GeoHot Criticizes Sony's "Arrogance"

Hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz has responded with a slight chuckle to Sony's current PSN meltdown. He denies he had anything to do with it and condemns those who did, but he also blames Sony's "arrogance" for the situation.

On his blog Hotz sympathizes with gamers and those who may have gotten their personal data taken, and clarifies how he thinks Sony got it wrong. "... Let's not fault the Sony engineers for this... The fault lies with the executives who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts. Alienating the hacker community is not a good idea."

Hotz's distaste for Sony's lawyers likely hasn't abated since he reached a court settlement with the company earlier this month over his involvement in the publishing of the PS3 root key.

Regardless of the legal tussle, Hotz's stances on homebrew gaming and hacking in general remain the same. "To me, a hacker is just somebody with a set of skills; hacker is to computer as plumber is to pipes. And the same ethics should apply, if you want to mess with the pipes in your own house, go for it. But don't go breaking into people's houses and messing with their pipes. (Note that I do not endorse water piracy)"

[via ingame]