PS3 hacker Geohot settles with Sony over jailbreak, but did he just lose?

The cat’s out of the bag: the ongoing lawsuit brought against hacker extraordinaire, George “Geohot” Hotz by Sony is over. By way of the official PlayStation blog, Hotz has allegedly settled with Sony over the entire hacking matter, with both parties ready to put the entire case behind them. Although a bit of a snooze, the final conclusion is a permanent injunction that keeps Hotz from releasing information related to the PS3 jailbreak ever again. And while it’s already too late to stop the damage (the code and jailbreak keys are already all over the Internet), we haven’t heard of a resolution regarding Sony’s removal of the “OtherOS” a.k.a. Linux from the console.

At the news, Hotz’s most loyal supporters are feeling a little short-changed. Hotz had originally promised to not budge on a settlement with Sony unless it included bringing back OtherOS and an apology on the PS Blog. The PS Blog makes no mention of OtherOS returning. What’s even more interesting, on Hotz’s official blog, he posted that he will be joining the boycott on Sony, never purchasing a Sony product again. So what about the Xperia Play he was so interested in hacking? Exactly what did the settlement entail? Did Hotz agree never to hack another Sony gadget again? Or is Hotz getting a job at Sony? What about all that stuff about owning your hardware and being able to do whatever you want with it? The plot thickens. Hotz promises more details soon, but for now he’s bound to keeping his mouth shut.

Raymond Wong
Categories: Gaming
Tags: geohot, Hacking, Jailbreak, PlayStation 3, PS3, Sony