Sony hacked "for protecting our copyright"

Sony was hit, because like the banks that have also been hit... they are a vile evil company! set on keeping this FASCIST world that we live in for their personal gain.

By THCBlueberry on 28 Jun 2011

Aren't there also other theories that it was someone just hacking for profit or some ex-staff?

The fact is we don't know who really did it or why (a plain text file isn't really evidence).

That said Sony getting hacked doesn't surprise me considering their past actions e.g. removing a feature from a console, suing hackers, etc.

Especially when other methods could have been used e.g. banning online.

Oh and the fact that they wanted our IP addresses just for VIEWING a video on a hack doesn't help either.

I could go on.

By tech3475 on 28 Jun 2011

@tech3475

"Oh and the fact that they wanted our IP addresses just for VIEWING a video on a hack doesn't help either."

What?

By tom502 on 28 Jun 2011

Sony hacked for making a point

Sony got hacked, for taking geohot to court. For removing other OS support, which hackers found could be supported on the ps3 slims.
Sony try to be like apple by forcing their point, but they are in no position to do so.
They are quite evil, and recently I am seeing many of their products look inferior to others.
TV's, the equivalent samsung is much better, I am done with sony.
I may buy the ps4 but Im not going to buy any other sony products

By r1sh12 on 28 Jun 2011

Sony was hacked...

because it was insecure. Plain and simple. It is a high profile company, with an indefensible level of contempt for its paying customers, and the humiliation which it has suffered has been entirely deserved.

By PaleRider on 28 Jun 2011

@tom502

Sony wanted the IP addresses of anyone who viewed a video about the hack(s) on youtube.

By tech3475 on 28 Jun 2011

Take a bigger look Sony

Sony were hacked because they've been treating their consumers like garbage for several years now.

It's easy for them to say something waffly like "We were protecting our intellectual property", but the problem goes much deeper than that.

Leaving aside previous scandals like the infamous rootkit scandal, they disabled a popular feature on the PS3, then took a guy to court when he re-enabled the feature again.

This understandably annoyed a lot of people who resorted by striking back at Sony. And they deserved it IMO.

If they hadn't turned off such a useful feature in the first place, this mess might not have happened.

Sony need to take a good, hard look at themselves, then start showing some genuine respect for their paying customers. Both from the point of view of treating them better with their products and services, to properly protecting their personal data.

As it currently stands, Sony's complete contempt for their customers means that they deserve very little sympathy for their recent woes.

By Trippynet on 28 Jun 2011

I still do not get it

Sony tries to force people to run only what they want to run on their hardware (a bit like apple) but with all the walled garden approach at least apple has not threatened litigation towards their customers for jailbreaking. Sony has and that is the root of it. When will a judge have some cojones and say to Sony/Anyotherbigcorporation that once I bought the hardware I can use it the way I want. It is a big like Ford banning me from only using Ford parts.

By nik_endeavour on 28 Jun 2011

That last sentence didnt make sense. It was meant to say:

It is a bit like Ford banning me from using anything but Ford parts

By nik_endeavour on 28 Jun 2011

That last sentence didnt make sense. It was meant to say:

It is a bit like Ford banning me from using anything but Ford parts

By nik_endeavour on 28 Jun 2011

Reality check!!

Whilst I'm not going to comment on the manner in which Sony conducts its business, it is exactly that, ITS BUSINESS. The only people in a position to hold them to task is their shareholders. If you don't like the walled garden lock down approach, don't buy their stuff!!! Sony have done nothing 'illegal', and I dare say (without reading them) nothing they have tried to do are not covered in the T&Cs

@THCBlueberry, you've got issues!

@ nik_e, poor analogy, Whilst the PS3 is a 'product' it is the in-built services (PSN) that Sony were probably trying to protect/control (ala MS banning hacked xboxes from live) and are a whole different ball game to a 'car'. I appreciate there are many issues connected to what you can do once 'jailbroken' and the whole IP thing reeks of paranoia, but I hold out the comparison is flawed!

I’m not defending Sony, but the level of vile being vented above smacks of hypocracy/ignorance/imbalance, call it what you will, when other companies are not held to the same standards or people cherry pick as to when they proffer such opinions.

End of the day if you want to ‘punish’ Sony, hit them in the wallet and don’t buy the stuff (inc all bluerays!), leave the rest to the shareholders and the lawmakers who no doubt will be rolling out the (financial) punishments for the data breaches in due course!

