Judge Orders Geohot to Let Sony Inspect His Hard Drive

POST

MAIL

Posted February 11, 2011 at 4:39pm by Shalom Levytam

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has ruled that Sony will be allowed access to Geohot's hard drive, according to a Wired report.

When Geohot's lawyer object saying that Sony would be able to view all his other files, Illston replied, "That's the breaks".

Illston informed Kellar that it was routine for the entire contents of computers to be searched in a bid to isolate what is being sought, as in child pornography prosecutions.

Kellar: "Your honor, we're certainly not dealing with child pornography in this issue,"

Illston: "Here, I find probable cause that your client has got these things on his computer," she said. "It's a problem when more than one thing is kept on the computer. I’ll make sure the order is and will be that Sony is only entitled to isolate … the information on the computer that relates to the hacking of the PlayStation."

Sony is also demanding that YouTube surrender the personal information of those who viewed Geohot's PS3 jailbreak video on a private page.

Judge Orders Geohot to Let Sony Inspect His Hard Drive

Get the iClarified Daily Newsletter

Apple news, rumors, tutorials, price drop alerts, in your inbox every evening, free.

Unsubscribe at any time.

DMac - February 12, 2011 at 11:00pm

I think we should flood the pawn shops with PS3's or just dont buy anymore games and switch to XBox (which will be hard) jus to show them the power of the consumers. On that note... I wouldnt have an iPhone if it wasnt hacked!

samK - February 12, 2011 at 10:33pm

i hope sony's stocks tank.

Guest - February 12, 2011 at 9:55pm

This MIGHT be a dumb question , but can he not just give them a diff hard drive? Or wipe his of all Sony stuff while keeping a backup somewhere else? Sounds like it'd be to easy just to give them another hd..

Edwin - February 12, 2011 at 10:26pm

I'm not an attorney but I think the problem of course would be that he'd be in contempt of court if after the judge imposed this ruling, he went ahead and wiped the drive clean or tried giving another drive and they may have impounded his computer already (which is probably the case here). But even if they didn't there would be ways to tell if he were to switch drives which would still land him in very hot water for disobeying a ruling handed down by the presiding judge, you really need to consult an attorney should you ever run into legal problems you might get yourself into trouble with this line of thinking

famleon - February 12, 2011 at 5:33pm

Don't buy Sony. They are acting unfairly; support GeoHot, donate and help the cause.

Edwin - February 12, 2011 at 4:28pm

If there's anyway to donate money legitimately to Geohots defense we should. How does one contact Geohot? We also need to show Sony that making an example of Geohot will result in the online community making an example of Sony with our displeasure in the way they are handling this situation, anyone with or without a jailbroken device can contribute to this cause without causing virtual damage to Sony.com. The power of negative criticism and boycott of Sony Products will speak volumes to the legitimacy of this cause & the illegitimacy of Sony's Take you cue from the peaceful but determined protest by the Egyptian people, there's strength in numbers without malicious or willful violence, this will bring others to this cause

Edwin - February 12, 2011 at 4:08pm

Boycott Sony Products NOW!

Carlos - February 12, 2011 at 12:05pm

I doubt this came as any big surprise to Geohot or his legal team... the comment about seeing all the other stuff is just a bit of resistance to throw them off the trail... this is just a precedent to stop others milking Sony's licensed rights...

Sunil - February 12, 2011 at 4:43am

Fully agree!!!

Guest - February 11, 2011 at 10:26pm

i hate sony for doing this, i love there games but not their attitude! yeah do this to geohot the best hacker in the world

Ban - February 11, 2011 at 10:12pm

Where is our liberty statu? I bet judge did has some reward from Sony Inc.

john sony - February 11, 2011 at 8:10pm

I don't understand why they don't care if your PlayStation 3 breaks, or YLOD happens, but they make a big deal if you jailbreak something you paid for and belongs to you. The revolution has been started. Systems have been loaded.

EinsteinInc - February 12, 2011 at 1:03pm

I'm with you on this one. There must be a change in how we think about ownership. Only we have the power to change what we want to change. If everyone just stays home and watches TV all day, nothing changes. We need a movement, come on people.

Hafeez Hamama - February 11, 2011 at 7:48pm

Hey Sony, people want there ps3 to be hacked what's your problem about that you don't own the device once a consumer buys it.

ninocolato - February 11, 2011 at 6:10pm

I'm never buying Sony products again.

bob53366 - February 11, 2011 at 6:17pm

I totally agree with you,we should all turn up outside the court on court day and picket the court for our rights of freedom and all bring our playstations and all other sony products and dump it infront of the court.

Guest - February 11, 2011 at 6:23pm

I'm never buying another sony product again. What is the purpose of this lawsuit. Really, don't they see how much their public image is being hurt?

Steve Jobless - February 11, 2011 at 6:04pm

The Streisand effect it's called now Sony Effect ( Sony Deffect it's also accepted), just read about it on Wikipedia. I wish that Geohot had an official donation link, where people can send him money, so he can get an army of good lawyers, and beat the greedy sony.

Grant Cooper - February 11, 2011 at 5:54pm

Wow what the hell happened to personal freedoms?! I can't believe that this is being allowed... And to make the situation even more insane Sony wants to audit youtube's records to try and find other individuals who have watched the videos? None of this adds up and it certainly shouldn't be allowed to continue. I can only hope that Geohot dumped his drives so Sony can go away!

eduard - February 12, 2011 at 3:42am

Using expletives unfortunately weakens your argument. It is unfortunate because it draws attention to your anger, which is justified, but away from the extremely relevant issue you raise. I am sorry for Geohot, but I am especially concerned about all the people who clicked on the video and, according to the judge, therewith became implicated.

Mega Whisper - February 11, 2011 at 5:38pm

I don't know. If I were you I may consider burning the PS3. Then post a YouTube video of it, explaining why you killed your PS3 and ask everyone to boycott Sony. Forget you Sony!

Aron - February 11, 2011 at 5:36pm

Sony is making a dangerous precedent! I'm a fan of Sony products but with this need to switch to another brand now. Goodbye Sony!

cichicean - February 11, 2011 at 5:36pm

Obviously, sony doesnt know about the Streisand_effect, the only thing that they will get, is becoming very unpopular, hated and in some way avoided by devs and most of smart free people. I WILL NOT buy sony, never ever!

wezz69 - February 11, 2011 at 5:21pm

So does this mean because i viewed it, sony will have my personal details! Well im going to deletevme email and youtube accounts and open new ones!! But this is going to be a landmark case, if this goes through on the basis of hacking for the use of copyrighted material, the apple will follow suit! He needs to send all his data to every1 for free, make the whole thing public, i cant see sony sueing the whole bloody world of ps3 users

sue me - February 11, 2011 at 5:02pm

The yellow light of death is more yellow than ever... sony, I wont buy any sony product ever again.