News - Sony targets IP addresses of visitors to PS3 Jailbreaker's website and other a

[HEXUS]

Sony ups the pressure on notorious PS3 Jailbreaker George Hotz.

Read more.

[aidanjt]

And under which brain damaged law did the judge so make such a super retarded decision? Or is the rattle of coin sufficient for violating anonymity and stifling free enquiry these days?

[Rob_B]

I know, amazed when I first heard this. Some commenters say IPs are stored anyway when visiting every site you browse on a daily basis, well yes they are, but any old company can't just get access to them just because they want them!

How this 'evidence' is even useful to Sony I don't know, visiting the site is no indication of any law breaking (although whether the hack is illegal is obviously still not confirmed by the courts) So what are they going to do with it? Showing the 'majority' of people are in California is madness, it's viewed worldwide! They don't have a leg to stand on...

I visited it just to give them a little more data to have to sift through

[aidanjt]

It's useful as a list of people for Sony to bar from signing into PSN, or bricking their boxen.

[Rob_B]

So, if you visited his site, followed him on Twitter or viewed a youtube video they'll ban you &/or block your PS3 from PSN? Not likely

[Terbinator]

Ironic given Sony outed the code on their own Twitter feed. Will they be going after Kevin Butlers followers as well?

[aidanjt]

So, if you visited his site, followed him on Twitter or viewed a youtube video they'll ban you &/or block your PS3 from PSN? Not likely

This is Sony we're talking about. Boning the customer is their modus operandi.

[GheeTsar]

I reckon this is all simply scare tactics to discourage people from even looking at sites on how to do it. I very much doubt someone's browsing history would be grounds for breaking their Terms of Service and could therefore be illegal.

[Rob_B]

I'd think (hope?) that's a step too far though. Courts can't even prosecute people downloading torrents never mind just viewing a website.

I'm sure they know that the majority of people will NOT be from California, but are they hoping to say

"50,000 people were from California so we need to do it there *cough* although 5million people who also viewed the site were NOT from Cali *cough* "

[GheeTsar]

Sorry; I wasn't clear. I meant that it may well be illegal for Sony to ban someone from using their PS3 based on their browsing history.

[streetster]

^^ @TheKevinButler

I find this fairly interesting but dont even own a PS3 (but have been reading the stories, presumably my IP is in the list); the idea of homebrew (well more specifically, once an rsx driver is written, running xbmc/similar) appeals to me and was one of the reasons I bought an original xbox (2nd hand, off this forum, some 5 years ago).

I'm not sure what Sony plan to do with all these visitors. Surely nothing effective can come of it?

[Spud1]

clearly they can't use this information to ban people, or to prosecute etc. On it's own, it's useless for that.

What it does allow them to do though is see how far widespread it has become - to quantify the numbers and demographics to a certain degree. There is then potential for comparing this information with other sources to build up a better picture of what's been going on.

In reality I suspect that the point is to try and get the case heard in california (as the article mentions) which is a benefit to sony, and the oppose to holtz. So we can all relax safe in our beds..anyway I bet that only 5% or so (if that) of people who have watched the videos/browsed the sites have actually used the exploit (be it the paid or open source verisons). I've looked into it as I was interested in how it was achieved from a technical POV, as have many more people.