Sony's Neverending War Against The Freedom To Tinker And Innovate

We recently compared Sony's lawsuit against GeoHot for adding functionality (that Sony had removed) to PS3s, to Sony's attack on Aibo hackers a decade ago. With somewhat perfect timing, Philip Torrone has now put together a full list of Sony's ongoing "war" against "makers, hackers and innovators." You can read all the details at the link, but here's the list that he's working from:

• Sony DMCA delayed disclosure of Sony BMG rootkit vulnerability
• Sony threatens Aibo hobbyists for creating software that enables Sony’s Aibo robot dog to dance
• Sony sues Connectix and Bleem to block software that allows gamers to play their PlayStation games on PCs
• Sony attacks PlayStation “Mod Chips” and enforces a system of “region coding”
• Sony sued Gamemasters, distributor of the Game Enhancer peripheral device, which allowed owners of a U.S. PlayStation console to play games purchased in Japan and other countries
• Sony removes OtherOS option, removes Linux support
• Sony is suing makers, hackers, and tinkers for jailbreaking of the PS3 to play homebrew games

What's really amazing in all of this is that Sony keeps making the same anti-maker mistakes over and over and over again. It's as if they don't understand that these people are adding value and making Sony products more valuable.

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