Dozens of PS3 jailbreak users have been banned from the PlayStation Network this morning, following on from an official statement released by Sony last night.
According to users on a popular hacking forum, SCE has started contacting individuals it has identified as jailbreak users to notify them of an impending ban from PSN.
"A circumvention device and/or unauthorized or pirated software currently resides on your PlayStation(R)3 system. Immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from your PlayStation(R)3 system. Failure to do so will result in termination of your access to the PlayStation(R)Network and access to Qriocity(TM) services through your PlayStation(R)3 system."
Jailbreak users who have not successfully removed the offending software from their PS3 consoles have since had their PSN account banned, with the message, "you cannot use the PlayStation Network with this account (8002a227)" being prominently displayed on screen.
Defiant jailbreak users reportedly recieved the following e-mail:
Notice: Access to the PlayStation(R)Network and access to Qriocity(TM) services through your PlayStation (R)3 system has been terminated permanently due to the use of unauthorized circumvention devices and unauthorized or pirated software on your PlayStation(R)3 system.
This use violates the terms of both the "System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation(R)3 System" and the "Terms of Services and User Agreement" for the PlayStation(R)Network/Qriocity(TM) and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. In the unlikely event that this termination was in error, contact your local consumer support centre.
Last night, Sony released a statement notifying PS3 owners "we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences".
The furore follows news earlier this year that Hacker George 'Geohot' Hotz had finally cracked open the deepest layers of the PS3's defence against running unauthenticated code, leaving the machine wide open to homebrew and piracy.
Sony's since stepped up legal action against Hotz and a court has ordered him to surrender his hard disk.
Comments
56 comments so far...
JAKEevans on 17 Feb '11 said:
awwwww poor hackers.....has anyone else seen that bellend geowhatever rap?
God i hope someone gives him a beating just for being a smug little prick
buffig on 17 Feb '11 said:
Before anyone starts defending hackers, claiming that they are some kind of noble breed intent on opening up a platform to the public so that we may all as a society benefit from their tremendous work. They are in my opinion a bunch of sanctimonious idiots. They act like they are completely unaware that their actions undermine the industry as a whole which has a detremental effect to us, the paying consumer. They don't care about any of this as long as they get run homebrew software. They're like small children who've been told to sit out a game of football, then pop the ball to ruin it for everyone else. Sony took Linux away, boo hoo, how can you cope having only a PC on which to use Linux? You self righteous, sickeningly smug wankers.
daddycooltim on 17 Feb '11 said:
good one sony , ban the lot of them , I pay for my games and would never walk into a shop and just steal it off the shelf ,so why do these idiots think they have the right to !! Only nothing cost nothing .
MANYOO4EVA on 17 Feb '11 said:
Hahahahaha! Glad these hacker w@nkers are getting a taste of their own medicine. The selfish gits are destroying the industry, potential creativity for new games and disrepsecting the honest paying gamers like me. Now, if only Sony and Microsoft banned under 18's from playing COD online maybe, just maybe, I'd play it again (and they get rid of the glitches as well).
nologo on 17 Feb '11 said:
ppl above.. get off you're high horses please... games have been pirated since the dawn of games. god, the only ps2 game i actually bought was on day 1 of release.. day 2 i was 1 of the first to risk modding my ps2.
its only since ps3/xbox 360 ppl are actually bothered about piracy.. before no-one gave a s**t.
personally, i didnt have the bottle to mod my ps3 because my model was in the high risk cat of bricking.
i would also point out..that piracy yes might damage the industry slightly.. but in retrospect, it also made the industry. ps1 created the casual market.. thats when things got MASSIVE! and guess what.. everyone and their cat had a ps1 chipped. ps1 was for the mass market.. everyone knew a "games" dealer before the dawn of mass broadband.
_Marty_ on 17 Feb '11 said:
Shame. Don't let the Sony Swing door hit you on the ass on the way out.