By ITZ_Go_One on 28 Jun 2011

At the analogy

Well ITZ_Go_One

I understand the banning of the use PSN which Sony is within the right to do. It's their service and they right to ban me or anybody to use with a modified console but it is not right for me to buy the PS3, PSP etc and wanted to install my custom software (linux) or develop my own game/software to augment (in my opinion) its functionality for myself and Sony suing me for breach of copyright. The device is mine and I do what I want with it. I have bought it not leased it from Sony

By nik_endeavour on 28 Jun 2011

@ITZ_Go_One

"That's business" or to quote your more accurately, "It's business" has become a get out clause for the socially, morally unacceptable behaviour of a horde or corporations.

Just because "it's business" does not make it right. And most of us have an inherent gut instinct of what is right or wrong.

The vast majority of people would believe that once they've bought something they can, within reason, (And this is where the law is an ass) do what they want with it.

By CraigieDD on 28 Jun 2011

Bad Sony

For years Sony have been paranoid about IP theft. They even invented a digital recording system that created digital files that could not be transferred digitally for fear of making it too easy for Bootleg to be made from live concerts of artists they promoted.

Then there was the Rootkit. Contempt for users, even illegal perhaps?

Since then, more of the same.

But strangely, for a company that goes out of its way to make its customers into its enemies, their defenses seem to be paper thin.

What goes around comes around. Do I feel sorry for them? No. Would I buy a Sony product? No. Did I smile when they were multiply hacked? Yes.

They are a business who "farm" customers so that profits can be given to shareholders. Without the customers, there are no profits. If a farmer treated his resources the way Sony does, there soon wouldn't be any farm left.

By SwissMac on 28 Jun 2011

Missing word, surely

"We believe that we first became the subject of attack because we tried AND FAILED to protect our IP."

Fixed that for the guy who has apparently learned nothing from the whole debacle. Here's hoping the shareholders put the boot in.

By Alex_G on 28 Jun 2011

Ignorance Is No Defence

Sony was hacked because they didn't know how to write secure web apps. And then they were hacked again, because the didn't know how to fix their insecure web apps properly. They have no one to blame but themselves.

By Grace_Quirrel on 28 Jun 2011

Spot on Grace. All this rubbish re geohots is just that rubbish - the hack was for financial gain, nothing to do with some fat bloke having embarrassing rants to camera.

By Aspicus on 28 Jun 2011

One big difference between Sony and Apple...

Is Apple didn't publish articles saying that you would be able to 'Jailbreak' your iPhone.

Sony did have pages up listing 'Other OS' alongside PSN as a feature (they quickly took them down once they realised the consequences of such a thing.

But that is just tough luck in my opinion.

IMO: they were more than entitled to remove it from future consoles, but in no way should they have been allowed to do it to existing ones.


And as someone has already said... Sony got hacked because they were insecure, they became a much bigger target when they took on Geohot and tried wanted IP addresses of everybody who had viewed a youtube vid (I don't know about you but I have viewed hundreds of youtube vid's without knowing the content prior to clicking play)

Then they may aswell have put a big red bulls eye on their backs in doing that.
----------------------

I would like to add, I was a sony (hardware) fan for many, many years.

most of the electronics in my house and office are Sony.

The oldest and newest device I own is a Sony product.

After the Geohot and Youtube video malarky I will not be buying anything from them on principle. (their ridiculous Copy-Protection RootKit debacle almost sent me that way, but I gave them one more chance, they blew it, and have lost a life long avid customer)

I now go out of my way to encourage people to not buy Sony anything (except for laptops, there are so few quality laptops that I would be doing myself and others more harm than good by going that far, but if quality laptops become more readily available, Sony will be in my black entirely)

By Anonymouse on 28 Jun 2011

Aspicus.....

I have said this time and time again...
(although it doesn't need saying to anybody with an ounce of common sense - neigh - make that half an ounce)

But here it is for the intellectually challenged...

If you release data into the public just after hacking it, their is nobody on the planet who is going to pay money for it. (and it almost useless at that point cos the people who get hacked, do have an internet aswell you know, and as they did and obviously would do, they locked down PSN, any info that gets leaked forces companies to act.

If lulz hadn't released it they likely would not have shut down PSN, and then there would have been many victims.

And if you sell it to somebody and *then* release it to the public, you are just crazy or very brave, the type of people who would buy such data, would not be the type of people I would like to rip-off.


Keeping such things private and undetected is how such things are valuable.

I know you like to post nonsense but you could at least use some common sense to deduce that yourself and save yourself looking like a fool too much.

