Sony legal quest to remove its leaked developer’s kit from the Web

Sony appears to be using copyright law in an attempt to remove all traces of a leaked PlayStation 4 Software Development Kit (PS4 SDK) from the Web. That effort also seems to have extended in recent days to the forced removal of the mere discussion of the leak and the posting of a separate open source, homebrew SDK designed to be used on jailbroken systems.

The story began a few weeks ago, when word first hit that version 4.5 of the PS4 SDK had been leaked online by a hacker going by the handle Kromemods. These SDKs are usually provided only to authorized PS4 developers inside development kits. The SDKs contain significant documentation that, once made public, can aid hackers in figuring out how to jailbreak consoles, create and install homebrew software, and enable other activities usually prohibited by the hardware maker (as we've seen in the wake of previous leaks of PlayStation 3 SDKs).

While you can still find reference to the version 4.5 SDK leak on places like Reddit and MaxConsole, threads discussing and linking to those leaked files on sites like GBATemp and PSXhax, for example, appear to have been removed after the fact. Cached versions of those pages show links (now defunct) to download those leaked files, along with a message from KromeMods to "Please spread this as much as possible since links will be taken down... We will get nowhere if everything keeps private; money isn't everything."

KromeMods notes on Twitter that his original tweet posting a link to the leaked files was also hit with a copyright notice from Sony. "Ok time to remove all the download links to the SDK's lol," he writes. "I don't want my Twitter [account] suspended." Copies of the files hosted by Mega and Mediafire also appear to have been taken down by copyright requests, though other mirrors do seem to exist.

Blocking more than just copyrighted files

In recent days, Sony's copyright-based legal requests seem to have extended past the removal of its proprietary SDK files and the links to them. Sony has yet to provide a response to a request for comment from Ars Technica.

Earlier this week, PlayStationHax moderator GregoryRasputin posted a note intended to provide "transparency" around the removal of a post about the leaked SDK. He includes copies of correspondence from his server host about a complaint from Sony Interactive Entertainment and Irdeto USA, its "authorized... non-exclusive agent for copyright infringement notification." That complaint cites "The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Universal Copyright Convention, as well as bilateral treaties with other countries" in asking for a PlayStationHax post about the leak to be taken down.

GregoryRasputin says he responded to this request by noting that he did not post the referenced files or even link to them in his write up. "I personally could not see where I had infringed any copyright; all I had done is post some text and a screenshot of the [SDK], I did not provide any links so that users could get the [SDK]," he writes. A cached version of the PlayStationHax post includes the note that "These files are illegal, so I will not be linking them," alongside a screenshot showing an "About the SDK" page that was part of the leak alongside a listing of folders.

Yesterday, console-hacking site Wololo posted details of a recent copyright request it also received from Sony and Irdeto. That takedown request centered on an open source, homebrew version of the PS4 SDK and not the leaked version 4.5 SDK discussed above. This unofficial SDK, created by a hacker with the handle CTurt and available on Github for years, can be run on jailbroken PS4 consoles running older, version 1.76 firmware by using a known WebKit exploit. CTurt's SDK lets users create and run homebrew applications on the system.

The Wololo takedown request cites "17 U.S.C. 512," also known as the DMCA's "safe harbor" provision in asking the site to "immediately remove or block access to the infringing material, as specified in the copyright laws, and insure the user refrains from using or sharing with others unauthorized SIEA materials in the future."

Wololo suspects its links to the unofficial homebrew SDK were caught up in "some broad keyword search" that Sony is using to "blast website owners and Internet providers with takedown notices for everything that remotely looks like it might be related to the copyrighted file." Wololo says it is ignoring Sony's takedown request for now, though it notes, "I do not have the intent to fight a long legal battle if they insist, and I might have to remove CTurt’s files from our server, even though that would be a collateral victim of some unrelated battle."

The situation as it currently stands shows the perils of letting copyright holders cast too wide of a legal net in trying to squash the leaking of confidential material. While few would begrudge Sony its effort to try to recork the bottle containing its proprietary PS4 SDK after it leaked, extending that dragnet to mere reporting on the leak, and to the posting of unrelated homebrew projects, seems like an abuse of the law's intent.

We'll let you know if and when we get a response from Sony on the matter.