Sony reach ‘settlement’ with Hotz hacker

Sony have issued a statement saying they have reached a settlement with Hotz after he posted the console's private key.

In a post on the Playstation blog, Sony Computer Entertainment America said “The parties reached an agreement in principle on March 31, 2011”. Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA said “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

Hotz said “It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier. I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”

SCEA accused Hotz of violating federal law by posting online information about the security system in the Playstation 3 console and software that SCEA claimed could be used to defeat the security system in the console and to allow the playing of pirated games, a claim it has failed to prove. Hotz denies that he did anything wrong.

Russell added “We want our consumers to be able to enjoy our devices and products in a safe and fun environment and we want to protect the hard work of the talented engineers, artists, musicians and game designers who make PlayStation games and support the PlayStation Network. We appreciate Mr. Hotz’s willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution.”

Hotz has posted on this blog “As of 4/11/11, I am joining the SONY boycott. I will never purchase another SONY product.

I encourage you to do the same. And if you bought something SONY recently, return it.

Why would you not boycott a company who feels this way about you?”

He added: “There is much more to come on this blog.”

What are the terms of the settlement agreement? No one knows, but Hotz said in the comments section on his blog: “The terms of the settlement agreement are “confidential” and the matter requires that they be “confidential”.

KitGuru says: the drama continues

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