[conspire] War on Innovation

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> This is probably not news to participants of Conspire.  What is
> significant is that it comes from a large professional organization.
> 
> http://www.todaysengineer.org/2011/Apr/innovation.asp

Yes, thank you for mentioning that, Paul.  Sony Computer Entertainment
America's ('SCEA's') actions in the matter of entirely blameless
if not inspiring 21-year-old PS3 hobbyist George Holtz have been
actually even more horrific and despicable than the article indicates.
Here is EFF's coverage:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/04/sony-v-hotz-ends-whimper-i-mean-gag-order

  [...]
  What Sony gets in the settlement (based on the final judgment filed
  yesterday): George Hotz agrees to leave Sony alone.  Really alone. 
  Since Hotz has announced he's joining the boycott of Sony products, 
  that may not seem like much to give up. But Hotz has agreed to do 
  more than simply avoid hacking any Sony products; he has agreed not 
  to even link to anyone else's research on Sony products, or to share 
  any Sony confidential information he might receive, even if he obtains 
  it legally. In other words, Hotz is now under a gag order.
  [...]

One notes also that Holz was pummeled into agreeing that _even_ the full
terms of his permanent corporate endenture must be considered
confidential and never revealed to anyone.   And also that Sony won a
subpoena for the IP addresses of everyone who visited Holtz's Web site
-- i.e., they're not only grinding Holz under the iron heel but also 
spying on you, me, and everyone else (again).

Sony have become not merely the ordinary sort of corporate mafiosi that
they revealed themselves to be during the sordid Sony rootkit scandal;
I now consider them brutal thugs without any redeeming quality, and they 
basically need to be shunned from society, completely.

See also:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/224949/sony_george_hotz_settle_ps3_hacking_lawsuit.html

I think the latter will be a suitable link on the front page of
linuxmafia.com for the word 'Sony'.  The EFF and _Today's Engineer_ 
articles just aren't angry enough, whereas the the _PC World_ piece,
albeit dispassionate in itself, doesn't hide the consuming rage of just
about everyone outside the corporate mafia gates.