PS3 hack case: Sony wins seizure of George Hotz’s computers

A major legal blow was dealt to PS3 hacker George “GeoHot” Hotz on Thursday, when a federal judge granted Sony a temporary restraining order which allowed authorities to seize all of Hotz’s computers and hard drives.

US District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco made that ruling despite her commentary on January 14^th that her court did not have jurisdiction over Hotz since he does not reside in the state of California. Illston reportedly did not explain her change in stance.

“Needless to say, we’re disappointed about the issuance of the TRO, but this doesn’t end the question of personal jurisdiction of Mr. Hotz, and we still intend to go forward with that motion,” Hotz’s lawyer, Stewart Kellar, told Dan Goodin of The Register. “Suffice it to say it is burdensome to my client for him to give up his computers and hard drives for the order.”

Last week, Corynne McSherry and Marcia Hofmann, representatives of the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF), criticized Sony for bringing the lawsuit against Hotz and the Fail0verflow team, and denounced the company’s request to impound all “circumvention devices” associated with the PS3 “root key” leak. They noted that it would only serve to deprive Hotz of his own research information since the key is now freely available for anyone to view on the internet.

The EFF has stated that the case sends a “dangerous message”, and that “Sony is actually saying that it’s a crime for users to access their own computers in a way that Sony doesn’t like.”

Despite today’s setback, Kellar is still quite optimistic in his representation of Hotz. “We’re confident once the merits of the case get heard, wherever that may be, that our client will prevail,” he said.

It’s still quite early in this case to make any predictions as to what the outcome may be, however today’s ruling is going to be a disappointment for consumer rights advocates. Hopefully, Keller’s confidence holds true.