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A British prison has banned PS3 access to its inmates as it feared the machine could be used in an escape attempt.
Rye Hill prisoners were using the console’s wireless capabilities to chat to people on the outside, according to this Guardian report.
“PlayStation 3 consoles are barred on the grounds that they have the capability to send and receive radio signals as an integral part of the equipment,” said a prison spokesperson.
Viewing 16 responses
Ingenu said:
Wow, they let prisoners play a PS3? How fucking stupid is the UK? lol.
Blerk said:
Er… they didn’t know about this stuff before they bought them a PS3?
Psychotext said:
Damn… for a while it seemed there was a sure fire way to get a PS3 without needing a second job.
Axle said:
I can understand a shared PS3 in a common room, but WHY have do they need Internet access???
rainer said:
So ridiculous, canadian prisons also permit inmates their own game consoles though apparently only up to PS1 or maybe PS2’s or something like that.
It is lame that they have such “comforts” but from the prisons point of view I can sorta understand as the games probably keep prisoners occupied, a PS3 seems a bit extravagant though do they have HDTV’s to with it ? LOL .
deanimate said:
Prison? More like a bloody holiday camp.
Johnny Cullen said:
Escape attempt?
What, grab the PS3 as a weapon and whack someone in the face with it? Yeah, I can actually see that as a threat
Jonarob said:
There are also reports of 360-using inmates melting metal bars by placing the consoles near them. Yep.
Johnny Cullen said:
Jonarob –
DrDamn said:
@Axle
I think the implication is that the controllers were used as bluetooth devices but connected to people outside rather than the console itself. Not that they had internet access.
The use of BT for comms in the PS3 isn’t exactly well known. I went into a PCWorld and asked if an Apple BT keyboard would work ok with a PS3. First sales assistant said no as PS3 doesn’t do BT – I told her the controllers were BT so it does. She said ask the tech guys down the front – they were surprised to learn this as well. Got the keyboard on the grounds I could bring it back if it didn’t work. It does very nicely. Makes a great lap keyboard for sofa surfing – though it is very expensive.
(oh yeah, I know PCWorld – what did I expect? You think someone would have a clue though).
Yoshi said:
Why didnt they just not give them internet ? lol
Jonarob said:
I imagine they were picking up a Wi-Fi signal from the area surrounding the prison, and communicating through chat/in-game.
DrDamn said:
Actually I think they are setting up an adhoc network type thing, or maybe connecting to wireless network other people are bringing to them. They’d need to disable the PS3 built in wireless to stop it – which I don’t think is possible?
Jonarob said:
Just had a look on Google Maps and there’s a housing estate nearby which could conceivably carry a (weak) Wi-Fi signal to the prison.
theevilaires said:
The Warden realized the power of the Cell lol
freedoms_stain said:
“They’d need to disable the PS3 built in wireless to stop it – which I don’t think is possible?”
It’s quite possible.
You open it up and remove the wireless unit.