Los Angeles – Sony (NYSE: SNE) has asked a federal judge to compel Google and Twitter
to turn over the identities of users believed to be involved with sharing code
that can be used to "jailbreak" its PlayStation 3 video game console,
so it can play pirated software, Wired.com reports.
According to court
documents, Sony is seeking the personal details of YouTube and Twitter users
"to determine the identities of third parties hosting and distributing"
the code, so it can serve them with legal papers.
The requests from Sony come
as part of its case against 21-year-old hacker George Hotz, who the company
sued for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), after he
published a video on YouTube detailing how to jailbreak the PlayStation 3 last
month.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has already ordered Hotz to take down
the YouTube video and related jailbreak code from his personal website.
Sony
further believes Twitter users including @KaKaRoToKS, @gnihsub, @pytey,
@bl4sty, @marcan42 and @fail0verflow were responsible for distributing PS3
jailbreak code.
A hearing on Sony’s expansion of its lawsuit to seek the identities of YouTube and Twitter users is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, according to Wired.
Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/sony-lawsuit-factory/
http://tinyurl.com/4um6q4c
(DMW previous coverage)
