Legal Niches

SOCOM Cheater Sentenced for Taking Down Sony Website

By pete_gallagher

A 17-year old from Latrobe, Pennsylvania was sentenced to 12 months probation, 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay Sony Computer Entertainment $5,000 for his role in crippling the electronic giant's gaming website on November 16-26, 2008.

An investigation conducted by the FBI and Greensburg Police led authorities to the boy, who apparently took the website down in response to being repeatedly kicked off the PlayStation Network for cheating while playing SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals online.

The teenager reportedly used hacking tools to harness infected computers around the world and directed the botnet 'to clog three games on the PlayStation site, causing it to crash and go off-line.'
 
Sony had sought over $33,200 from the teen, but Judge John Driscoll ruled that such an amount would be 'too excessive' for the boy. Driscoll wrote in his order that, 'the juvenile seems to have accepted personal responsibility and agrees he should be held accountable.'

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on May 10, 2010 (boomark / email).