We’re living in a time when terrorists are willing to fill up a baby bottle with explosives and bring it and the baby that owns it onto a plane to wreak havoc, so it really shouldn’t be surprising that everything from lip-gloss containers to PlayStation Portables are under scrutiny as possible terrorist devices.
With its wireless, homebrew capabilities that are frankly quite amazing, the PlayStation Portable caused some concern in Washington, D.C., not too long ago. It's being reported police there spent a great deal of time shaking down a guy for playing Tekken on his PSP outside a federal building at night. A once seemingly innocent act – playing a video game to pass the time – is now a cause for concern.
If the story's right, it’s a sad commentary on the times we’re living in that everything from Gatorade bottles to portable gaming devices are suspect. Ultimately, the police in Washington did their jobs and did them well, as the poor guy who got shook down readily points out.
He also questions, however, whether the PSP is really a toy, if it could hack wireless networks to cause harm and if Sony’s desire to stop homebrew by pushing firmware updates is meant to actually prevent its portable wonder from being used for something much more nefarious than a game of Tekken.
The disconcerting fact of the matter is that he's probably close to the mark on all scores. The PSP is much more than a toy. It can be used for more than meets the eye. And, it's more than likely Sony knows this.
We live in troubling times where almost anything placed in the wrong hands could be dangerous – even a seemingly innocent baby bottle, an iPod, a digital camera or even a PSP.
My hat’s off to the D.C. police and also to the guy who wrote the piece for being perceptive enough to realize they were just doing their jobs to protect and serve.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
Related:
PSP Hacks and Mods List
Homebrew Apps Running on PSP 2.0
PSP Web Browsing, TV Downloads Next Week
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