The 21-year old computer whiz whose legal tussle with Sony triggered one of the largest assaults by the hacker community on a single company has found himself a steady job – with Facebook.
George Hotz became a star among hackers under the internet pseudonym name GeoHot when he "unlocked" Apple's iPhone and then the Sony PlayStation games console. He posted details of how to alter software on the devices so that tech-savvy users could use them for unauthorised games and other applications.
Facebook swooped to hire Mr Hotz last month, just weeks after he settled the lawsuit from Sony that so enraged fellow hackers that they launched an attack on the company that has cost it tens of millions of dollars to date.
The social networking giant has not said what Mr Hotz will be working on, though there was speculation he could be involved in building anti-hacker defences at Facebook, or in the company's plans to develop a rival to Apple's App Store for software downloads.
Mr Hotz is straight out of hacker central casting, a teenage computer genius who grew up in New Jersey and was identified early as a talented youngster, attending a special programme for bright children from the US state school system. He led his school in national robot-building championships and appeared on national television demonstrating his creations.
Source: The Independent
