UMD Dumper topic \/\/ down below

Matrixdub · Post by **Matrixdub** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:53 pm

It hasn't been moved so I guess this is the right room to speak about it...

What if it is an application from $ony that contained malicious code to write garbage to the firmware, thus rendering your PSP useless?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:04 pm

Its doubtful a corporation would intentionally do such an action, even if many inside really wanted to. If anything is malicious, its likely to come without.

Besides, Sony has no need to perform such an action even in the face of the opening of 1.0.

Matrixdub · Post by **Matrixdub** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:20 pm

But if this application does what it is implying then wouldn't it make sense for Sony to try to stop ISOs being ripped left right and centre? They could do this by releasing the same zip file but with a modified EBOOT that contained malicious code.

Or is it that they are bound not to release anything malicious (even when it suits them) by some rule I don't know about?

Pikoro · Post by **Pikoro** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:25 pm

And besides, the dumper works, so speculation about that point is moot now.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:35 pm

Matrixdub wrote: Or is it that they are bound not to release anything malicious (even when it suits them) by some rule I don't know about?

Precisely.

The rule is called:
1. Criminal law.
2. Civil "tort" law.

Sony would be liable to both.

Furthermore, there is:

3. Bad publicity.

Companies may pull tricks all the time, but they try to avoid being stupid about it, especially when it is some needless action in question.

Matrixdub · Post by **Matrixdub** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:18 am

gorim wrote: especially when it is some needless action in question.

I seriously doubt it is needless. If this application does what it says it can do then isos will be all over the place. This it self is not that much of a problem, but if a loader comes out, then SO MUCH money will be lost by people not buying games.

Yes people will buy memory sticks, but most people will only buy one, and the price is equivalent to 2 games, not 20.

fashidus · Post by **fashidus** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:25 am

they still cannot legally ruin your hardware....

be realistic about piracy... they cannot enforce a system where every single game is licensed. it's going to happen, and it's not going to hurt them the way they price things.

i've bought 8 umd's.. i have no interest in playing a downloaded game.. i only want homebrew.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:57 am

Matrixdub wrote: I seriously doubt it is needless.

Fear of what might happen is not normally enough to take proactive and punitive action. There must be immediate threats. It is hard to argue that such exist right now.

Some type of action may be needful, but using destructive software is hard for anyone to justify due to the reasons I listed. No smart (and most dumb) company opens themselves up to that.

And the impact of the current state of homebrew is not yet calculated. Even if people dump things, the impact is very limited in scope:
1. UMD production equipment is tightly controlled by Sony and any 3rd party "unlicensed" will be costly to make and use.

2. Ripping to memcards is either size-prohibitive or cost prohibitive. Sony will probably make more profit selling memcards than games.

3. The scope of homebrew itself (whether innocuous or illicit) is extremely limited at the moment to a specific version of the platform that is rapidly dwindling in availability over time.

I still maintain the Sony's most likely stance is to monitor the situation on the hope the problem will solve itself over time, barring new developments for which no doubt they intend to be ready should the need arise. Anyone who thinks they don't have a good handle on the current state of the ps2dev scene is naive.

4. There will always be fear of newer versions being hacked, but that fear would have always been in existance from the beginning. One doesn't take extreme actions based on fear - one makes contingency plans of action for when fearful possibilities evolve into clear and present reality.

As a large company, they have armies of lawyers that can do far worse than piddle around with smoking your PSP. If you do something thats truly a threat, you will for sure feel the "Eye of Sauron" on you and hear galloping Nazgul fast approaching.

Again, anyone who thinks Sony isn't keeping a close eye, via some explicit internal directive as well as individual employee interest, is naive.

Most of all, anyone who thinks they would take extreme, reflexive actions rather calm, calculated, and deliberate actions, watches too many conspiracy movies. A much smaller company might do so, like a little yappy dog that feels affected by everything around it, but Sony is the 900lb gorilla that has much discretion in what it even chooses to explicitly notice.