Geohot Asks For Support In Fighting Sony Lawsuit

George Hotz, or “Geohot,” is a pioneer in the jailbreak community. He has been the mastermind behind many jailbreak projects, including LimeRa1n and BlackSn0w.

Geohot recently hacked Sony’s Playstation 3 and essentially created the ability to “jailbreak” Sony’s popular console. Even though it is legal to jailbreak the iPhone, it isn’t legal to do the same to a Sony product. Sony took action and filed a lawsuit against Geohot on the basis that what he did “encourages piracy” on their platform.

Needless to say, Geohot is pissed. He is calling on the community and the media to help him in his legal fight against Sony…

About a month ago, Geohot appeared on G4’s “Attack of Show” to talk about his issue with Sony. Besides his rap video, he’s been pretty quiet since then.

Now he is calling for financial and moral support in his legal battle with Sony,

“Media, I need your help. This is the first time I have ever asked. Please, if you support this cause, help me out and spread the word. I want, by the time this goes to trial, to have Sony facing some of the hardest hitting lawyers in the business. Together, we can help fix the system.”

Geohot is asking for financial donations through PayPal to help fund his legal fees in the upcoming trial.

This is what he had to say about Sony,

“Sony is lame, and is suing me for hacking MY OWN PS3. Help me own them in court

Sony are bullies

Sony doesn’t care if what you did was legal, if they don’t like it, they sue. Sony tried to sue a guy for getting his AIBO to do non Sony approved tricks, making it apparent that they don’t really care about piracy, they care about control. In (Sony v Bleem), Bleem was the winner on all counts, but the high cost of a legal defense shut them down. Fortunately, that suit helped set precedent on the legality of emulators. I would hate to lose this case due to resource starvation, and with the support of the masses, I won’t. Lets turn the bully back on itself. This case has the ability to set a huge precedent for consoles and all closed systems to come. The other two should be begging Sony to back off.

Sony sued the wrong guy

I am an advocate against mass piracy, do not distribute anyone’s copyrighted work but my own, do not take crap lying down, and am even pro DRM in a sense. For example, I believe Apple has every right to lock down their iPhone in the factory as much as they want, but once it’s paid for and mine, I have the right to unlock it, smash it, jailbreak it, look at it, and hack on it. Fortunately, the courts agree with me on this point.

My PS3 goal has been to provide users a legitimate path to homebrew, which by the standards of all previous cases (or, in reverse), is 100% legal. Sony does not even try to allege piracy or copyright infringement in this case, they allege I did things like play “super mario world, an unauthorized game” on MY PS3. And access MY PS3 in an unauthorized way. Who are they to authorize what I do with my taxed and paid for property?

fail0verflow’s goal was even nobler than mine. They wanted to give you back a feature Sony illegally stole, Linux on your PS3. It’s shameful on Sony’s part that they are being sued at all. If you have a problem with pirates, sue them, don’t sue people who point out your shortcomings.”

Geohot also wants to make sure that you understand the reason he is asking for help,

“Why should I care about your personal legal troubles?

You shouldn’t. For example, if I was taken to court for sex crimes in Sweden, I would never ask for donations. But this case isn’t about me. Clearly I am not being sued because of something I have that Sony wants, I am being sued in order to send a message that Sony is not to be messed with. But if I (and all codefendants likewise) actually win this, we have the power to send a much stronger message back. That consumers have rights, and we aren’t afraid to stand up for them.”

You can continue reading what Geohot has to say about this issue, and make donations, on his website.

Geohot is also asking people to join him in “Operation Boycott Sony.” He posted this image on his blog, “Geohot Got Sued,”

We at iDB fully support Geohot’s cause with this Sony battle. We hope he comes comes out victorious in the court room, and that he can continue with his amazing exploits on both the iPhone and other platforms.

If you can’t make a financial contribution for Geohot’s legal fees, make sure to at least spread the word.

What do you think about Geohot’s problem? Do you believe that Sony is wrong in responding the way that they did? Let us know if you plan on participating in “Operation Boycott Sony.”