While it’s been interesting, exciting, and sometimes terrifying to follow the battle between George Hotz (Geohot) and Sony Computer Entertainment America, the battle is now over, as Geohot has agreed to a settlement. Read on for details.
George Hotz, the very man who Sony went after for “cracking the security of” (jailbreaking) the Playstation 3, has now settled with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). According to an SCEA statement, Hotz has consented to a permanent injunction against the information he published.
While this, in some sense, could be viewed as a defeat to consumers everywhere, as Playstation 3 users now won’t be able to jailbreak via Hotz’ method, not to mention a blow to the free spirit of Hackers everywhere, and a punch to the face of freedom of information, there’s a sense in which Hotz actually won: by preventing the proceeding from going any further.
It’s possible that if Sony pressed the issue further, more dangerous results could have ensued for the Jailbreak community, and the idea of jailbreaking in general. Jailbreaking, while legal in some cases, has always been a controversial battle which has reddened the faces of a good many companies and organizations.
While full details of the settlement are not yet available, it’s hard to parse this as anything but a win for Hotz, who simply has to refrain from publishing information that is already broadly reproduced elsewhere on the internet. Sony, by not going to court, does not have to risk a protracted and ugly trial against a customer.
What are your thoughts? As always, we want to hear from you. Sound off in the comments!
Via Kotaku