_Marty_ on 17 Feb '11 said:
Ah, so because it's been done done for ages, we should be cool with it. Caine murdered Abel, and that was, at least a hundred years ago. Should we be cool with murder by now too?
nologo on 17 Feb '11 said:
read update.. personally i think the effect of piracy on the ps1 opened the market to the masses.
yeah.. mega drive /snes was popular.. but things didnt really kick off until PSone time.
tk104 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Oh please, buffig. You're allowed to do whatever you want with the products you buy. If you want to tinker with your electronics, go right ahead. Just because you don't or wouldn't doesn't mean that it should apply to everyone.
I've got no problem with Sony banning folks it's completely within their rights to deny network service as they see fit.
If you build a computing device, someone somewhere is going to tinker with it. Heck, I knew of a guy who networked his freaking computerized sowing machine. Is he a filthy hacker and did he ruin the sowing industry, too? Surely not.
flash501 on 17 Feb '11 said:
He has a point though. How come this PS3 hacking thing is plastered all over the news every day when the same thing has happened to just about every other console ever made? (which only got a fraction of the media exposure, btw)
buffig on 17 Feb '11 said:
How come that Jo Yates murder was all over the news? Loads of people have been murdered in the past!
Moorpheus on 17 Feb '11 said:
Because Sony claimed the PS3 was unhackable or words to that effect.
Red rag to a bull really - bet all the hackers were eager to try.
krisbenei on 17 Feb '11 said:
So you think that its ok to steal/copy simply because its been going on for years. Weird statement to make.
Anyway I think your right about everyone modding the ps1 and 2. Myself included but I never once copied a game. It was for the purposes of playing imports which run in full screen and at 60fps unlike some of the pal counterparts.
If you think about it, if evey person that copied/bought 10, 20, 30 games had bought 1 original title that still eqautes to millions of lost sales. I can understand why you would want to do it. I've bought games for £40 before, found out its tripe but coulnt' return it.
flash501 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Ok, could people please stop comparing hacking the PS3 to murder!
The point I was making was that the PS3 hack is being made far, far bigger news than any other console hack for some reason.
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
What a closed minded idiot who doesn't know the difference between hacking and piracy.
You don't even realise that so much of the talent in the games industry actually is born from the modding/hacking comunity.
Many members of top studios such as MM, rockstar, etc all started out in homebrew so how dare you tar everyone with the same brush.
Pirates and hackers are not the same, sure we both crack our systems but we do different things.
So grow up and actually try learning about the subject matter before you start to cry about it.
buffig on 17 Feb '11 said:
I know the difference. I didnt call them pirates. I said their actions undermine the industry. They knowingly open the sytem to abuse. They are free to develop on the PC, which I'm sure they do. Claiming the removal of Linux justifies their actions, be damned with the consequences is ridiculous. Lets ask all these developers if they back the hackers actions and see how many are patting them on the back.
Sleepaphobic on 17 Feb '11 said:
Which is kinda funny as the fundamental design of its security is pretty flawed.
anytime on 17 Feb '11 said:
Governments hack! everyone and there granny is doing it.
ffcoppolla on 17 Feb '11 said:
theblkwhsp on 17 Feb '11 said:
Damn right. I buy my games too. I pay £40-£50 a time therefore I earn the right to say I want companies like Sony and Microsoft to do everything in their power to block cheats and hackers from spoiling the fun for those of us who pay and abide by the law, not to mention that by doing so we support the industry we love.
I don't normally advocate revenge (okay, I totally do) but I'd like to see this Geo-dick get his commupence.
ffcoppolla on 17 Feb '11 said:
You pay £40-50 a time? You never heard of shopping around? More fool you, I say...
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
You clearly Don't know the difference then. If someone is writting homebrew games for PS3, then they are made for PS3. You are not making PC games, you are making PS3 games.
Look here: http://thatotherdev.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-untitled-project-v0-1-and-source-%e2%80%93-ps3-windows/
Without cracking open the PS3, that game would not be running on a PS3. Forget about Linux, I'm talking homebrew. Grassroots programmers who want to make console games crack open systems and get their code running. It's doesn't hurt the industry, in fact it's the polar opposite. These grassroots coders of today are the mainstream programmers of tomorrow.
Pirates hurt the industry, homebrew programming is where talent is born. Stop getting the two things confused.
