someone answered that one above

cut and paste time:

"1 there is NO WAY to run code that isn't approved by sony on the latest firmware, because although its been opened up it hasn't been cracked. so people worrying about malicious signed pretending-to-be-sony code is just as pointless as worrying about malicious unsigned creeped-out-of-the-gutter code.

so it goes back to being an issue of not getting on PSN for modders who can't update. nobody is going to somehow magically send your PS3 some dodgy code and make it blow up, signed, unsigned or co-signed which is what most of the crying and shouting seems to be about.

2 see above. i'd imagine the majority of people who arent modding don't care what sony runs on their console. do they know what the console has been doing / running the last six months or a year that they've had their console for? of course they don't, they haven't got a clue other than it comes on when they press the power button."

what on earth do you think sony are going to do to your console or data? what information do you have stored on the console that is so terrifying to you? as far as i can remember, everything like payment information & personal details are stored on the playstation network, NOT the console - so what is the problem if you're not modding?

has everyone just suddenly woken up from a deep sleep and realised "holy cow, we have no idea how these consoles sitting in our front room the last 5 years work"?

Wrong answer, try again

Spelling it out time:

S O N Y ' s c o d e r u n o n m y c o n s o l e w i t h o u t m y a p p r o v a l i s m a l i c i o u s b y d e f i n i t i o n

You really can't be serious saying that I should not care what a networked piece of equipment in my house is doing?

"what on earth do you think sony are going to do to your console or data?"

Well, they can stop the console from playing a specific game, for example - remember 1984 on Kindle? Or kill your console altogether, if they want to for some concocted "intellectual property" violation.

You seem to be saying there is nothing wrong with Sony doing such thing but I believe you are gravely mistaken.

no, you try again

"You really can't be serious saying that I should not care what a networked piece of equipment in my house is doing?"

Unless you're hacking your console to bits with mod tools, please explain what ANYBODY who isnt a modder knows what the inner workings of their console is doing. as evidenced by the reaction to this, people seem to think consoles work with magic pixie dust.

if you care so much, pop it open, see for yourself then stay offline if you disagree or buy something else. the constant modding & cracking leaves sony little choice at this point.

"what on earth do you think sony are going to do to your console or data?"

"Well, they can stop the console from playing a specific game, for example - remember 1984 on Kindle? Or kill your console altogether, if they want to for some concocted "intellectual property" violation."

Wait, this is getting silly now. consoles in the current gen have ALWAYS been able to out and out ban a username from a specific game, or indeed ban the console forever if evidence of cheating and / or piracy has been found. ps3, xbox, have done this for YEARS. 1984 and kindle has absolutely no relevance at all to someone having their console banned if they trip enough checks and flags for cheating.

and if you don't want to be pulled for "IP violation", the solution is simple: DON'T GO ONLINE WITH A MODDED BOX.

other than preventing your online access I'm struggling to see what danger there is to your data - most (or all) of which is stored on the PSN, outside of your console and effectively outside of your control if someone happens to hack your PSN account while you're tucked up in bed.

and as mentioned elsewhere, the person who first started this on IRC has now said he didn't claim there was a rootkit, just that he'd seen "some evidence" of remote activity.

still don't see the big deal.

OK, if you insist

If you read carefully you will finally realise (I hope) that I don't talk about breaking the network rules etc but about manufacturer interfering with hardware in a way that affects its offline functions.

Like revoking device or content keys which will stop your PS3 from playing at all or from accepting specific discs (which you may have bought legally, but which the rights holder decided he does not want you to use anymore).

I know BD specs (AACS actually) provides for these things anyway - that's why I'll never pay for anything BD, but that code execution function makes it easier for Sony to enforce that crap and to extend it to things not covered by AACS.

You may say that it's within Sony's rights but that is the whole bloody point you people seem incapable of understanding - it may well be within their rights (because of corruption or incompetence or negligence of lawmakers) but it should not be.

Yes, but

"theres two products here, the hardware which is yours and the network which isn't ."

The problem is that running code without your authorisation is not part of the network service if it affects the offline functionality of the hardware which has nothing to do with using the network.

When you are banned from PSN

The only thing you can't do is access anything through PSN, or that requires a PSN auithentication. Your console is still capable of browsing the Intenet. but since online games require PSN authentication it's largely pointless.

I own the hardware...

I can run any software that I own, or own a license to run, on my hardware. If I run Linux on my hardware, I am allowed to connect to the Internet, provided that my ISP allows me to connect to the Internet. I'm allowed to run games on my Linux PS3, provided I have bought the license to run the game. I'm allowed to run my legal backup copy of said games as well.

I don't have any right to play online games on PSN using my Linux PS3. That's because of the TOS of PSN, and that is still slightly dodgy.

accuracy, where art thou?

"he was blasting bittorrent while praising MS's own propitiatory P2P client over it.... he also got an MVP award from Microsoft, hmmm..."

aside from thinking a microsoft award would make him more inclined to bash a rival than defend it (or at least show some restraint before jumping on the "omg ps3 virus incoming" bandwagon), if youre gonna mention well known adware stories from the past couple of years at least do more than skim related articles then post incorrect information.

you must be refering to this http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1829724,00.asp where john dvorak brought up the MS p2p system that had not been mentioned anywhere in relation to that story - nor did anyone "bash bittorrent", numerous researchers including boyd, pcpitsop and other sites highlighted potentially illegal content mixed up in supposedly legit adware bundles from some of the biggest adware companies of the day http://www.pcpitstop.com/spycheck/badtorrent.asp

dvoraks article was so silly that eweek called him out on it. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/There-Is-No-Conspiracy-Against-BitTorrent/

to my knowledge, nobody involved in that research then or since ever mentioned avalanche besides dvorak. so no, nobody "bashed bittorent" and five minutes reading would have brought you to the same conclusion.

"First of all, anyone here with a brain knows how useless and baseless a TOS or EULA is"

EULAs go to court all the time, and many lawyers work with it all the time like these guys http://www.aftab.com/

whether you complain about a EULA afterwards or not the damage is done, and console provider / software creator has probably already done what they wanted to do, or has the power to do it unless you take some drastic action. after the fact is too late, agree and go into it or refuse and go elsewhere. if you're not aware of eula / ToS / contract law going into court on a regular basis, you should probably stop commenting on it right now.

"Second, he basically confirmed that there IS a rootkit, so how has this "rumor" been "debunked" exactly?"

most of the comments i can see from him here were lifted from informal discussions with others on twitter where the basis was IF this exists, then it probably isn't a big deal - but if it does, there's not much you can do about it but you're not going to end up with your console exploding. mashing unrelated comments from elsewhere out of context and combining with whatever he said to the register causes some confusion imho, but its not particularly hard to work out.

btw did you miss above that the matheiu guy who first mentioned this has now said he never claimed a rookit shipped? mass hysteria over NOTHING.

"Finally, once it's inner workings are disassembled, and they will be, ANYONE can send a command through "the tubes" and wreck havoc, and SONY will be the one to blame for putting this backdoor in there on purpose in the first place."

take a deep breath, then clearly highlight how someone will send "a command through the tubes" to do something malicious to my PS3. if you can't do this, you're pulling ideas out of the sky.

"I would not be surprised if Sony paid off this guy, he has shown to be arguing for the sake of whoever gives him recognition or money in the past. "

you're back to your incorrect assumptions about the bittorrent thing, aren't you? but i'll play ball:

1) he often complains about microsoft on his various blogs, and has been very vocal in the security shortcomings of both their console and their operating systems at conferences and elsewhere. it seems the "bias" extends to you picking and choosing what to highlight.

2) who has "given him money in the past"?