PS3 hacker defends console jailbreak

George 'Geohot' Hotz, one of the lead hackers responsible for breaching Sony's PlayStation 3 security recently, has defended his actions in the face of a lawsuit from Sony.

'This case is about a lot more than what I did and me,' Hotz told G4TV's Attack of the Show. 'It's about whether you really own that device that you purchased.'

Sony is suing Hotz over allegations that his security hack, which allows PS3 users to install and run homebrew application, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and enables piracy on the closed platform - for which Hotz is being held responsible.

Hotz, however, has defended himself by claiming that his hack was primarily designed to restore the OtherOS feature to PlayStation 3s, which let users install Linux operating systems on their consoles. Sony removed the option to install other operating systems in March last year, citing 'security concerns'.

'The way piracy was previously done doesn't work in my Jailbreak,' says Hotz, however. 'I made a specific effort while I was working on this to try to enable homebrew without enabling things I do not support, like piracy.'

Hotz has also developed jailbreaks for the iPhone, which a court upheld at not violating the DMCA - something Hotz believes sets a legal precedent that will protect him from Sony's lawsuit.

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.