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Hacking Your PS3: Should it be legal?

Naoto Shirogane · 2011-04-07T06:24:01+00:00

I know this sounds like it should be in the Video Game section but rather this topic is more serious than it would seem. This topic is not only about the PS3 but rather about hacking similar devices as well. Is hacking something you already bought legal? For gamers, most probably know the guy named Geo Hotz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz), who managed to use Jailbreak to hack his PS3 system. Sony has taken legal steps to sue the guy and take everything he used to hack the PS3 away. Just recently a group called Anonymous who are regarded by their enemies as "Cyber Terrorists" and by some as heroes of the innocent attacked Sony websites and even the Playstation Store. If you've watched Anonymous message to Sony through youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSCUU4Fg9k) they state that denying the use of jailbreak and taking legal steps against Geo Hotz "is the same as buying a computer but being punished for installing or deleting a program in it". Now, my question is, is that statement true? My stand in this is that when you buy an item, what you buy is not the item itself but the right to use that item. When I buy a music CD for example, I am not allowed to distribute that music illegaly in the internet as I would be violating copyright issues (although this is usually ignored by most people since copyright laws are rarely dealt with seriously), what I am allowed to do is to listen to the CD as it is the right I bought with my money. I personally feel that it's the same for the PS3, when someone buys it he/she gains the right to use it for its intended purposes which are (playing games, watching movies, surfing the web with its horrible browser, chatting online with friends, listening to music) and hacking it would be tapping illegally to the intel which are privately owned by Sony. The major difference between a computer and a PS3 or any other console is that you are expected to install and delete programs in your computer while the PS3 is there for specific purposes. Although I think Sony has pushed Geohotz a little too much my main point is that I think Sony has the legal ground. I think instead of attacking this guy they should've just hired the guy since he seems better than the mediocre programmers they have... but thats not the point. Point is, do you think he was unjustly treated? Is hacking a console you bought with hard earned money justifiable?

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Andoru-Kun

14 years ago

Logically, I would say that utilizing the software to "homebrew" is entirely legal. Afterall, you bought the device. However, in terms of actual software, copyright infringments would be all over the place. So, I'm going to vote neutral.

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