Top Hacker Rejects Job Offer From Sony Over PS3 Jailbreak Legal Strategy
from the when-you-treat-hackers-badly... dept
It looks like Sony's quixotic strategy of suing George Hotz (Geohot) for jailbreaking the PS3 is starting to cost the company in additional ways as well. Todd McDermid points us to the news of how another hacker, Koushik Dutta, who has quite a strong reputation in various circles, has rejected overtures from Sony PlayStation division for a job specifically because of Sony's attack on Geohot:Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: geohot, hacking, jobs, koushik dutta, ps3
Companies: sony
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Hurpa derp.
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I used to be into Bondage, Bestiality and Necrophilia, but I gave it up as I was only flogging a dead horse...
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As for the guy's stance, I'm always impressed by someone standing by their principles. Of course it seems we don't have all that much context for his stand. Could be he already has a perfectly good job and would't move anyway so his "stand" is a freebie.
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This is of no importance whatsoever. Anyone equipped with middling intelligence and rudimentary research skills could find it out in five minutes using information readily available on the Internet via this amazing service -- which you really should try sometime because you clearly haven't heard of it -- called "Google".
Beyond that, anyone who thinks that email addresses are private is living in 2000, before the advent of botnet-creating malware with integrated address harvesters. Yes, there are still people -- delusional people -- who think that attempting to conceal or obfuscate their address will actually work, but they are of course not just wrong, but laughably wrong, and this wrongness is demonstrated on a large scale on a daily and ongoing basis.
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we can use it to gauge how much each industry is willing to spend (or not) to try and keep people uninformed of the truth.
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- Prevent him from carrying on that work for Sony products
or
-Allow him to do it, but not share it with anyone but some manager who may not appreciate it.
Maybe, just maybe, he wants to do more than work for a major elctronics company doing only the things they want him to do.
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Bottom line: Sony reaches out to someone they wanted to hire, apparently based purely on his blog posts. Unless Sony are *really* desperate and are hiring anyone who write tech blogs, I doubt this guy will have much of a problem finding a decent job. Sony lost a talented engineer to a competitor due to their actions.
The nose cutting is Sony's own.
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Thanks for the lesson in personal ethics, Techdirt Troll!
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Dunno know about that.
But, it doesn't seem like he would be a good fit at Sony anyways. I think a prerequisite for employment at Sony is having a distinct lack of scruples.
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Not the first time stupid strategy has cost Sony.
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/end sarcasm
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Overall, I think it was a good choice. I have been extremely happy with my Panasonic LCD TV and JVC and Panasonic camcorders. :)
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I intend to continue this until the chair of Sony publicly apologizes and then commits ritual suicide to show his shame for what his company has done. Given that he clearly has no honor, and has shamed his family and ancestors, I doubt he will have the courage and integrity required to do this, so I expect that I'll just keep costing Sony sales every chance I get.
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Re: Not the first time stupid strategy has cost Sony.
As you no doubt know, boycotts interfere with Sony's business model. Every product you don't buy from us reduces our profit, and I think it's easy to see that reduced profit is nothing more than stealing by another name. Accordingly, we are sending you this cease-and-desist letter to stop your illegal actions against Sony. To avoid the threat of further legal action, you must immediately:
(1) Cease your boycott of Sony products.
(2) Cease discussing boycotts of Sony products.
(3) Buy three (3) Playstation 3 consoles.
In addition to our ability to prosecute you for theft, your state senator has also been presented with a proposal to make interference with a business model a felony absent reasonable cause ("reasonable cause" to be determined by Sony Corporation) punishable by up to 30 years in prison and fines of no less than $150,000 per interference. Given that your state senator has worked for Sony in the past, and will no doubt work for us again in the future, his vote on this legislation seems obvious.
We hope that, given the above, you will come around to see our side of things and we can resolve this situation amicably. Our research on you indicates that you seem to have built a nice life for yourself. Would be a shame if anything were to happen to it.
