PSN Down for "Maintenance" As Anonymous Issues A Statement To Sony

Wolokowoh0

First of all, while I don't agree that GeoHot should be sent to jail or anything, I would make the case that what he/failoverflow did and anonymous is doing is wrong. What GeoHot did wrong is hacking the system incorrectly. He didn't have to publicize and make it as widespread and create problems for Sony and quite frankly Infinity Ward/Activision who probably lost a sale or two on those overpriced map packs. I ask if he is such a good hacker why not just keep the pre-other os removal firmware and create hacks that allow games to be play without updates, perhaps finding some cool way to exploit the system using a thumb drive or something.

Another thing is that if you wanted to hack your ps3 right you still probably could. Things posted on the internet don't just go away. Just don't get on PSN and ruin the fun for others. A common misconception is that when you buy a ps3, you are also buying guaranteed access to PSN. According to the Terms of Service, the Playstation Network is a service that at any time Sony can deny the consumer for any reason they can come up with.
Besides violating a man's privacy which Sony worked around the law with the GeoHot having a psn thing, they've done nothing wrong from a legal standpoint and Anonymous should not shutting down people access to psn when they could be screwing with Sony stock numbers causing sony to lose investors which hurts Sony and not the consumer who has nothing to do with it.

GeoHot/failoverflow should at least get a slap on the wrist for allowing all this happen. What they did is almost the equivalent of yelling fire in the theater, with the people getting stepped are the consumers, the hackers are the people yelling fire, and sony is the theater owner wondering what just happened. The theater might actually get screwed out of some business for bad publicity.
This is why I suggest this case should be used as a precedent to pass a law that somewhat limits their freedom of expression. Just like I can't run in the streets nude, hackers shouldn't be allowed to screw with the consumer in the way that they have. I know that limiting our freedom in anyway is unpopular, but something needs to happen otherwise, it'll just keep happening. It'll get worse and worse every time. GeoHot and the others who will follow in the future will just keep pushing the limits of their first amendment rights until a law is passed anyways. Make it a misdeanor similar to a speeding ticket. Having to pay 50-150 bucks and do community service for a few weeks for first offense and things just getting worse from there sounds like a good idea to me.

As for the piracy argument, I as a consumer don't really care to dwell on this topic as long as the game devs get more than enough to fund bigger and better projects in the future, which a lot are. Unless companies get together and force the issue until they get their respective ways, piracy will never be stopped anyways.

Sorry for the huge opinion filled book I just wrote but I'm very opinionated on this topic and needed to get this off my chest. I still had about 2000 characters left so it could have been worse.