Sony Seeks Expedited Information On Hotz' Fellow PS3 Hackers

New court documents issued by Sony show the company attempting to extend its case regarding the recent high-level hack of the PS3 firmware past well-known defendant George "GeoHot" Hotz, to others who may be involved in the case. In court documents sent to hacking community site PSX-Scene.com, legal representation for Sony Computer Entertainment America "disputes whether Hotz has disclosed all relevant facts" surrounding his work on the hack. Specifically, Sony questions his contact with anonymous and thus-far unreachable members of the Fail0verflow team that was first responsible for publicizing the PS3 hack, as well as third parties hosting information on the hack. To that end, Sony is seeking expedited response to subpoenas issued to YouTube, Twitter, Google, PayPal and sites like Slashdot, Kickstarter and Github for information regarding accounts maintained by Hotz and others. In the documents, SCEA argues the faster-than-normal discovery process is necessary in part to "identify the Fail0verflow Defendants and other culpable entities so appropriate action can be taken against them for the distribution of the illegal circumvention devices." "The infringers will continue to distribute the illicit circumvention devices while SCEA must wait to be heard on its request to discover the identities and locations of those infringers," the documents continue. The new requests are the latest in a series of legal wranglings surrounding the hack, first revealed late last year, which provides a method for discovering and using the security keys that prevent the running of unauthorized code on the PS3. Last month, a California court issued a temporary restraining order against Hotz regarding distribution of information surrounding the hack. Hotz has contested that ruling and is seeking a dismissal of the case. Code-sharing site Github recently removed files regarding the hack after a DMCA takedown notice from SCEA. Hotz has previously said he did not intend the hack to be used for piracy, though Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward warns the hack has left some of its online games open to attack.