Sony's problems with Anon over Lawsuit Concerning Hacker Hotz

I said some racy stuff on GSutra about Sony when this whole lawsuit business started against Holtz.  I don't know if I'm ready to take any of it back yet as it hasn't bothered me as much to have said it.  As a consumer of Sony products (PS3, Bravia) I will say this lawsuit does bothers me as much because it may change the consumer's mind about business in the purchase of electronic products.

I was going to post this as a comment in the latest G-Sutra News but the though seems more appropriate for blogging.

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about here and you can feel free to tell me that but think about this for a second...

What if you bought a car, modified it to go faster, and then release that information openly to the public, maybe even for monetary purposes, would the car manufacture come after you?

Could not they argue that modifying their car in such a way would lead to some forms of street racing which can be dangerous and illegal?

Could not they argue that it hurts their business model of safety in driving their cars and damage bottom line because they can prove that some people are actually purchasing their product to do such things?

Sony is the hypothetical Car company in this argument.

It just seems that Sony has used this case to hide some poor planning concerning the PS3 and it uses to the consumer.  It was marketed to be a Computer Entertainment System converging everything for use in the living room space, and now its just a glorified Blu Ray Player that is used for movies and games, and little else.  First they wanted user to experience the raw power the PS3 had to offer with their 10 year plan of taking over games, music, movies, Google, and the internet, and now they are just doing what every other console is doing and by becoming an advertisement hub for their own products and DL content.  Lots of ideas on how best to the use the console are just about half baked (like Home, Internet browser, Facebook integration, V Chat service, PS3 Plus program) and it's not getting better between the communication of their consumers wishes and them.

Maybe Hotz is guilty of spreading information on how to hack the PS3 while making a cut from it, and that's debatable whether its a crime punishable by a heavy fine of jail sentence.

The Lawsuit is getting more attention on the tech side of the internet but not national coverage yet. Maybe its no big deal. However, it makes one wonder amongst all of the "Good Sony PR News of Possibility" if the really are reaching their bottom line in the Games Entertainment Business or if its just fluff that's covering up the hemorrhage they cause upon themselves with the bigger better sales pitch.

PS started a new wave of gaming that continued on with PS2 and the consumers where happy. Now PS3 just seems to be a juggernaut of problems for Sony despite the sales news and in the end it may determine the legacy of how hardware and media distribution.

In closing I would just like to say that I'm not into modifying my product to do things not intend by the manufacture because I do spend hard earned cash on those products and I don't want them to break do to the fact that I didn't know what I was doing, or getting in to. I'm for honored agreements that help me out when stuff breaks. For people that do do this however and share the knowledge that they can, its should be their business to do what they want with the money they spent.  If a Manufacture becomes worried that breaking their product becomes commerce for a hacker, its a legitimate worry.  But you solve that problem by offering a better line of service and denying only the people who do that sot of thing certain access to your services, and not denying the whole public something that they payed for by taking it away one right at a time. It's just bad for business.