Sony said Wednesday it would permanently block PlayStation 3 owners from the PlayStation Network if they are using jailbroken consoles.

Access to what Sony describes as a “world of entertainment” will be “terminated permanently,” the Japanese entertainment concern announced.

“To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems,” Jeff Rubenstein, the company’s social-media manager, said in a blog post.

Sony did not return a message seeking comment about details on how it would carry out its threats. The demands came six weeks after the first full-fledged PS3 hack was released. The hack was designed to allow PlayStation 3 owners the ability to play homebrewed games, but can be tweaked to allow the console to play pirated games.

Sony’s chest pounding is in connection to a lawsuit against well-known iPhone jailbreaker George Hotz, 21 of New Jersey. He released the PS3 code hack in January, and now finds himself in San Francisco federal court, facing unspecified damages on Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations and other allegations.

It was the first full-fledged hack of the 4-year-old console, with 41 million units sold worldwide.

The DMCA of 1998 creates civil liability for trafficking in tools that “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access” to copyrighted material.

Sony said jailbroken consoles breach its terms-of-service agreement and “community code of conduct.”

As part of the Hotz case, Sony has won the right to inspect his hard drive for materials associated with the jailbreak, and to remove such files.

Litigation in Sony’s case against Hotz is ongoing. A judge already ordered Hotz to remove the code from his website and also demanded he remove a how-to YouTube video. Hotz, nicknamed GeoHot, has complied.

Stay tuned to Threat Level for the latest developments.

By the way, it’s not unlawful to jailbreak a mobile phone.

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