Sony allowed to identify visitors to PS3 hacker's site

A US court has granted a subpoena to Sony in its legal battle against PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz, allowing the firm to view visitor logs to his site as it attempts to examine the reach of the jailbreak.

Reports Wired, hosting services Google and Bluehost have been ordered to release "all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms" for Hotz' sites.

The order covers logs from January 2009 to the present date, and forms part of Sony's attempt to demonstrate that the case should be tried in its preferred locale of California, despite Hotz himself being based in New Jersey.

With the logs' help, it now seeks to prove that a relevant number of those potentially accessing the hack were based in California.

Also covered by the subpoena are YouTube and Twitter, with the former required to provide "all records or usernames and IP addresses that have posted or published comments" made in response to the video that demonstrated Hotz' jailbreaking of the PS3.

Twitter, meanwhile, must offer up "documents sufficient to identify all names, addresses, and telephone numbers associated with [Hotz's] Twitter account".