Report: Sony Targeting German Buyers of PS3 Hack Device

October 20, 2010

According to admittedly loose translations, a shipment of dongles to be used for hacking the PlayStation 3 have been seized by customs officers in Germany, and now Sony is targeting the purchasers of the devices with cease-and-desist letters and threats of fines and litigation.

A forum user on the DC EMU UK forums (thanks SlashDot) translated an article on the German website Heise Online (Google translation) in order to disseminate the information. From the story, it seems Sony wants PS3 Break buyers to agree to no longer import, distribute or use any device that allows the PS3’s copy protection to be bypassed by signing a letter, which also gives Sony permission to destroy the devices.

If the person in question breaks the signed agreement, they could be at risk for penalties beginning at 5100€ (approximately $7,100 U.S.). Refusing to sign the cease-and-desist agreement could leave buyers open to litigation.

Such litigation, as noted by Heise Online, would most likely prove troubling for the PS3 Break users as:

It would be extremely difficult to prove in court that a special USB controller stick called "PS3 Break" does not circumvent the copy protection… for the PS3…

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Comments

Re: Report: Sony Targeting German Buyers of PS3 Hack Device

Submitted by MechaTama31 on Wed, 10/20/2010 - 14:41.

Hey, Sony. You know the MPAA and RIAA? Have you noticed how they act, and what has happened to their public image as a result? Lucky for them they don't have two major competitors, huh? Yeah... I'm just sayin'.

Re: Report: Sony Targeting German Buyers of PS3 Hack Device

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Wed, 10/20/2010 - 15:12.

Actually, both organizations have competition. They both compete with independent film and music respectively. These are film producers and musicians who are not represented by the MPAA and RIAA.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

Re: Report: Sony Targeting German Buyers of PS3 Hack Device

Submitted by madman on Thu, 10/21/2010 - 08:00.

Yeah but in Sonys case, they constantly insult to injury in the face of competitors with already

superior public images.

Re: Report: Sony Targeting German Buyers of PS3 Hack Device

Submitted by Vengful_Soldier on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 09:52.

You do realize you shouldn't need to break the copyright of a fucking console, right? Its just that, a console, the only reason to do something like that is to do something illegal. Like modding your console, enabling hacks or being able to get all the stuff in the PS store for free. Seriously, we're not talking about songs that are sold for 0.99 cents online but absurdly expensive on CD. We're talking about an expensive peice of hardware.

Poll

Shout box

E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm

E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm

E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

All shouts

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