME process with him (the other guy)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Thanks. I read the first post and really didnt see any win or lose for Sony or Hotz.

Well, its pretty simple (even thought the settlement doesnt allow it): Keep hacking and have someone else release the findings/work without involving you. You lose credit/history but you do what you want to do. Sony will have to go thru the SAME process with him (the other guy)

That's a big loss for Geohot though, he loves to be the center of attention and get all the credit. I think you'll find him genuinely NOT pursuing the PS3 any more, most likely not because of the order, but because he can't have his name slapped on any work at all. If he tries to do that, he's back in court facing some nasty fines.

He'll probably go after something else now he can have his face plastered all over, and get donations from his fanbase for his work on whatever that is.

Geohot doesn't do Anonymous, pun intended :p

[DPyro]

Geohot doesn't do Anonymous, pun intended :p

There are already indications that he does.

[Davo]

Yeah he seems to be big into the attention and credit.

I'm glad this ended like this. A company like Sony could have gotten away with anything (and did in the early stages). I'm wondering why they decided to settle.

[HawkMan]

You know companies do this all the time right?

No they don't, they did in the 90's. but they haven't really hired hackers for a decade now. if they hire anyone now, it's at most a security expert(white hat). but generally they hire people educated in this stuff not kids who think they know stuff because with a lot of help they've been able to hack some stuff. Hotz isn't even that good, and other people did all the hard work. heck the guy gave up and said it was impossible before someone else leaked the tools and then someone else again hacked the main stuff, and he went in and grabbed the main key and took the glory.

but the whole companies hiring hacker myth, it's not true anymore.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

No they don't, they did in the 90's. but they haven't really hired hackers for a decade now. if they hire anyone now, it's at most a security expert(white hat). but generally they hire people educated in this stuff not kids who think they know stuff because with a lot of help they've been able to hack some stuff. Hotz isn't even that good, and other people did all the hard work. heck the guy gave up and said it was impossible before someone else leaked the tools and then someone else again hacked the main stuff, and he went in and grabbed the main key and took the glory.

but the whole companies hiring hacker myth, it's not true anymore.

You can't seem to tell that to the internet goers who seem to think these people should be knee deep in job applications, and at that, seem to think these people would all love to work for the companies security they tear apart :blink: These hackers are "fighting" for absolute freedom to be allowed to do whatever they want, but apparently all secretly on the side want to be hired, restrained and confined to working with one company on protecting security, not hacking it. Okaaaaaay....

Every time without fail when Geohot/Sony topics have arisen the past few months there is lots of "Sony should hire him" posts.

[hondaa]

That's a big loss for Geohot though, he loves to be the center of attention and get all the credit. I think you'll find him genuinely NOT pursuing the PS3 any more, most likely not because of the order, but because he can't have his name slapped on any work at all. If he tries to do that, he's back in court facing some nasty fines.

He'll probably go after something else now he can have his face plastered all over, and get donations from his fanbase for his work on whatever that is.

Geohot doesn't do Anonymous, pun intended :p

Well a name change is possible but he'll have to be careful.

Either way, this makes him a free man so.

[DukeEsquire]

Obviously GeoHotz can go underground and release things without his name attached, but that's like any other crime: It's legal until you get caught.

[Subject Delta]

But George was disenfranchising a wonderful company! He deserved the death penalty! DERP!

[BoredBozirini]

Like Engadget said, the jailbreak genie is out of the bottle. So its not a full win for SONY.

[yekGLzhQ4Qju1FtAVcC4]

Sony perhaps won on a small scale. Let's see what George does with the donations :)

"I will address the donations in a forthcoming post, and I think people will be happy."

Okay Sony, one hacker down!!

[CentralDogma]

Good for Sony.

I'm sure this legal judgement will protect their systems better than any software could. :) It also teaches everyone here a lesson; if someone is bugging you, sue them! Fear can be an excellent motivator :laugh:

This isn?t a judgment it?s a settlement. They still hadn?t decided whether California had jurisdiction over the case? they were nowhere near a judgment.

Meanwhile, there are still other cases Sony has started against other hackers.

[Davo]

But George was disenfranchising a wonderful company! He deserved the death penalty! DERP!

*shakes fist in air*

[Growled Member]

I'm glad both sides could come to an agreement. It's better for everyone this way.

[Bhav]

lolz @ everyone who donated to this ass :laugh:

[Ayepecks]

lolz @ everyone who donated to this ass :laugh:

Never understood why anyone would willingly donate to a guy who quite clearly has broken the law. Not to mention he caused a lot of asshatery on PSN. Why would you donate to him unless you were one of those asshats?

[NeoTrunks]

Never understood why anyone would willingly donate to a guy who quite clearly has broken the law. Not to mention he caused a lot of asshatery on PSN. Why would you donate to him unless you were one of those asshats?

It's not too hard to convince people that something wrong is the right thing to do. It is not unlike how terrorists get new recruits. There's definitely some underdog, group mentality attached to it, from the looks of things.

[Ayepecks]

It's not too hard to convince people that something wrong is the right thing to do. It is not unlike how terrorists get new recruits. There's definitely some underdog, group mentality attached to it, from the looks of things.

Terrorism is a lot different than this. Terrorism is basically rooted in religious beliefs, whereas I'm unsure of what motivation you would use here.

[Davo]

Terrorism is usually rooted in opposition towards an unjust body or authority. Thus the OKC bombing and the IRA not being religious.