PS3 hack: Sony strikes back

Sony Computer Entertainment America has filed an injunction with the US district court of Northern California against the hackers that recently published the encryption keys to the PlayStation 3. Furthermore, Sony aims to have the judge issue a restraining order to prevent the accused of publishing more information about the hack.

Besides fail0verflow, the group that conducted the hack, George Hotz is also a defendant. Hotz is, depending on one’s perspective, a famous or infamous hacker. It was him who published the rootkey of the console on his site, thus enabling everyone to sign software as official Sony products.

Sony accuses Hotz and the members of fail0verflow of violating anti-circumventionclauses of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by knowingly opening up the PS3 for piracy. In the filed motion, the company demands seizure of “computers, hard drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, USB-sticks and other media” that have been used to hack the console.

In the motion, Sony argues that the hackers were out to harm Sony. The Japanese firm illustrates this claim by citing a tweet of one of fail0verflow’s members: “This is your last chance to sell your stock in Sony”, he tweeted five days before the hack was announced. Geroge Hotz is claimed to have financial motives for publishing the rootkey. The motion refers to Hotz’ paypal account that he had opened for donations.