By 
Infamous hardware hacker Geohot has a bit of a history with Sony. His Playstation 3 hacking landed him in some hot water, legally. But that isn’t stopping the rebellious jailbreaker of the iPhone from venturing deeper into Sony’s product line. He has recently voiced his intention to be the first person to root the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
Geohot won’t have to worry about legal action, as rooting is not considered an illegal act in the US, and we’re sure he’d be happy to add the device to his growing list of projects. In fact, it is as if he sees it as his personal duty to root the device:
I do take this whole matter very seriously. Again, it’s not about me, I was on the verge of quitting this stuff last June, and I would hate to be the one who sets a reputation for hackers that all a company has to do is sue us and we back down. In fact, I want the opposite reputation set, that the more a company tries to abuse the legal system, the harder we rally back. I will be the first person in line on the launch date of the Xperia Play, and itching to get my hands on the Next GEOHOT Project.
Given the voraciously quick nature of the Android root community, Geohot will need to act quickly to be the first to get the Xperia Play cracked.
[via GadgetsDNA]
LMAO @ geohotz. Even after Sony sues him he still is at it, LOL. This’ll be a slap in the face to sony, Good for Geohotts!
I applaud him! Don’t back down, these are our devices!
Btw, I could see the xperia play becoming HUGE with the things Geo does with it. The man is bigger in the playstation world than cyanogenmod is in the android world.
Hahaha! They sued me! So I’ll be first in line to buy each of their new products! That’ll teach them. Right?
Rooting the Experia is not in the same field as hacking the PS3. Not until people start pirating the games that it plays like how regular apps are going around. So this wont really piss Sony off as much as he’d like to think. And when the piracy starts, guess who is first in line for the lawsuit hammer?
lol, we get phones rooted like a week before their even out sometimes, good luck geohot, I enjoy your spirit~!!
@James
What makes you think he HAS to buy them to root? Root has been achieved without the device before look at the ATRIX4G not even released yet but its already rooted.
This guy is hilarious. Give him a medal for having balls of steel!
Geohot is a twat though.
@2FRESH: Pretty sure you can’t root a device without having it. Atrix hasn’t been released yet does not mean that nobody has it. The proof that it is rooted involves a picture of a rooted Atrix.
BTW, if this phone has security similar to an Xperia X10, it might take a while to get root access.
@Ace Curry – yes but on the other hand, if the software is similar then half of the work is already done as the x10 is rooted. Hopefully this will help get the bootloader unlocked for the xperia range too :)
S-everal
O-pportunities
N-eglected
Y-early
We need to get him on the Droid X, Atrix bootloader…someone send him a Sony phone with a Droid X or Atrix guts…
I hope some beats him to it.
@tim: That is a good point. Hopefully, only time can tell. Just saying Sony security is pretty strict, it took months to get the X10 rooted.
lmao.
It would really be well for Sony if they swallow their pride, hire Geohot and train and educate him further to design the PS4’s security and their phones to be uncrackable.
Dude! Just stick to messing with the iphone! You brought more harm then good with the ps hack!
Who gives a what if that little douche roots it. It’s not like it would be a milestone of any sort. And did he really say he takes this all very seriously? Really? After that weak ass little rap video?
@Keller
He’s bigger in the PlayStation world than cyanogenmod in the Android scene? Did you reeeeally just say that? Give him his props for hacking the PS3, but be for real..
His rooting motives are for the rights of consumers to do what they like with what they purchase. Seems fair to me.
Geohot is a deluded moron. I couldn’t give a rats ass if he hacks the handset, big deal. He says companies “abuse the legal system”? er, no, they are simply applying the law as it stands. There is nothing to stop him doing what he wants to his device, but when he brags about it and publishes what he’s done online then he’s overstepped the legal line. Crying about it won’t change the law. I hope Sony nail his butt to the wall.
Geohot doesn’t do this to help anyone, he does it to boost his ego “look at me, look at how clever I am”.
He’s a loser who doesn’t deserve any of the attention the tech media give him.
Agree 100% with you meeple.
