Hackmeister 'GeoHot' going straight with Facebook

by Steven Mostyn - Jun 27 2011, 13:45

So being a computer hacker isn’t far removed from the cusp of criminality, you say? Well, while that might be true for certain nefarious elements within the online community, one particularly notorious hacker is now ploughing a distinctly straight and narrow furrow.

Specifically, the considerable talents of George ‘GeoHot’ Hotz have been snapped up by social networking giant Facebook, which has seemingly presented the infamous PlayStation 3 hacker with the chance to channel his skills through Facebook HQ.

Although job parameters have not been revealed at this time, current Net rumours suggest the technology whiz has taken a role within Facebook’s product development team—possibly with a view to working on the network’s forthcoming iPad app.

Hotz initially announced the career shift through his Facebook page (of course), which lists him as a software engineer and outlines that he began a legitimate 9-to-5 back on May 09.

Hotz shot to fame (or infamy, if you prefer) at the turn of the year when he cracked the supposedly uncrackable PlayStation 3 home console, thus enabling users to run homebrew software and operating systems.

This led directly to Sony loosing its legal dogs upon Hotz over a four-month period, which culminated in hacktivist group Anonymous launching a retaliatory DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack against the Japanese electronics firm in April.

Sony and Hotz agreed a settlement in March that saw the young hacker slapped with fine-based restrictions regarding the future violation(s) of a whole host of Sony services and products.

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