Ah cheers. Hmmm....
Cheers for the info, figured that with so many people willing to profit from scandals and death and suchlike there might be a law against it. As for the David guy, wouldn't surprise me if the police just dumped a bunch of other unsolved murders on top in order to fix their statistics, or that there were copycats popping up at the time. Hell, some people try to claim credit for jobbing people they never even met.

Well sure if you were stupid enough to sign an armed robbery agreement. You have to take manual action to download the update so I don't quite see the similarity

As I see it you have 3 options

1) Agree to the terms and download the firmware, taking whatever you get on the assumption that it'd be an adequate exchange for keeping access to the PSN
2) Refuse to download the update and either install a hacked firmware or cease using the PSN
3) Stup using the machine entirely in protest

Your analogy is a bit flawed since the armed robber was coming out at you completely unawares and without any action on your part. A better one would be a park with a guard who demands your wallet as a condition of entry, you can agree to the stupid terms, you can kick him in the bollocks and run in whilst he's incapacitated or you can say "bugger that" and go somewhere else

As an aside, what unique features did the linux option on the PS3 offer that you couldn't manage with a cheap PC (other than running on a ps3 obviously)?

If GeoHot wins, I feel that the court system will become a mockery. Plenty of dipshits will throw YouTube fundraising campaigns for their legal battles, and the justice system will turn into a sideshow where more popularity = more legal power. Think of a YouTube celebrity like that asshole Fred. How many millions of views does he have for every one of his videos? Imagine if he got every viewer to pay just $1. Disastrous!

If he wins, there is a chance YouTube court fundraising schemes will catch on, and society will climb deeper into its own asshole.

...Noone ever gets an adequate exchange... *duckandhide*

You sir are an idiot. The US court system is already a place where more money is more legal power, ever wonder how it is that OJ got acquitted.

Just because you have it in for geohot, does not make your line of reasoning any more palatable. In this case whether or not he's an ass, he is sticking his neck out for something that benefits the rest of us. Plus at the end of the day, you don't have to donate anything if you don't want to, making this whole thread pretty juvenile in nature.

TBH, that'd be a refreshing change from "more money = more legal power".

EDIT: More eloquently ninja'd by hedwards.

I don't give a damn how the court will look afterwards. Sony don't have a case. Period. They can only win with their money.

You know, there should be HUGE penalties for those that sue and lose. Few millions will teach them a lesson.

Somehow I doubt we'd consider muggings any more acceptable if the demand for money was accompanied by a demand to sign a statement saying one was just fine with the mugging. Again, I fail to see why you're willing to give Sony a pass just because they obfuscate the nature of their actions a bit.

"ever wonder how it is that OJ got acquitted"
OJ got acquitted because the other side's attorneys and the handling of evidence was completely incompetent. The defense didn't need to pay their way through the case; their opponents had committed legal suicide. Sure, there may be certain cases where money = more legal power. This was not one of them.

"he is sticking his neck out for something that benefits the rest of us"
No he isn't. He is only looking out for his own ass. If he loses, he will be in serious financial trouble. That's all he really cares about. It just so happens that the thing that "benefits the rest of us" will be achieved if he survives, so he can easily coax money out of gullible people who think he's fighting a noble cause.

I can understand that it may be important for certain reasons that he wins. However, if you truly believe that he is doing it to help someone other than numero uno, you are an even bigger imbecile than I. Also, he needs to learn how to fight his own legal battles. If it's a fight he couldn't win with his current funds, than he shouldn't have picked the fight in the first place.

wait what?

Crowd funding of legal battles against powerful, rich groups/people is a very *good* thing and seems to me to be the only thing that can actually save the US justice system.

Do you really think only people with enough money should be able to start a legal battle?

EDIT: took out any reference to this case, since I have no idea of the specifics

...
I wasn't trying to say that, but now that you've brought that up, crowd funding could be potentially beneficial. I'm just worried that people are throwing their money down a gutter by funding George Hotz.

Well here is my advice to you & it is very important on almost any aspect of life. Don't worry about other people... let them do what they want to do with there money & there life, because that's just it... its there's & they are free to do what they wish with it. If you get involved in something that doesn't concern you then 9/10 times it backfires in your face... HARD.

All I watched was about the same duration of the rap that Navagon mentioned and I came to about the same conclusion. The only thing that's important about the situation to me is what happens in this case, and I could do without hearing about it until there's a verdict or Cheese murders Hotz.

I guess I'm glad that I know about Sony playing such embarrassing games with a little kid and with the OtherOS/pirate crowd. I will be thinking more responsibly about products of theirs I purchase in the future.

Sound advice, that man. We could definitely benefit from more people adopting that outlook. Especially when you factor in other people's religion and sexuality.

Same here. Sony is far too blind a corporate juggernaut to care about its public image and I think that ultimately it's that which will be its downfall. After all it was their image that their success was founded upon. They built high quality electronics and that's simply not true anymore (be it through superior competition or through Sony undermining their products with firmware DRM).