Corynne McSherry, the Intellectual Property Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), recently spoke to website PlayStationLifeStyle and discussed issues that are front and center in the raging debate over the recent PlayStation 3 hacking which left the console open to manipulation and brought forth a lawsuit from Sony against hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz and his team, Fail0verflow.
McSherry, who had previously defended Hotz as a "researcher," continued her efforts to protect the gaming community's free speech, telling the site: "I think it's important that the research and gaming communities resist efforts to intimidate them."
Last week, Sony's so-called intimidation tactics payed off: a judge approved a restraining order against Hotz, allowing the seizure of the New Jersey resident's computers and hard drives - a victory for the Japanese company and a reality check for Hotz, who just weeks ago glibly told G4TV that he was being sued for "making Sony mad."
Sony is no stranger to the courtroom. The corporation has battled on both sides of the aisle numerous times. It effectively shut down import business Lik-Sang, and settled with patent holder Immersion, paving the way for the return of rumble functionality in PlayStation 3 controllers. Sony also found itself on the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit last year for removing Linux support from the PS3 - a feature the company originally touted.
McSherry, however, was hesitant to confidently state Sony's case has no merit, instead offering, "We are still evaluating the legal basis for the claims."
The EFF is a non-profit organization whose goal is to protect the digital rights of consumers.
For the full interview with McSherry, click here. (via PlayStationLifeStyle)
