Sony and GeoHot Reach Agreement

Sony has now reached a settlement with George Hotz, also known as GeoHot.  Hotz came under fire from Sony after releasing the PlayStation 3′s encryption key and other tools which allowed users to install home-brewed applications, custom firmware and play pirated video games.

Hotz was accused of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which protects a company’s device from “circumvention devices” used to decrypt copy-protection.

By settling, GeoHot has agreed to never reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any Sony product.  Doing so will result in a $10,000 fine, per offense.  He also agreed not to “bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism.”

In a statement to Wired.com, Hotz wrote, “I am not able to speak on this matter without breaching my settlement agreement. Therefore, I have no comment other than this one. With that said, I do not like censorship, and I do not like censoring myself. Rest assured I am still fighting the good fight, in the best way I know how.”

“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”