By Anonymouse on 28 Jun 2011

Also.. .

Why are you agreeing with grace???

He obviously isn't saying what you seem to be agreeing to?


He blames sony for being insecure.

You babble nonsense about making a profit from publicly available data.
[also, what is the "fat guy ranting to a camera" about?? Geohot isn't fat]

I know your not very intelligent/articulate, but you are exceeding yourself here.

By Anonymouse on 28 Jun 2011

Sonywhack

Sony has been acting like a bunch of total aholes for quite sometimes - if they thought that no one would care they certainly got that wrong.

By arthur_cabot on 29 Jun 2011

Contrast with MS Kenetic?

Microsoft and Sony have both released motion trackers. Kenetic has been embraced by the hardware hacker community, and Microsoft has no objected to this.

Would Sony start suing people if they did the same thing with their motion tracker? If not, what's the difference?

By ANTIcarr0t on 29 Jun 2011

I go further...

"I now go out of my way to encourage people to not buy Sony anything (except for laptops, there are so few quality laptops that I would be doing myself and others more harm than good by going that far, but if quality laptops become more readily available, Sony will be in my black entirely)"

Actually, I've been very off Sony laptops for a while now. The hardware is lovely, I'll admit that. However, their tech support is abysmal, replacement parts are extortionately expensive (I was recently quoted £250 for a new laptop battery), and they preinstall an absolute mountain of crapware.

At my place of work, I've found cleaning up new Sony laptops to be much more hassle than I get with new HP, Acer laptops etc. Hence as a result, I steer well clear of Vaios as well. The nice hardware doesn't justify the rest of the misery that they can inflict.

By Trippynet on 29 Jun 2011

@Trippynet

I know exactly what you mean, fortunately I am in the PC/Laptop repair and service business, so I find it no problem at all to get rid of OEM bloated installs and get a proper install on it in no time at all.

I pity people who don't have the ability to do so, and have to suffer with such poor set-ups, or pay somebody to "fix" their nice new laptop for them.

By Anonymouse on 29 Jun 2011

@ nick_e

That’s great in theory, and I don't disagree with the concept. I am aware however that for many reasons (H&S, legal, IP protection, or just plain paranoia) that some companies choose to lock down their products as best they can, whilst other openly encourage 'development' of a platform. All I'm saying is it’s their choice to make, and they must accept the consequences of their choices. As an analogy (lol) Apple operates similarly to Sony without the backlash, but probably because they are targeting a different type of customer who is unlikely to want to install another OS on their iPad et al! Sonly clearly have decided the potential losses in customer base/sales etc do not out weigh the potential loses in other areas like PSN subscriptions pr lack of blueray sales. Their call!

By ITZ_Go_One on 29 Jun 2011

@ CraigieDD & Swissmac

Half cover above ,but WRT corporate behaviour, it's the never ending battle of business/social models! The 'morally corrupt' types are often very profitable for the shareholders who at the end of the day own the company and hold the CEO to account. If you don't like the system then I guess it's time to get out the free market economy countries and head east! That said there is a change in corporate attitudes throughout the capitalist world as more business take on SCR programmes, so there is hope, but don’t expect too much when the capitalist world is still stumbling around the brink of implosion, with China sneaking up from behind! (And we all know how they stand on morality!)

By ITZ_Go_One on 29 Jun 2011

@ITZ_GO

as I said above, the big differecne with apple and sony, is that sony listed "other OS" as a feature, apple have never and will never list jail breaking as a feature for the iPhone.

They are entitled to change that in future versions of PS3 but they shouldn't have done it retrospectively.

They done goofed.

By Anonymouse on 29 Jun 2011

Sir Howard Stringer

Sony needs to get rid of him as soon as possible. His promotion to the top job in 2005 broadly marks the exacerbation of Sony’s decline and its loss of identity, and the ensuing attempts at conversion into an American-style business have been catastrophic for the company.

Sadly their slogans should now read: “like.too.many.others”, and “please.believe”.



@SwissMac

“Did I smile when they were multiply hacked? Yes”

Not surprising, since you would smile at anybody in misfortune whose name is not five letters long, start with an A, and rhyme with apple.

By TheHonestTruth on 29 Jun 2011

They done goofed.......

....sweet, and I can't argue with the fact they listed a feature and then pulled it! Advertising hay, can't believe a word of it lol

Hot News....Sony boss Howard Stringer took a 16% pay cut last year....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13957761
Like I said, the shareholders will have their pound of flesh!!

By ITZ_Go_One on 29 Jun 2011