I can only hope they brick anyone's console that uses any of the hacks but they will never do it.

1.  Your PS3 can't connect to the servers if it isn't connected.  Easy to get around. 
2.  All it takes is one mistake and they have an even larger shit storm on their hands.
3.  It would be incredibly easy to say well they screwd up and produce a massive shit storm for Sony.

The problem here (and that's a good problem) is that alot of people will think that this hack is complete, because you can sign your games so the PS3 think it's legit, so they won't think that there's a risk going online. So fucking ban them Sony, hackers should remain on PC.

That must mean that online service is secure...Glad to hear.

And there are a few problems with that thinking:

1.  The PS3 thinks the app is legit and the app can be named whatever they want it to be.  I don't know what gets sent to the Sony servers on startup but I doubt it the name, size, and location of every app.  If so, they could just name it Mega Man 9 or some other PSN game and suddenly the PS3 thinks it's legit.  There are certain things Sony can discern but there isn't some magic wand that tells all.  If the app is signed, it's legit.

2.  If it were a problem, the app could like on a USB stick and be launched from the USB stick.  I doubt the PS3 takes the time to fully scan every connected USB drive at startup because that takes a significant amount of time.

3.  Finally, a guide comes with every one of those hacks that tells you exactly how to set it up, what to do, and most importantly, what not to do.  There will be those that don't follow the directions, but I'm sure the guides will warn them of the dangers.

If the ps3 is constantly connecting to servers even when we're not logged into PSN, then why do we still have to sync our trophies.  -_-

It's to make you think they're not watching.

Everyone, get your tinfoil hats!

OT: I'm OK with homebrew for emulators and such. If they use it to pirate games, bring the banhammer.

Pure speculation on my part, I dont know too much of the overall scope of the hack (besides what I read online, which I will take as potential truth at best), but I think best bet to contain the hacks will be to do online checks against online services.  Even doing a MD5 hash checksum on the running firmware will pretty quickly let Sony know if the MD5 hash matches the original hash they released.  Anything that does not match could be considered altered/custom.  I would imagine it would be difficult to mimic a MD5 hash.

Of course this is only for devices that connect to the internet.  Im sure its possible to disable checks, fake DNS entries, submit fake info, but that would most likely eliminate you from using online services.

The most likely scenario will be that this will turn into a game of cat and mouse (aka damage control).  In order to use CFW, you will either need to forego online services or jump through hoops.  Best case for Sony would be that if you create enough hoops often enough, you will curtail your CFW population.  Like everyone has said prior, every system has some subset of its marketshare that have compromised the console. 

The situation sucks for publishers and development houses.  Sony will take some heat from each, but will probably sell more gear.  This would be something I would go after if I was 13 again.  I can pay for my games and want to reward developers for jobs well done.  As for homebrew, I modded my old original Xbox and wanted to check out XBMC.  It was cool in practice, I just never really used it.

1.  i doubt that they had the foresight to send the size and location of whatever you have running, but tomorrow they could start requiring it.  your ps3 has no control over what their servers require.  if you cant/wont give what they are asking for then you get flagged for psn ban

2.   theyre definitely not checking your usbs, and they wont start, what if you have a 500gb external hd? but that doesnt change that it doesnt matter if you run something from usb or from xmb, the effect is the same.  they could require you send things to them to check what it is that youre running from the usb, a movie? picture? game? the ps3 has a pretty short list of what it supports, it wouldnt require much for sony to check what everyone is doing on their ps3.

3.  it doesnt matter what the directions tell you, sony could have you sending security checks to their servers at regular intervals so that whatever youre doing they know.  security checks at half hour intervals is very unlikely, but if youre thinking about using another firmware you should be ready to have an offline console.

if youre not logged into psn then who would it give the trophies to?  the trophies are tied to psn accounts