I have no problem with Sony bricking consoles because they are running hacked code on the PSN, thats fine. But what people do to their own machines offline is no concern to other gamers. So people should watch what they say before branding groups of people.
nologo on 17 Feb '11 said:
well millions of people probably wouldnt have owned a ps1/ps2. i honestly think people really like to pay £5 for a game instead of £40... call me strange w/e but its true. there is alot of the market whom cant afford £40 a game
eastldn on 17 Feb '11 said:
You clearly Don't know the difference then. If someone is writting homebrew games for PS3, then they are made for PS3. You are not making PC games, you are making PS3 games.
Look here: http://thatotherdev.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/the-untitled-project-v0-1-and-source-%e2%80%93-ps3-windows/
Without cracking open the PS3, that game would not be running on a PS3. Forget about Linux, I'm talking homebrew. Grassroots programmers who want to make console games crack open systems and get their code running. It's doesn't hurt the industry, in fact it's the polar opposite. These grassroots coders of today are the mainstream programmers of tomorrow.
Pirates hurt the industry, homebrew programming is where talent is born. Stop getting the two things confused.
THIS FTW
WHERESMYMONKEY on 17 Feb '11 said:
I still don't understand the furor over this. I mean seriously the ps3 is the last machine of this gen to get hacked. When the wii got cracked there was almost no media attention paid to it. likewise the developments on the 360. Maybe it's because of the heavy handed tactics employed by sony. It's not like Hacking has particulary damaged Sony in the past. Both the PS1 and 2 were incredibly easy to get full access to.
It's actually pretty well known that piracy can in fact help console sales in certain developing nations where the price of software is rediculously high. The grey market in countries such as china is also entirely swung on which machines security is compromised first.
The subject of IP rights is an incredibly complex one, so when people just start going PIRACY IS WRONG!, IS STEALING. Just shows a complete lack of your own intellect or understanding of the subject.
I personally think that the heavy handed tactics of the publishers and Console manufactureres over this is just going to bite them in the ass. Rather than find a way to turn pirates into legitimate customers in the future they're just alienating them further.
buffig on 17 Feb '11 said:
I'm specifically talking about the hacking of the PS3 to allow cracked games to be played on the system. The hackers published the encryption key online which is, in my opinion like giving people the keys to a persons house and saying it's not my fault if you get burgled. People are circumventing the protections put in place by a manufacturer. My point is, you can learn to develop legitimately and I along with many others believe that exposing the system to pirates and publishing the details to the world is not something to be congratulated and defended at every turn, just because there are other people who hack responsibly
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
I think it's down to the idea that many thought the PS3 was unhackable and when it was done it was a bit of a shock.
I think fail0verflow it the nail on the head though at the Chaos Convention.
It wasn't hard to hack the PS3, it's just no hackers wanted to as you could already run linux so hacking it was pointless. Once linux was removed it took just as long to hack the PS3 as any other console, because it was only then that the hackers wanted to hack the PS3.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 17 Feb '11 said:
OK what about hackers with 2 PS3s ? one for hacking and one for playing online ?
I mean who is stupid enough to play online with a hacked console especially if you have 1 PS3 ?
Are snes emulators that good your willing to sacrifice online play ?
Yellow6 on 17 Feb '11 said:
@only_777
In that case please NEVER let me hear you complain about pirates
Or the 2nd hand industry
If it's ok to stimulate your artistic juices at the expense of 1million free copies of the latest AAA game being pirated that's ok?
Not selfish at all?
I can make a living writing games...at the expense of the game writers before me
It's called writing them on my dvd burner and selling them for £3 in the local.
I'm not a Sony fan, I just don't want to hear you whining about devs and publishers being ripped off when you condone piracy
Simple fact - if you want to create "homebrew" games use a bleedin PC!
They're better than any console and you won't be sued!
Seriously, if this argument was on the PC it would stand a chance but on a game console?
What are you going to do with your new found hacking skills?
A - pirate games
B- write new games and whine like a little bitch when people hack your game
I hope your deepest wish comes true
The big firms spot your amazing mod skills and hire you.
You get given a £15m budget to make a game.
It receives critical acclaim.....
However it sells only enough to recoup £10m.....
You spend nights tossing and turning....
thinking that if only those 100,000 extra games had been SOLD rather than pirated you'd have broken even on your first game.
