Another one who thinks people don't have the right to hack stuff that belongs to them?

That has been discussed at length in other threads. I guess you belong to the team which thinks consoles still belong to Sony after they already sold them. So nothing new to argue about here either...

No, I'm more a conservative who:

a) Hates piracy

b) Hates little American teens with big mouths (and I'm guessing a lot of hackers fit this description)

c) Hates harm coming to companies that provide me with products and services that I enjoy

Why would you defend Hotz? What good has he done? He is bad for business, and if he was threatening the profits of my company, I'd hunt him down like a cheetah.

I defend him because he didn't do anything illegal, and unlike you I don't think that "being bad for business" is reason to beat up someone.

You sound like you would be a good mafia lord...

If you work in IT/Security, you'd understand how people seem to have all the time.

They usually either work their asses off or have nothing to do. The later more, usually.

Hacking Sony may actually be a good experience for them since they get a real system that they could try and break. So, it really only take a little excuse for them to join in the "fun".

It is illegal in my eyes, and the eyes of many.

Sure, your principle is correct that once you buy a product it is yours and you should be able to alter it. But you have to have a moral code above that principle - harm should not come from any alterations. For example if I buy chemicals and create a virus, sure the chemicals are mine, but you can't justify the alteration.

Common sense has to prevail. We should be trying to help companies/the economy when ever we can.

Funny, the guy who thinks someone should be beat up for being bad for business talking about moral codes.

What he did can be used for good or for bad, don't even compare it with making a virus.

Jailbreaking devices is legal.

But not in the eyes of the law yet hence why Sony bailed out and settled with Hotz rather than taking him to the cleaners.  In th eyes that matter Hotz did NOTHING wrong, that's fact.

If he did do something illegal he'd be in jail not just sued by another company, what he did wrong was release information about how other people can hack their systems. I'm sure Sony had, not only, no way of knowing if he was but couldn't care less if this 1 customer hacked their 1 console or not but  if this customer hacked to allow it to play pirated games and then told everyone else how to do it, this is wrong and concerns Sony as it is damaging both their products and profits.

Ah, that rings a bell. Not security line of IT but IT none the less and this can hold true so often, 1 week, worked off my feet with numerous overtime hours clocked, the next, little to do.

But I don't get so bored that I use my experience in my field to do illegal stuff (not that you can with web development but still).

You have the right to hack things that belong to you but when you compromise the integrity other people's enjoyment THEN you are drawing firstblood. Did Geohot REALLY need to release his hack knowing full well it could lead to more headaches than necessary.

And also, no matter how you look at it, there's no way to justify stealing people's info.

He opened up a product for piracy; piracy that would harm the profits of a very important company that provides vital competition and employs over 150,000 people. The Piracy would also affect the whole developing community. Basically, his actions could have led to very damaging consequences for many, many people.

I don't believe this should be promoted. Anyway, i'l leave it at that - we obviously aren't going to agree here.