Court allows Sony access to GeoHot website visitor IPs

If you happened to live in the Bay area and visited George Hotz's website from January 2009 onward, you may be contacted by Sony's lawyers.

According to a Wired report, federal magistrate Joseph Spero has granted Sony permission to subpoena George Hotz’s web provider to find out how many people in California downloaded his "jailbreak" files.

This approval, along with any subsequent findings though GeoHot's service provider Bluehost, will provide Sony with the ability to reproduce "all server logs, IP address logs, account information, account access records and application or registration forms” through the site's hosting.

It will also allow for "any other identifying information corresponding to persons or computers who have accessed or downloaded files hosted" through GeoHot's website.

The information obtained through the listings would allow Sony to sue Geohot in San Francisco, instead of his home state of New Jersey.

Other subpoenas for additional information in the case were approved for Twitter, YouTube and Google.

A hearing is scheduled for next month in San Francisco's federal court, which will then decide whether Hotz can be tried in California or whether proceedings will need to be moved to a New Jersey federal court.

Thanks, D'toid.