Sony Going All Out To Support Garage Developers on the Playstation Vita

[Reasonable]

thranx said:

mchaza said:

thranx said:

Ajescent said:
Ppl will still want to hack the psv just so they can do the homebrew thing because you know...nothing better than 8bit pong right?

people will do it becuase its their device and they can do what they want. Legally. No matter how much it seems to diplease you, people can still legally hack and alter their own devices to their wildest dreams. Crazy idea i know, that people can do what they want with the things they own. What a shame.

its illegal to hack and alter the software without permission of SONY, so they can delete the software and program there own if you want because the hardware is yours. 

I have not found any case in which that is true. As far as I know they are allowed to alter the programming too

What do you mean by "programming"?  The hardware is yours to do with what you want but OS and Software is normally a different story.  For example you never "own" Windows OS the way you own your computer.  The OS is treated differently and the code is considered Microsoft's IP and not for you to tamper with without breaking the terms of the licence under which you use the code.

While I agree hacking isn't always bad or even unfounded there is no doubt that with the huge move to online across the board, from phones to consoles to TVs, etc. the whole distinction between the hardware and the software and what is yours to do with as you will is getting cloudy, particularly as a core principle of do with what you own as you will is that it only affects you - whereas of course in the online world it can affect others.  For example someone might want to hack to cheat and others might want that prevented.  I might want to alter my OS to allow me to harm your computer if we connect and you might not want me to of course.

I suspect we'll see changes of legislation eventually to try and better accomodate current trends, etc. but as ever anything legal seems to lag for ages behind the real world in these kinds of areas, as does general awareness of the whole issues, which I think is the real core problem - a disconnect between where we are now with such devices, the general perception of consumers which is often out of date and a legal system based on principles/concepts which no longer really accurately relfect the situation.

Not that this is anything new - I'm sure the first time someone could record a live concert the musicians weren't necessarily keen on it if they weren't going to see any money from the copy.  It's an old problem in many ways and has been around for a long time across various media.