In a recent job listing posted by Sony, the company stated it is looking for new Senior Paralegals and a Senior Corporate Counsel to reinforce the ranks of their anti-piracy team. The description for both positions indicates they are specifically aimed at supporting Sony in anti-piracy lawsuits and developing an effective anti-piracy strategy to help Sony protect her interests. Both listings also state that the applicatants should have “knowledge of online investigative practices, online databases (e.g. how to find owner, administrator, ISP associated with a given domain name, etc.), anti-piracy and DMCA tracker products and services.”
The new positions seem to have appeared in response the wave of pirated software that has hit the Playstation 3 in recent month. Hacker George “Geohot” Hotz released the rootkey for the Playstation 3 in January 2011, which effectively made it possible for users to disguise pirated software and self-made applications to appear as though approved by Sony, making it impossible for the console to distinguish between illegal software and official products. Sony has since been engaged in a legal battle between Geohot and a group of hackers it holds responsible for the leak.