You spend the rest of your life working in a "Game" store explaining to "Mom's" what games are appropriate for their little darlings
Let's see you support the "talent in the games industry born from the modding/hacking comunity" then?
Ellscore on 17 Feb '11 said:
I think there seems to be two major points stemming from the comments within this article.
1. The value (negative and positive) of hacking within the games industry.
2. The intent of hackers on completion of the hack.
Personally I dont have the patience or skills to hack into anything (apart from a packet of walkers cheese and onion). Hackers are by and large a minority. They run a gauntlet of hatred and persecution and for very good reason. However without their insight and determination to rebel against authority; the average consumer (like myself) would always remain at the mercy of the world's super corporations. (In a capatalist world this is not a good thing). I do not enjoy the byproducts of hacking such as piracy however it is good for the likes of SONY & MS to be kept on their toes.
gmcb007 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Hmm the way gaming companies are going today its no suprise that hacking is increasing...I mean now we have DLC announced before games come out and overpriced map packs e.t.c. I mean its hard to know when you are getting value for your money these days in gaming . Lets be honest there will be a new ps3 hack in a month or so and the cycle will start again.
Windowlicker79 on 17 Feb '11 said:
I think you should all just shut up, stop moaning and get on with playing some games.
ffcoppolla on 17 Feb '11 said:
He says, by moaning...
Marlonjb on 17 Feb '11 said:
I bought my PS3 on release day and looked after it, never modded it and it still works perfectly fine. I've no need to bother with hacking anything and as I've got the money to buy the games I want on release day I wouldn't bother with inferior copies. I cans ee the arguments for and against this whole issue but really, I aint gonna get involved in it.
The Bossman on 17 Feb '11 said:
Delighted about this, kick these hacking cheating lowlife scumbags off PSN for good, no-one wants them, they're total garbage.
Imaduck on 17 Feb '11 said:
Agreed entirely with WHERESMYMONKEY.
JAKEevans on 17 Feb '11 said:
Id like too see some of your views would be if you owned a business you wanted to protect. Also people say they should just hire the hackers? Im sorry but why should others get fired who worked hard within the law?
But.....i can see valid points on both sides and I do respect the skills of any hacker cus I wouldnt have a clue how to do anything with my ps3 or whatever
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Your trolling me right? I wrote that I'm against piracy. Piracy and homebrew are not the same thing.
tk104 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Neither the fail0verflow team nor George Hotz published any tools that would allow users to run cracked games. I don't know where you got that idea from. Hotz did publish the key needed to run code. You see, that key is needed now because the Other OS option is gone. Now the only way to develop legitimately is to buy a kit from Sony. Somehow I don't think Sony will sell one to a homebrew outfit just to goof around on.
Again, were back to ownership. Once one buys a PS3, one can do whatever one wants to it. If I wanted to circumvent the protections put in place by the manufacturer then I have have that right. I own it so I should be able to write and execute any code I choose. Now, I'm not a developer. I don't know how to program and probably wouldn't do that to my PS3. Again, the point is that should never be illegal to do what you want with your own electronics. It's your property.
Sony could have easily given out a key, maybe for a fee, to homebrew developers. It wouldn't let them run code signed by a game key but just enough to do what they want and share the results. It's a win-win situation. Tinkerers get access and Sony can keep the PS3's poor security a secret.
The fail0verflow team said that, with the Other OS option, the PS3 was "open enough". It seems that Sony cut out Other OS because they thought it would be a vector for hackers to crack the PS3's security features. Turns out that the PS3 could be cracked without Other OS. The point is that no one really cared that much because hackers already had what they wanted in Other OS.
The hilarious truth is that the manufacturer itself removed the one protection keeping people from circumventing the piracy prevention measures of the PS3.
A3RO_DYNAMIK on 17 Feb '11 said:
Great news. Now I don't mind people unlocking their own systems(if thats what they are into) but they shouldn't be going on the PSN network with their hacked sytems ruining other peoples gaming and cheating. Good job Sony!
TheLastDodo on 17 Feb '11 said:
You guys are giving me a headache. I'm going to post one comment here then i'm off.
