George Hotz, aka Geohot, the hacker who cracked Sony’s Playstation 3 protection code, has settled with the Japanese electronics giant. Amidst a series of sensational legal proceedings, trips to South America, group attacks on the PSN, and more, Hotz has decided to settle and accept the terms of his surrender. The conditions include the following actions which Hotz must not do:

Reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any portion of [a] Sony Product.

Using any tools to bypass, disable, or circumvent any encryption, security, or authentication mechanism in [a] Sony Product.

Using any hardware or software to cause the Sony Product to accept or use unauthorized, illegal or pirated software or hardware.

Exploiting any Sony Product to design, develop, update or distribute unauthorized software or hardware for use with [a] Sony Product.

Failure to comply could cost him fines ranging from $10,000 to $250,000. No matter which side you stand regarding Hotz’s actions from a philosophical standpoint, it’s a shame to see he won’t be contributing his obvious talents to the world for quite some time, at least not for Sony platforms. The same guy who unlocked the iPhone should seriously considering applying to work for companies, helping them lock down their system. Guy obviously knows his stuff. Regarding his case with Sony, Hotz said, “It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier. I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”