Sony wins temporary restraining order against Hotz
First step in long legal battle favours Sony
Sony has been granted a temporary restraining order against George Hotz and the hacking group fail0verflow after they published root key details and cracks for the PlayStation 3.
The order forbids Hotz from hacking any PlayStation hardware, distributing or linking to the jailbreak for the PlayStation 3, or helping others to do so, according to documents reprinted on Engadget.
Last year Hotz released an exploit for the PlayStation 3, while earlier this year fail0verflow released information on how to completely circumvent security measures for the system.
It's only the first step for Sony, but it has proven to the court that PlayStation 3 jailbreaks can cause ongoing harm to the business. Although Hotz is forbidden from distributing the crack, it is still widely available over the internet.
Sony has is also seeking to impound any of Hotz' hardware and software that store or details PlayStation 3 security circumvention, and claiming the defendants have violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Copyright Act and related common laws covered by the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.