Sincerely,
Sony
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Before that I thought Sony to be a reputable company. After I learned how well they stood behind their products, I refused to buy anything with the Sony name on it. It's cost them a bundle over time.
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Sony? Another fine product from the people who brought us World war Two...
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Re: Sony? Another fine product from the people who brought us World war Two...
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Non Sony Products
Three months ago bought a new PC ... NOT SONY
Eight months ago bought a new cellphone ... NOT SONY
None moths ago the wife bought a new cellphone ... NOT SONY
One year ago bought a 24" LCD monitor ... NOT SONY
Two years ago bought a new 19" LCD monitor ... NOT SONY
Three years ago bought two mp3 players ... NOT SONY
Friends ask me what brand should they buy ... NOT SONY
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Not smart.
And for the record, they asked him if he was interested.. Not offered him a job. Recruiters dont hire people. They funnel qualified individuals to the people that do the hiring. Lets not get it misconstrued.
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"For those saying "I'm going to regret being principled", etc. Probably not. Android App sales have been more than good to me."
What were you saying?
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So, why should he not turn down a potential job with a company whose very business practices he disagrees with?
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At some point, many people (particularly talented people who can afford to be choosey) learn that while having money is better than not, it is seldom worth giving up one's principles or happiness to get it, if only because it can be had elsewhere at a lower price.
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Koush posted comments on Reddit in regards to this, he turned down an interview, not a job, out of principle. And Android app sales "have been more than good" to him.
Nothing more to it than that, so if you kool-aid drinkers wouldn't mind fucking off now. (Directed at the trolls, and its like they say, if you are looking around and you can't figure out who the trolls are, its you)
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Koush, if you get wind of this, I loudly applaud you, ClockworkMod Recovery, and Rom Manager. I have your software installed on all my Android devices, and by the way, all my coworkers' devices if they let me help them.
I work in IT. Its true, I do. I'm a huge fan of both Koush and Geohot. All the developers I work with are too, in fact.
And, last time I checked, talent recruiters aren't in the know, regarding legal actions taken by the legal arm of the same company. In fact, had she been in on the whole George Hotz deal, she would have most likely tried to get Sony to hire him to work on a way to meet both his goal of opening PS3 back up to the Other OS option, while also meeting Sony's requirement to prevent pirated software from running on their machines. I hope Sara McRae doesn't get into trouble over this, she was just doing her job, and probably doing it well if she's trying to reach out to Koush, one of the saviors of the Android Community.
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If he'd thought about it...
Trying to beat down the door just makes them get a bigger door. If they open the door for you, leap through before they can close it.
I can't believe someone so smart was stupid enough to let the chance to get on the inside pass by :(
If he'd gotten into the R&D team, he might have been able to show them the benefits of having a more open platform.
Make some friends in the right place, bend a couple of ears in his direction; change comes slow, but the big wheels do turn.
Loyalty to a cause is not about falling on your sword for the sake of another person. If you find the oppourtunity to advance your cause, take it, even if it means you have to drink the kool-aid.
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Joining the company would practically means he have to give up all the freeware development for a few years if he don't want Sony owns them, which would means huge loss to the community.
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But think about what he'd have to give up to get on the inside. He's too essential to the Android Community. If he were on the inside, he'd most likely have to give up ClockworkMod Recovery and Rom Manager, because all Sony would have to do to shut him up is to begin development of an Anroid powered PSP-Phone. Oh... Wait.
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no changing sony
I think you're a little to optimistic in the possibility of one newcomer changing the culture of a huge established corporation...
Sony's only goal is money, and open source is not the road to that.
They will not be swayed. and I doubt this guy wants to be fired from a company he didn't want to work at in the first place.
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Um...
'Happy Friday!' ... 'Talent Acquisition Department' ... four point elipsis...
It's as fake as a fake thing.
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Having an unconventional greeting, an uninspired department name and poor grammar doesn't seem like compelling evidence that something is fake.
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