In a lame attempt to direct traffic to their pathetic websites, a website has reported that Geohot has "fled" the country after court documents reveal a PSN account alleged to belong to him. Normally, we would not report on something so completely ridiculous but, unfortunately, this nonsense is starting to spread to mainstream websites.
Hotz is currently on vacation in a South American country. As common sense would dictate, there is no reason to "flee" from a civil case. These sites have based their claims on misinterpretations of the court documents and an image (see below) posted on Geohot's blog. Way to put two and two together, guys!
In the future, we recommend only getting your news from reputable sites, not random video game blogs. When there's something real to report on the case, you''ll read it here, as always. For the record, we are referring to the original source of the article, a blog called VGHQ.NET that just set itself up on March 1, 2011. Why mainstream news sites would source them is beyond me but let the conspiracy theories fly.
UPDATE: IGN has received a comment on this false story from Stewart Kellar, Hotz's attorney, who confirms he is in constant contact with Geohot in regards to the case.
Quote:
"The 'integral components' SCEA is talking about are stock controller cards, not the hard drives themselves," Kellar told IGN in an e-mail. "The neutral subsequently had to explain to SCEA the form and function of hard drive controller cards. Those controller cards have since been provided to the neutral so the point is moot."
Kellar also states Hotz is using the donation money he received for the lawsuit only and will donate any leftover funds after the case has been resolved.
"You can never take a vacation from a lawsuit. Mr. Hotz has had to make himself available 24/7 for this litigation, which has been quite demanding on him," he said. "You have to remember that Mr. Hotz didn't choose to fight this battle, but now that he has been sued, he has put his heart into fighting this case that has enormous implications for consumers world-wide."
"As for any question as to whether Mr. Hotz has used donation money to take a trip to South America, that's pretty silly. Litigating against a massive company like Sony, who is represented by five attorneys, is very costly for a 21-year-old," Kellar added. "The donation money George has received is being used exclusively for his legal defense. If there are any funds left after the lawsuit, George is planning to donate the money to the EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation]."
In addition, Wired magazine was able to reach Kellar for comments...
Quote:
Stewart Kellar, Hotz’s attorney, said the issue is overblown.
“They didn’t have the controller card attached. That’s it,” Kellar said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his San Francisco office.
He said that Hotz has since turned over the cards, solving the problem.
Sony did not respond for comment.
Hotz, who is also well-known in iPhone hacking circles, so far is fighting the case on jurisdictional grounds, and maintains he should be sued in New Jersey instead of California.
As part of that battle, Sony claimed that it uncovered evidence that Hotz maintained an account on Sony’s PlayStation Network, which is based in Northern California. Hotz had denied holding a PSN account.
In its filing, Sony also pointed out that Hotz has left the country.
“Hotz conveniently traveled to South America in the midst of jurisdictional discovery, including his court-ordered deposition,” Sony said.
“I don’t want to comment on that stuff,” Kellar said. “He has done nothing to make himself unavailable.”
As for Sony's claims that Hotz has a PSN account under the name "Blickmaniac," they should probably take a closer look at the forum post they are using as evidence, since the geotag in the picture posted by the user leads to Cambridge, MA. That's not even close to New Jersey the last time we checked. So, yeah, life's good.
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Originally Posted by semitop
