Adelaidian Michael Trebilcock, like a true Australian hero, took Sony to court to try to get $800 back after they crippled his PlayStation 3 by removing the OtherOS feature. Unfortunately he recently announced that he lost the case:

OK, so in the end, it was ruled that I was bound to the EULAs, and not mislead (having read the EULA).

It is of course in my opinion that if an EULA says "We can remove any feature in a future update" (which it doesn't in those words, but just as an example) and a representative says "We won't remove X feature", then the latter statement overrules the EULA in that particular instance relating to that feature.

Basically, the judgment seems to imply that the EULA you agree to when you open your PlayStation 3 is the ultimate decider, and even trumps your rights as a consumer to not have advertised functionality remotely removed or disabled from your product, after you have paid for it and been using it.

We spoke briefly to the very busy Colin Jacobs from Electronic Frontiers Australia AusGamers on the subject:

There's an increasing trend for manufacturers to limit what their users can do with their own hardware, and companies won't hesitate to use the law to prevent people playing with their own property when they can. Consumers should have a right to enjoy their own devices as they see fit including hacking them - many of the current generation of engineers cut their teeth this way. If the move to locked-down devices continues, it will represent a significant erosion in the rights of consumers and will stifle creativity to boot.

We also chatted briefly to Michael via email; you can read our quick Q&A session with him for his take.

wow thats lame, Sony really are evil

I think you've mixed him and you in one of the sections

AusGamers: In your impression, did the judge leave open any avenues for revisiting this issue? If so, is that something you would be interested in doing? I immediately ruled out appealing, but have since been considering it more and more. It depends on costs, and how I would go about getting some
representation.

thanks natslovr, I did indeed. I'm foaming and frothing at the mouth too much this morning at all the injustice and bad news and can't see the keyboard

trog, maybe this will cheer you up then Slim PS3 Fails To Help Sony OZ As Profits Fall 45% & Revenues Plunge

and everyone wonders why I refuse to buy anything made by sony, unless there's no other choice.

I don't think anyone gives a s*** actually whoop.

The new slim PS3, which at one stage was selling at $132 dearer in Australia than in the USA

So if you have a HTC desire you can now run the hack off a rooted phone.

http://psfreedom.com/wiki/index.php?title=OpenDesire4.0.4

so if the EULA says they can come round and rape your mother if they feel like it, the law would take their side? I suppose you did tick that little box that was required to proceed, so you must be at peace with any violation in exchange for use of your purchase.

A German site has announced that the new firmware for the PSJailbreak includes the ability to play PS1 and PS2 games on all PS3 models. If not BS then Sony just disabled the PS2 compatibility through software, rather than by excluding the necessary hardware in models after the 60GB like originally thought.

It will also let you rip bluray.

that is f***ing awesome.

i personally think sony disabled it so they could re-release ps1 and 2 titles on the psn store.

step 1 -> sell some hardware with 0 functionality and have user sign EULA
step 2 -> make media statement stating that you have removed the functionality.
step 3 -> profit.

as far as i can see, this is legal? the guy should at least be entitled to a refund.

apparently sony released a firmware update today that stops psgroove etc from working.

Yep, don't upgrade to 3.42 if you want to jailbreak

Is it a forced update if your ps3 connects to the net? Or do you have to confirm the update?

You have to confirm it and then wait the obtuse amount of time that it takes to do all of it's s***.