12/13, 8:20pm
Judge dismisses PlayStation case on lack of ground
Judge Richard Seeborg is now known to have completely dismissed the PlayStation 3 Other OS lawsuit late last week. A ruling made public on Tuesday (below) eliminated the one remaining complaint of violation surrounding the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. While sympathetic to the gamers for losing the ability to boot Linux on the PS3, Judge Seeborg determined that Anthony Ventura and other plaintiffs hadn't persuaded the court that Sony was legally responsible.
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06/26, 3:10am
George Hotz now working at Facebook
Jailbreaker George Hotz, better known as Geohot, has started working at Facebook based on a post found at his personal page (friends only). After P0sixninja (Josh Hill) claimed in an interview (below) to have been rebuffed on a challenge to Hotz to find an iPad 2 boot ROM exploit because of Hotz's Facebook job, Techmeme's Gabe Rivera dug through the Facebook personal profile and found confirmation that the device hacker had started work in May and made it public on June 17. What role he has or what projects he's developing are both still unknowns.
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05/02, 4:50pm
Current jailbreaks limited to pre-2011 devices
Two prominent iOS hackers are currently racing to jailbreak the iPad 2, reports say. The first is Joshua Hill, also known as p0sixninja, and perhaps most recognized for his work on greenpois0n. Hill recently challenged other developers to dump the iPad 2's bootrom, and one of the people to accept so far is George Hotz, who uses the alias Geohot.
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04/25, 8:40pm
PSN outage blamed on Rebug PS3 mod
Sony's decision to shut off the PlayStation Network may have been due to a unique custom PS3 firmware mod, a tipster moderator from the PSX-Scene forums claimed Monday. The electronics giant was reportedly alarmed when a new custom firmware, Rebug, not only let gamers get on to PSN in spite of bans but on to its approved developer network. Reaching the green list let them commit "extreme piracy" since they could use fake credit card information to buy games without it ever being validated, the moderator said.
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04/21, 11:05am
PlayStation Network out for a whole night
(Updated with long repair timeframe) Sony's PlayStation Network has gone down since last night, with little information on its fault. Sony has acknowledged the issue but made no attempt to explain why the problem occurred. Users can't log into the network and when a fix is forthcoming hasn't been communicated either, indicating Sony has yet to find it.
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04/13, 10:10am
Sony seen as loser in Hotz PS3 settlement
Details have emerged from Sony's settlement with George Hotz that the deal may have worked much more in Hotz's favor. The deal primarily prevents Hotz, better known as Geohot, from hacking the PS3 to get around security or to load unofficial software. The terms also prevent him from otherwise circumventing any Sony product's locks and from spreading information that would help others do the same.
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04/11, 11:50am
Hotz and Sony call truce on PS3 jailbreak case
Sony in a surprise move said that it had already settled its lawsuit against George Hotz, better known as Geohot, over PS3 jailbreaking. The two had quietly reached an "agreement in principle" on March 31. The deal was mixed and saw Hotz agree to a ban on publishing code but avoid having to admit any wrongdoing.
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04/04, 12:45pm
Anonymous threatens to attack Sony websites
A hacking group known simply as Anonymous has announced it will turn its attention to Sony for the legal action it's taken against hackers such as George Hotz for hacking the PS3 console. In an open letter to the electronics maker, Anonymous wrote "your recent legal action against our fellow hackers, Geohot and Graf_Chokolo has not only alarmed us, it has been deemed wholly unforgivable." According to CNET, Anonymous has accused Sony of abusing the judicial system in order to censor information on how its products work.
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03/28, 5:00pm
Defendant trying to keep case out of California
Lawyers defending PS3 jailbreaker George Hotz have responded to Sony's latest court filing with a scathing rebuttal that rejects nearly all of the company's accusations. The attorneys continue to fight Sony's request for a trial in California, arguing that the PlayStation hardware and firmware is produced by the company's Japanese division rather than the California-based Sony Computer Entertainment of America branch.
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03/23, 9:50pm
Sony says PS3 tweaker Geohot fled to South America
Sony in a court filing (below) said that George Hotz, Geohot, had left the country and tampered with evidence to prevent evidence gathering in its lawsuit against PS3 jailbreakers. The well-known code modifier allegedly not only removed parts from the hard drives demanded as evidence to make them inoperable but, according to Hotz' attorney, left for South America to prevent Sony from getting them in a timely way. The move raised "very serious questions," Sony said, without going so far as to suggest he had fled.
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03/04, 7:05pm
Judge lets Sony spy on Geohot visitors in PS3 suit
George Hotz faced another setback in his defense against Sony's anti-jailbreaking lawsuit late Thursday after a judge granted Sony a potentially controversial amount of information access. It now has permission to get the IP addresses, accounts and other details of anyone who has visited either his main Geohot site or his PS3 jailbreak Blogger site between January 2009 and the modern day. Sony made clear that the access wouldn't be limited to those who downloaded the jailbreak code.
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03/04, 1:35pm
Pwn2Own competition will see GeoHot vs WP7 phone
At the fifth annual Pwn2Own competition next week, George Hotz (Geohot) will attempt to use his hacking skills that landed him in hot water with Sony to win prizes. This year's target platform will be Windows Phone 7, though other devices and operating systems will also take part. An attack will be judged successful if little or no user (owner) interaction is required and useful data is taken or a benefit gleaned by the hacker.
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02/16, 1:10pm
Sony says PS3 hacks used only for cheats, piracy
Sony today put out its first official statement on PS3 jailbreaking after months of official silence. The company insisted that it was used primarily for "unauthorized or pirated software" and would crack down on bootleg users. Anyone caught using a physical tool like PS Jailbreak or a software hack like the Geohot or fail0verflow tricks will face a permanent ban from both PSN and Qriocity, Sony said.
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01/29, 9:05pm
PS3 3.56 firmware cracks but with tough new limits
Sony's 3.56 update for the PS3 has already been jailbroken on a basic level. In an update, Youness Alaoui said he had successfully unpacked the new firmware, making it possible to modify the code and get at its signing keys. Sony attempted to take down a public posting of the code with a DMCA request but has since been thwarted with a follow-up posting; the company is unlikely to fully stop access.
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01/27, 12:30am
PS3 3.56 update may shut down new jailbreak tactic
Sony said late Wednesday that it would soon push out a 3.56 firmware update for the PS3. The company wouldn't give details other than that it would add a "security patch." Most expect that it will attempt to close up the holes exposed by Geohot and fail0verflow that prompted a DMCA lawsuit.
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01/14, 11:20pm
Sony must prove jurisdiction for PS3 Geohot suit
Sony has already faced an obstacle in its attempted lawsuit against PS3 jailbreakers after a Northern District of California court challenged the authority of an attempted temporary restraining order. Judge Susan Ilston demanded that Sony prove its need to stop distribution of the game console hack was valid for primary target George Hotz (Geohot), who developed the jailbreak but lives in New Jersey. If insufficient, Sony would be forced to move at least some of the lawsuit to New Jersey and would have to toss complaints that were only valid in California state law.
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