You are a twat Geohot leave my station alone.
Damn what a tard, I hope Sony sues him into oblivion.
@meeple
QFT
He was sued for hacking the Ps3 yes, but he didn’t really do anything.. Just bragged about hacking the PS when he hadn’t and the media blew it out of proportion… PSJailbreak is what “hacked” the PS3 and that was not his doing. Yet he is the one infamous for “hacking” the PS3 which he couldn’t have actually done without PSJailbreak….. Funny how that works isn’t it?
No now he wants to root an Xperia Play.
Nothing illegal there. The Android comuninty roots phone all the time and no legal action can be taken against us for it. US Copyright Office says so.
I say he’s playing it safe for once..
Good luck at being the first tho.
hmmm, “Next Geohot Project” Sony’s NGP maybe lol
Damn a lot of Sony Ponies in here. All he did was “root” the PS3 (lol) and shared it (freedom of speech). The Defense Force has all their feathers riled up!
Why is it when someone supports a corporation (using freedom of speech) it’s ok to shoot them down?
Geohot is doing nothing useful, he’s just a kid that likes to take his toys apart and I don’t have a problem with that, but when he slaps it all over the internet, knowing full well what the ramifications are likely to be, then it becomes techno-vandalism.
What if someone cracked the code for remote car keys and published that online? How could it NOT be that persons fault if thousands of cars were stolen using his hack? “Oh, I was just saying it could be done, I don’t condone car theft” – Oh, well, that’s ok then, off you go. We’ll deal with the fall out you created. Don’t you worry yourself about it.
The guy is a pr!ck
cant we all just get along. who cares really. you people get all worked up for nuttin
@meeple So you are saying that since he created and distributed the tools he’s guilty of all the crimes others committed with them? That’s like saying anyone who manufactured a gun is responsible for any deaths attributed to that weapon. Our society is full of tools that could potentially be used for criminal activities, so where do you draw the line? Should crowbars be banned? Baseball bats? Slim jims? Lockpicks? These all have valid non-criminal uses, as does the PS3 Hack.
The bottom line for me is if I bought a device, I own it, and I should be able to use it in any way I see fit so long as I don’t infringe on anyone else’s rights (i.e. pirating).
ha its perfectly legal on a phone hope he sticks it to sony on this wii and xbox sales boosted when they got jailbroken dont exactly see what sony’s problem is they make money and create an update that would block the hack geohot redesigns a hack and life goes on with every one happy
phones get rooted all the time but the play is not just a phone yes phones get rooted before they get relesed but he will enable homebrew and before you know it websited will be deticated to creating homebrew games and probly some pirated hope he rapes that device to take as much profit away from sony as possible the largest corp in the world souldn’t care if he unlocks a few devices
It’s a shame there are some many people who can’t see past Geohot towards the bigger picture. Anyone who owns ANY device connected online should care if Geohot wins. This case is about whether you are “authorized” to access your own system. Sony says no, Geohot says yes. Sony hasn’t alleged Geohot with piracy, cheating, etc. They are alleging he accessed his system without “authorization” from Sony.
Sony removed OtherOS (and are now facing a class action lawsuit – see Groklaw.net) and believes it has the right to remove features. It also believes it can tell you what is “authorized” on your system. If Sony wins, will no longer own our devices. They’ll all be licensed from corporations and will require their consent. Want to watch that anti-Sony documentary? Sorry. When you bought your TV you entered into an agreement giving Sony the right to filter content at it’s discretion. Want to play that new Blu-Ray movie? Nope. It poses a security threat and Sony won’t allow it to be played. Enjoying that picture-in-picture function? Too bad. It’s being removed. If you chose not to upgrade and lose that feature, you will not longer be able to watch tv in color. Think I’m exaggerating? Sony has already done this with the removal of OtherOS, and it is trying to exert even more control. I, for one, don’t not want to live in Sony’s proposed world.
Idiots this geohot guy is a ginus if you don’t like the hack don’t use it you aint intelgent enough to do this so please shut up and geohot come on I want this hack bad