Piracy IS stealing, you can argue over the word all you like, its pure and simple, its stealing. There will be people who downloaded Crysis 2 last week with no intention to buy the retail version when its released in March. THEY have stolen Crysis 2. Oh but it was leaked by a guy at Crytek or whatever you say, who cares? No-one put a gun to your head to download it.
Now if people want to run homebrew on their PS3's thats fine. If you want to play SNES games on your PS3's thats fine. If you want to hack Killzone 3 and spoil the fun for others then we've got a problem.
I'm a pretty liberal guy, I dont smoke but if you want to smoke thats ok, but if you blow smoke in my face we got a problem. I dont drink but if you want to drink thats ok, but if you then get in a car and endanger my life and others then we got a problem.
Bottom line do whatever the hell you want as long as it doesn't affect others and accept the consequences of your actions (that includes hackers & pirates, if Sony tell you hacking isn't allowed and hacking results in your PS3 been bricked well tough s**t you were warned) Sony took your Linux away so this is your revenge? GROW UP. There is no justification at all for piracy. If you cant afford a £40 game then wait a few weeks or so for a price drop. Theres a reason why everyone and myself don't have a Ferrari sitting in our garage because most of us can't afford to buy one, but you don't hear of people breaking into their nearest Ferrari dealer and stealing a Ferrari.
Also who gives a s**t that "piracy been going on for years"? So f**king what, it wasn't justifiable then and it still isn't now. The reason you barely heard about it in the PS1 days besides in the schoolyard was that the internet wasn't prevalent all them years ago.
There is no good reason for piracy. End of. Pirates, I hope you get what you deserve. Hackers, as I said above do what you want, as long as it doesn't affect myself and others.
I'm out.
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Well said, and with that I think we're done. I'll close this up with this:
A homebrew user is not going to mess with anyones PSN enjoyment but it's still our right to use the machine to run what we like.
Piracy is wrong, don't steal peoples games. Those people are scum.
Hackers are not all pirates, remember that. I'm sure you all hate it when the Daily Mail make their sweeping statments about video games, well hackers feel the same way when people say that all hackers are scum.
double tap on 17 Feb '11 said:
I just do not understand the reason they had to put the PS3's guts on the net if it done purely for homebrew. They are intelligent guys they knew what the information would be used for by the majority of people who would check it out. Personally I would like to see SONY, Microsoft and Nintendo drop the ax on anyone who does this type of activity.
double tap on 17 Feb '11 said:
I just do not understand the reason they had to put the PS3's guts on the net if it done purely for homebrew. They are intelligent guys they knew what the information would be used for by the majority of people who would check it out. Personally I would like to see SONY, Microsoft and Nintendo drop the ax on anyone who does this type of activity.
SavageEvil on 17 Feb '11 said:
I swear people argue for the sake of it, plain and simple. You do not in anyway own the software on your PS3, you are not allowed by law to reverse engineer any part of the software or hardware, go figure. Go check the patent office, I'm pretty sure that the way you attempted to build what they did will infringe upon one of their many patented ways of building their device. The BS that I have a problem with is people crying homebrew this and that, seriously, just because the PS3 is a computer you want to build homebrew on it? What the hell is wrong with your perfectly viable PC? I hate stupid people and the thought processes that go through their heads. Just because no one has done it, means I should do it...make my stamp in the record books.
The next idiot that regurgitates the tripe that FailOverflow and Hotz said, about the only reason they hacked the PS3 was because they took away Other/OS...seriously? What kind of dumb ass sheep are you? You honestly believe that they weren't always trying to hack the PS3 from the outset? That's like thinking a jewel thief wakes up one day and without a plan goes into the Lourve and steal a priceless painting bypassing all the security without prior knowledge....if you find that plausible, I feel sorry for you and any spawn of yours you might be creating as gullibility will forever follow your bloodline.
