A federal judge has authorized Sony to obtain the Internet IP addresses of individuals who visited the website of famed PS3 hacker George Hotz from January 2009-March 2011.
The obviously clueless Magistrate Joseph Spero will also allow the Japanese-based corporation to peruse data obtained from YouTube, Google and Twitter.
According to documents obtained by Wired, the subpoena requires Bluehost to turn over “documents reproducing all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms.”
In addition, the wide-ranging subpoena also demands “any other identifying information corresponding to persons or computers who have accessed or downloaded files associated” with the www.geohot.com website, including but not limited to the “geohot.com/jailbreak.zip file.”
Meanwhile, the wide-ranging YouTube subpoena stipulates that Google must hand over data to identify who watched “Jailbroken PS3 3.55 with Homebrew,” along with “documents reproducing all records or usernames and IP addresses that have posted or published comments in response to the video.”
Unsurprisingly, Corynne McSherry, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), harshly criticized Sony’s McCarthy-like tactics in dealing with Hotz.
“I think the these subpoenas, the information they seek, is [quite] inappropriate,” McSherry opined in a letter to Sperio. ”[Clearly, the subpoenas] are overly broad.”
