As the lead developer behind the popular ROM Manager and ClockworkMod recovery rooting and system backup apps, Koushik Dutta is a revered hacker in Android circles. In a show of its respect for his brainpower, Sony reached out to Dutta asking if he’d be interested in interviewing for a plum software engineering position with its R&D department. As documented above (and Tweeted out by Dutta himself a few days ago), he declined, citing Sony’s hardline position against geohot, the 21-year-old hacker against whom Sony is taking harsh legal action due to his major hack to Sony’s PlayStation 3, which allows anyone to run unsigned code over the system.

Dutta:

Hi Sarah, I appreciate that you reached out to me. The opportunity does sound very interesting! However, due Sony’s recent treatment of a fellow hacker, George Hotz (@geohot), I could not in good conscience work at Sony. Regards,

Koush

Some of Dutta’s Twitter followers criticized him for turning down the opportunity, saying that he would regret this a few years down the road. Whether or not that turns out to be true remains to be seen, but if so it won’t be because Dutta is hurting for money: With more than 50,000 downloads at $5 a pop, his premium ROM Manager app for Android more than proves that an enterprising hacker can still make good money.

(via MAKE)

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