Electronic Frontier Foundation Reports on Sony / GeoHot PS3 Case

[PS3 News]

Since the news first broke of Sony taking legal action against PlayStation 3 hacker GeoHot, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has now posted a report on their views of the current pending case.

To quote: "Sony v. Hotz: Sony Sends A Dangerous Message to Researchers - and Its Customers

For years, EFF has been https://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca that the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be used to chill speech, particularly security research, because legitimate researchers will be afraid to publish their results lest they be accused of circumventing a technological protection measure. We've also been concerned that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act could be abused to try to make alleged contract violations into crimes.

We've never been sorrier to be right. These two things are precisely what's happening in Sony v. Hotz. If you have missed this one, Sony has http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/playstation3-hack-lawsuit/ several security researchers for publishing information about security holes in Sony's PlayStation 3. At first glance, it's hard to see why Sony is bothering - after all, the research was presented three weeks ago at the Chaos Communication Congress and promptly circulated around the world.

The security flaws discovered by the researchers allow users to run Linux on their machines again - something Sony used to support but recently started trying to prevent. Paying lawyers to try to put the cat back in the bag is just throwing good money after bad. And even if they won - we'll save the legal analysis for another post - the defendants seem unlikely to be able to pay significant damages. So what's the point?

The real point, it appears, is to send a message to security researchers around the world: publish the details of our security flaws and https://www.eff.org/files/Sony_Complaint.PDF with both barrels blazing. For example, Sony has https://www.eff.org/files/Sony_Motion_For_TRO.pdf to immediately impound all "circumvention devices" - which it defines to include not only the defendants' computers, but also all "instructions," i.e., their research and findings. Given that the research results Sony presumably cares about are available online, granting the order would mean that everyone except the researchers themselves would have access to their work.

Not content with the DMCA hammer, Sony is also bringing a slew of http://volokh.com/2011/01/13/todays-award-for-the-lawyer-who-has-advocated-the-silliest-theory-of-the-computer-fraud-and-abuse-act/ Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims. The basic gist of Sony's argument is that the researchers accessed their own PlayStation 3 consoles in a way that violated the agreement that Sony imposes on users of its network (and supposedly enabled others to do the same).

But the researchers don't seem to have used Sony's network in their research - they just used the consoles they bought with their own money. Simply put, Sony claims that it's illegal for users to access their own computers in a way that Sony doesn't like. Moreover, because the CFAA has criminal as well as civil penalties, Sony is actually saying that it's a crime for users to access their own computers in a way that Sony doesn't like.

That means Sony is sending another dangerous message: that it has rights in the computer it sells you even after you buy it, and therefore can decide whether your tinkering with that computer is legal or not. We disagree. Once you buy a computer, it's yours. It shouldn't be a crime for you to access your own computer, regardless of whether Sony or any other company likes what you're doing.

Finally, even if the researchers had used Sony's network, Sony's claim that it's a crime to violate its terms of use has been firmly rejected by courts in cases like https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/07/judge-overturns-lori and http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/07/court-violating-terms-service-not-crime-bypassing. As those courts have recognized, companies like Sony would have tremendous coercive power if they could enforce their private, unilateral and easy-to-change agreements with threats of criminal punishment.

Sony's core arguments - that it can silence speech that reveals security flaws using the DMCA and that the mere fact of a terms of use somewhere gives a company permanent and total control over what you do with a device under pain of criminal punishment - are both sweeping and frightening, and not just for gamers and computer researchers. Frankly, it's not what we expect from any company that cares about its customers, and we bet it's not what those customers expect, either."


More PlayStation 3 News...

[OGroteKoning]

Man live!!! This makes for some interesting reading. Among other jargon and statements I liked the way this guy refers to hackers ... So from now on, we can do the same and call them RESEARCHERS!!! Doesn't this feel like a promotion?? LOL

[xragel2478]

if sony made food and i re heated it when it got cold and added ketchup to it they would sue me.

[Anticleric]

Great story. This is about our rights, not about piracy and crap. Though piracy is fun for those of us that are poor

[Ruck1707]

Let's think about this for a sec. Why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting. Here's the way I see it. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 'cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside. Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right?

The point is, how do you know the fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy; well, we're not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that's all it takes. The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser, and your daughter's knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.

But why do they put a guarantee on the box? Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.

[Haksam]

None of the people that Sony is suing, cheated in PSN, nor depended their PS3 experience on PSN, nor destroyed/bring down the ecosystem that is PSN.

Sony = dumbass!

[mono24]

you just made my day! AWESOME PROMOTION MY DEAR HACKERS...

[Jes03]

$ony finally realized they can't stop a PS3 CFW and they can't stop the signing of anything anymore and this is just them having a cry about it. Their whole case is total bs and they know it but they love to waste our money.

Do they even realise the second we handed our money to the retailer that console became OURS. It's not theirs anymore so we can do whatever we like to it. If I want to jump on it I can, if I want to use to to jack up the car I will, if I wanted to use it as a boat anchor then I'll be loosing a boat but I can do that, if I wanted to install CFW on it then as its mine I can do that too.

If GeoHot wants to hack it to get Linux back on which it did have and they removed it then he can. If he wants to tell the world how to do it, I believe its his right to say whatever he wants to whoever wants to listen. If he finds some keys to the console then whats stopping him from telling people what they are? I believe as he lives in USA they have a thing called "Freedom of speech" and doesn't this fall into that?

$ony are just cry babies and don't know how to deal with this and as they have more money than sense this is what they do. They try to silence the world. Again, $ony are too late and there is nothing they can do about it but cry like little babies.

I think I everyone should boycott the PS4 just to teach $ony a lesson.

[skrapps]

ya know, if Sony wins this then people are in trouble, that means corporations and huge companies everywhere will control what people can and cant do.. i mean, will it ever get to the point where... yeah you bought a car, you can use the radio.. but don't you dare sit down and drive it or youll get sued!!

theres no boundaries on what people can do if one company can sue you for messing with something you paid for.. why cant anyone else? there has to be a line drawn somewhere.. doesn't any of this stuff start to mess with your rights/freedom after a while?

[xragel2478]

I'm gonna do what ever i want to MY console.. its not like i'm renting a box they own.