Skip to main content

Judge rules PS3 hacker must hand over hard drive to Sony

A federal judge has ruled that famed Playstation 3 hacker George “GeoHot” Hotz must turn over the tools of his trade and allow Sony to sift through his computer’s hard drive, according to Wired.

Hotz’ attorney, Stewart Kellar, objected to the ruling on the grounds that complying meant that Sony would be able to “observe” all of his client’s files.

Recommended Videos

“That’s the breaks,” said U.S. district judge Susan Illston. Illston had originally ruled that Hotz had to turn over his computer gear last month, but Kellar had asked the court for reconsideration.

“Here, I find probable cause that your client has got these things on his computer,” Illston said, according to Wired. “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’s lawsuit comes after Hotz posted the PS3 jailbreak codes on his website, accompanied by a “how to” video on YouTube. The lawsuit accuses Hotz, and other hackers, of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) on the grounds that the PS3 hack circumnavigates copyright protections.

The hackers have claimed that their work was aimed at making the PS3 “able to run Linux with dual-boot into GameOS, without 3D restrictions, on every PS3 currently out there.” The PS3 originally was able to run Linux, but Sony removed that feature with a firmware upgrade last summer.

Even though Sony has threatened to sue anyone who posts the code, earlier this week, Sony did exactly that when it accidentally retweeted the jailbreak code after mistaking it for a Battleship reference.

Aemon Malone
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fragpunk is prepared to take on the hero shooter competition
A character holds a gun in Fragpunk.

The hero shooter genre remains as competitive as ever. Certain titles, such as Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2, continue to evolve. Others like Concord haven’t been nearly as successful. Even with some occasional flops, any new offering aims to make its mark in a highly crowded field. The next contender up is Fragpunk, an upcoming 5v5 hero shooter from Bad Guitar Studio and Netease.

Fragpunk blends sci-fi and cyberpunk themes, along with fast-paced gunplay, to keep players on their toes every round. Most notably, it features a Shard Card system where teams select from a randomized pool of over 100 cards, some of which alter mechanics and environments, to make matches as unpredictable as possible.

Read more
If you only play one February game, make it this car management RPG
A car drives by a field of sunflowers in Keep Driving.

If you love RPGs, you’re probably drowning in them right now. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Avowed, and Monster Hunter Wilds are all sizable commitments that dropped within weeks of one another. You likely don’t have too much time to juggle those three games, let alone anything else, but there’s one more RPG you should add to your list: Keep Driving.

Released earlier this month before a flood of big budget games took center stage, Keep Driving is an “atmospheric management RPG” available now on PC. It casts players as a budding adult who sets out on a cross-country road trip. The goal is to make it to a music festival within a month of traveling. It’s a pixel art adventure that both aims to capture the freedom of the open road and the challenges that come with living a wanderer’s life. If you love creative games that twist genres around to invent something entirely new, Keep Driving is the one game released this February that you should make sure to play.

Read more
NYT Crossword: answers for Wednesday, February 26
New York Times Crossword logo.

The New York Times has plenty of word games on its roster today — with Wordle, Connections, Strands, and the Mini Crossword, there's something for everyone — but the newspaper's standard crossword puzzle still reigns supreme. The daily crossword is full of interesting trivia, helps improve mental flexibility and, of course, gives you some bragging rights if you manage to finish it every day.

While the NYT puzzle might feel like an impossible task some days, solving a crossword is a skill and it takes practice — don't get discouraged if you can't get every single word in a puzzle.

Read more