Sony Protects itself from Class Action Suits in PSN TOS Update

Sony has recently revised the terms of service for the PlayStation Network. In the newly formed, and legally binding contract that you sign when accepting the TOS of the PSN, Sony has cleared itself of possible future lawsuits stemming from negligence on their part. The amended agreement comes in the wake of hackers taking down the PlayStation Network (and other Sony Online properties), and divulging personal information of their users. The privacy breach was one of the biggest of its kind, with the PlayStation Network (and other Sony properties) containing tens of millions of users' sensitive data.

As outlined in the new TOS: "Any Dispute Resolution Proceedings, whether in arbitration or court, will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class or representative action or as a named or unnamed member in a class, consolidated, representative or private attorney general action," which means, you can't enter into a class action lawsuit against the company unless Sony agrees to it.

If these new terms of use for the PlayStation Network don't sit right with you, you always have the option to close your account. Sony has said that if you choose not to accept, they will close your account and return any funds to you.

Source: Industry Gamers

By Al McCarthy on September 15, 2011

Did you this story? Please share it with your friends

thal
Oh crap another flame war….
Yea you can close ur account. Or change ur address and name to a fake and just use PSN cards. This is what I did.
I’m a Playstation guy. Have been since PS1, but this is a bad move on Sony’s part.
- Cool dude
  weird
Zzz
:)
Drake
“Tens of millions of sensitive data” do they mean my email? Seriously, how many people put their credit card information on the psn store (the media always blows the damages out of proportion
) thats what the cards are for. I think sony did this to prevent abuse of the justice system, admit it some people will go to great lengths to put up a bogus class action suit and most of these suits are handled out of court, most companys do not want a class action lawsuit, they prefer to reimburse the true victim outside (and some dont) for instance “Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one. ”
This is normal in the wonderful world of capitalism
thal
Drake millions of people put the credit card numbers on the PSN store.
- Drake
  are you sure? That’s what the psn cards are for
thal
No they’re for kids that don’t have credit cards. Or for birthday Christmas gifts. Adults put there card # in.
This is pre hack I’m talking about. Post hack is different. I know me and all my friends had our #’s in there. I must ask Drake, honest question how old are you?
- Drake
  age does not matter its a matter of trust i have a credit card but i dont trust putting it on the internet even when using paypal hardly buying anything online, i stick to good ol fashion cash, back to the point if millions of users do put in credit card info, im sure the hack would have been A MUCH LARGER issue than what it was
- Raven
  A MUCH LARGER issue…
  Well it was one of the largest hacks and did involve several governments around the world, not sure how much larger it needs to be before you consider it important. Credit Card info was encrypted, things are fine and seem to be for the future. Hopefully that encryption doesn’t get cracked too, wonder if this new contract will protect Sony if it does.
Double Aught Code
Im not so concerned, or at least surprised, with what they ar FORCING us to do …what if we just want access to our DLC?… but with WHY NOW?
What has been discovered that they want something with ‘backwards compataibilty’ (something they wont even give us ROFL) for protection? Did some child get lured away from lack of ‘BLOCK NON-FRIEND COMMUNICATION’? Have they understood finally they are broadccasting a very easily interceptible protocol via PSN connection attempts? Or did they finally realise that not every hack is talked about on the net and that they have been screwed for a bit now …way beyond the hacking in April?!?
Maybe a curios engineer wondered why such a FanMan would be attacking something he claims to enjoy so much …and maybe that user was just concerned if something wasnt dealt with soon enough he’d be out of a job?
All things to be pondered now, their have been worse ToS than this, heck look at Facebooks and then come back with owning,licensing a soul comment. Lets stat looking at WY NOW!!!
thal
@Drake I’m telling you that millions of people had there CC #s on PSN this is a fact.
http://www.dailytech.com/Sony+Reveals+10M+CCs+Possibly+Stolen+Hopes+to+Lure+Customers+in+With+Free+Service/article21509.htm
newagewolf
cover your ass for dummies BY sony comeing to a book store close to you
- Black_Napalm
  like anyone one this site reads :P.
- Black_Napalm
  ahhh f**k me sideways….. “on”.
DanBizzle
Ok, just because Sony put that into their ToS, doesn’t mean it will stand up in court. Courts reject unreasonable contracts all the time.
Hoppsy
I put my CC details on psn and i’m not worried one bit, no details where stolen, they where all fully encrypted the only data stolen was names adresses and email address’s.
These ToS are a little much but in reality they are only protecting themselves against class action suits. if you as an individual ever did suffer from identity theft due to sony nothing is stopping you from suing the company