Why is it making such headlines, well only on gaming sites and I haven't seen this on the news yet, simply because gaming is big business if you hadn't heard. To keep your stockholders happy, you have to run a tight ship, and with news of your system being easily hackable isn't going to bolster faith in your shareholders now is it? People with little to no knowledge of what is going on besides what they see on the surface need to pay close attention, if you actively buy and trade stocks or even just dabble in it, you would know exactly what I am speaking about concerning confidence in stock and a corporations ability to make money, bad press is bad press and can and will affect the market and your profitability. Ease up if you have little to contribute, just mouthing off because you feel "Hackers" are getting a bad rap is irresponsible...someone who actually weighs the pros and cons of releasing the security keys into the public would realize that there would be a lot of bad stemming from this and it would undoubtedly overshadow the good you meant. I will still stand by my first observation that GeoHotz should have never released those keys, judging by the amount of immature people you can come across in a few hours online, do you really think that releasing such information would net a higher good to bad result ratio? Just looks like Hotz wanted to be the first and I guess still high off his win against Apple, I think he might have bitten off more than he can chew with this one, as it now involves a branch of computing that for better or worse has always been fighting "pirating" and Hotz little stunt has just allowed that to become a slightly easier thing for those would be "pirates" to move forward. Well i don't forsee anyone coming up with a way to copy a BD ROM and making that viable, but stemming from the keys release we have people who can write hacks to allow them to cheat in legitimate games online, thus making others have to suffer.
With all the insanely powerful PC's out there for cheap, damn near limitless memory and storage space, why on earth would you think that hacking a PS3 would get you some sort of praise and award? I don't get self righteous individuals who care nothing about who they step on to get where they are going, nor whom they hurt to do it. Just remember life is a two way street, and those who you stepped on the way up, you will see them again on your way down.
alan666 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Sony are doing them a favor by banning them from PSN
Windowlicker79 on 17 Feb '11 said:
You should change your user name to "Double Post"
double tap on 17 Feb '11 said:
Sorry about that guys.
only_777 on 17 Feb '11 said:
Er what? This is not America mate, this is England. Look under section F450B 'Decompilation'
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/part/I/chapter/III/crossheading/computer-programs-lawful-users
Now you see that when many of us brought 60gig PS3's we had linux, it was advertised to us. So we have been told we can use Linux on our PS3's. Using section F450B/2/b of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, "the information so obtained is not used for any purpose other than the permitted objective." we are taking it back.
And don't pull the old, 'But Sony's T&C says you can't'. Tough s**t, Sony don't make the law so look at F450B/4 "Where an act is permitted under this section, it is irrelevant whether or not there exists any term or condition in an agreement which purports to prohibit or restrict the act"
So if I want to run back-up of my own games I can. Because guess what, under UK law I can do that too!
As per section F250A which clearly f**king states 'It is not an infringement of copyright for a lawful user of a copy of a computer program to make any back up copy of it which it is necessary for him to have for the purposes of his lawful use.'
So yes I can copy my own games, and yes I can take Linux back. Find the bit in the law which supports your argument or p**s off.
Sleepaphobic on 17 Feb '11 said:
That made too much sense for this forum.
craiglackenby on 17 Feb '11 said:
Music to ma fookin ears
I played MW2 earlier and had a real blast, I didn't get a sniff of a cheating scum bag. It really made me realise how boring Blops is, god MW2 looks better, plays better, feels better and it just brought this new feeling back like I was checking my challenges and setting classes up. I think a lot of people are already back on MW2 and deserted Blops, there was 100,000 people on in the day and Blops usually pulls about 300,000 in the day. When the new patch comes out a lot more people will be back.
jamez-vampire on 17 Feb '11 said:
thats right sony you teach those cheaters
they should learn to respect there console
_Marty_ on 18 Feb '11 said:
For the record, this was deliberate - I was wiping myself down with the towel of understatement
For one, I'm a massive aethiest.
The Bossman on 18 Feb '11 said:
Amen to that. Agree with every point made.
Yellow6 on 19 Feb '11 said:
Happens to all of us
Happens to all of us
Yellow6 on 19 Feb '11 said:
You are using the "guns don't kill people, people do" argument.
Technically correct but ignoring the fact that the "tool in question" be it a gun or a hacker makes it so much easier for the criminals.
Anyway, this thread gets way too heated way too easily with strong language etc.
I'm not having a go at you personally, I just respectfully disagree with you
NB - These embedded quotes are getting out of hand