Hotz renews PS3 piracy drive

Famed hacker and all-round cyber warrior George Hotz has allegedly made public key information that could potentially allow homebrew developers to get any code they like running on PS3s – including pirated games.

‘GeoHot’ has published the console’s ‘root key’ – a code that the PS3 uses to authenticate any software that it attempts to run. Using this code, hackers can conceivably run anything they like on the console, including unofficial software and pirated games.

Furthermore, as this code is already used by all existing games, Kotaku speculates that Sony will not be able to alter it via firmware updates as that would risk disrupting the functionality of existing products.

Hotz has already given the Sony hierarchy a headache early last year with his vocal efforts to restore the PS3’s OtherOS functionality removed by the platform holder in an attempt to quell rising noise about piracy on the console.

However, his efforts were soon overshadowed by the emergence of the PSJailbreak at retailers across the world.

Though Sony has enjoyed mixed success in trying to slow the PSJailbreak bandwagon, both by prosecuting retailers in the courts and patching its machine via firmware updates, this new development is a fresh concern.