During his months long legal battle against Sony, hacker George Hotz set up a legal fund. All donations would go straight toward paying for his defense, he explained. Any money leftover would be sent to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online digital rights organization.
In only a day Hotz accrued enough cash to pay for a defense, though an exact number was never revealed. A donation made over the weekend by Hotz to the EFF as per his original promise provides a little insight into just how generous his supporters were.
Updating his blog on Saturday, Hotz revealed he cut the EFF a $10,000 donation.
"As promised, all left over legal defense money, plus a little to bump it to a nice number, has been sent to the EFF," Hotz said. "Thank you all so much for your support, without it, things could have been much worse."
MyCE reached out to the EFF for a comment, but received none as of press time.
In February, then-embattled Hotz first asked supporters for help, and they answered: the first round was closed quickly. Hotz declared it was "enough to cover my legal fees for the time being."
A second round of donations was never held, and Sony's settlement with Hotz had many concerned over just what he would do with any remaining legal funds.
In March, detractors claimed Hotz had used the generous donations for a trip to South America -- a trip he later clarified had been bought and paid for months in advance and was not, as Sony claimed, an attempt at delaying the legal proceedings.
After Hotz settled with Sony, some worried the legal fund would be misused. That the cash originally ear-marked for combating the allegations of a multi-national corporation might instead bankroll a celebratory trip to a strip club or other far-fetched, unscrupulous activities.
Though legally barred from tinkering with Sony products, Hotz has lost none of his incendiary attitude or swagger. Taking comfort in the fact he "owned" the PlayStation 3, Hotz refuted the notion that he will work in secret: "As much as I don't respect the goons at Sony, I do respect the court."
As for just what Hotz plans to hack next, he's been relatively quiet. Facing down a giant corporation for three months will do that to you.
[UPDATE: Rebecca Jeschke, Media Relations Director for the EFF, reached out to MyCE and had this to say: "We are very grateful for Mr. Hotz's very generous donation! It helps us continue the work we do here every day."]
