SOE is a victim here. You must believe they did, in all good faith, attempt to protect said information. You must understand if an insightful individual wanted to work that, it's possible. It's why we have police and insurance.
Must we believe this? How does this square with they fact that they were breached by a "known securtiy vulnerability", why they had customer information in an out-of-date database, and the fact that none of the compromised customer data was encrypted?
Obviously SOE is a victim here, but they are in part a victim to their own practices as well as to external hackers. SOE's customers are victims to both the external hackers and SOE's practices.
Alot of talk and hate here for SOE on this matter, and yes they could have probablydone more. No doubt.
BUT
Wheres the hate for the actual criminals involved? Y'know, the ones that actually stole the information.
Seems to me moral compasses are getting really screwed up in the internet age tbh. Maybe, just maybe, a general case of misdirected rage?
The people on these forums are sadists and narcissists that is why they are focusing on the demise of Sony and not the criminals. Most on this forum are going to view Anonymous as being martyrs and pray that the empire of Sony collapses just to make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Forget about all the people that could potentially lose their jobs or the tremendous financial impact on the world economy if Sony did, in fact, dissolve…
It's a Jeep thing. . . _______ |___| \_______/ = |||||| = |X| \*........*/ |X| |X|_________|X| You wouldn't understand
It will be interesting to see what does come out of all of this... but I doubt anyone really gets rich off of this.
Okay... so the network is unavailable. That's the most that the majority of people will see as far as overall impact.
To those that MAY have issues with credit/identity theft after this event has taken place. Those events should be investigated when they are reported/as they come about. Those customers should be entitled to some compensation from SONY at that point. How much? Damages + monetary award for undue stress.
SONY doesn't need to fork over $10-15,000 to every customer.
It's just not reasonable for every customer to think they are all entitled to more than 1-2 months free gameplay. I have read posts where some idiots are saying 'we're all getting money for this' or 'we're all getting a free Playstation'. Seriously?
Again, the data was encrypted. If/when the data is cracked and available to the hackers, that's when things get interesting. When the other foot finally drops. Until then... hide and watch?
SONY's reputation suffers a pretty substantial blow from this, though. I mean, it gives a whole new meaning to the nerf that the NGE brought about. Does SWG really mean Security Wasn't Good?
Just saw this article on GameSpot. Insane amount claimed IMO...
Less than a week after the first PlayStation Network-related class action suit was filed against Sony, a second legal claim has been initiated. While the first didn't ask for a specific amount, the second is quite clear on how much it wants from Sony--at least 1 billion dollars in damages.
Canadian Natasha Maksimovic thinks Sony owes C$1 billion in damages to PSN users.
But those aren't US dollars, they're Canadian ones.
The second suit was announced on Monday by the Toronto law firm of McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP, with Sony Canada, Sony USA, and "other Sony entities" being named as defendants. The firm has commenced the proposed class action on behalf of 21-year-old Mississauga, Ontario resident Natasha Maksimovic. Described as a years-long PlayStation user, the lawsuit quotes Maksimovic as being outraged by the PSN outage and subsequent data breach.
"If you can't trust a huge multi-national corporation like Sony to protect your private information, who can you trust?" asked Maksimovic in a statement. "It appears to me that Sony focuses more on protecting its games than its PlayStation users."
The class action proposes the C$1 billion ($1.04 billion) in damages be used to pay for "costs of credit monitoring services and fraud insurance coverage for two years." It was unclear if the amount would only be applied to the cost of the 1 million Canadian PSN users affected by the still-ongoing outage, or all the 78 million global PSN users whose information may have been exposed.
As of press time, Sony had not responded to requests for comment
So, to tread semi-lightly on this topic due to a "flaming" warning (which of course I'm not going to do)... a moron from another country thinks that "they" are entitled to this sum of cash? When we make an account to any "free" service, we agree to anything and everything that can happen. Hackers are everywhere and they target everything. So, Natasha, why not sue the hackers instead? (Considering one has been identified and more will come.)
I'm sure I'll get a warning(or worse)but honestly, go ahead.. give me one because these type of things need to be dealt with. And sitting idle when a peon; like each and everyone of us, thinks they are more inclined to more of anything..laughs.
Anytime we give our information to any company or to any site we register with, there's always a chance that that information could be obtained by another party. If you are new to the computer or interner world, start reading up.. because clearly you think that the best security can not be hacked or bypassed... Think again.. these "cruds" have nothing better to do than wreck havok on the ones that just want to enjoy themselves in their spare time. People like Natasha target the "Corporate" company because they know that the hackers can't pay a thing.. the only thing they will pay is the years and years they will spend in jail. (and it's well deserved too)
To you, Natasha.. you're one of the more ignorant people I have read about. You think that you are the only "victim" in this and that you are doing something "right" because you've used a free service for two years and are "entitled" to compensation just because someone might possibly know your name or where you live.. Wow, we know your name and now anyone can track you. How does it feel to be in the spotlight when everyone's eyes are on you? i hope it chills you to the bones. (yes, I'm sure this will lead to a banning) But it was to make a valid point on the things she has "issues" with.
Alot of talk and hate here for SOE on this matter, and yes they could have probablydone more. No doubt.
BUT
Wheres the hate for the actual criminals involved? Y'know, the ones that actually stole the information.
Seems to me moral compasses are getting really screwed up in the internet age tbh. Maybe, just maybe, a general case of misdirected rage?
The people on these forums are sadists and narcissists that is why they are focusing on the demise of Sony and not the criminals. Most on this forum are going to view Anonymous as being martyrs and pray that the empire of Sony collapses just to make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Forget about all the people that could potentially lose their jobs or the tremendous financial impact on the world economy if Sony did, in fact, dissolve…
Sure seems that way.
So much wasted energy here, truly hating a company that makes computer games. So many have lost perspective.
If Sony loses this lawsuit I am going to hate everyone of you plebians who think this is a just course of action. 1 billion dollars for a crime they didnt commit. Wow, good job people, good job.
Originally posted by duelkore If Sony loses this lawsuit I am going to hate everyone of you plebians who think this is a just course of action. 1 billion dollars for a crime they didnt commit. Wow, good job people, good job.
I think poor business practice falls into that category.
If Sony loses this lawsuit I am going to hate everyone of you plebians who think this is a just course of action. 1 billion dollars for a crime they didnt commit. Wow, good job people, good job.
The billion dollar lawsuit has 'settlement' written all over it. For an amount of that size, there would need to be a whole hell of a lot of plaintiffs signing on for it. Because it was launched so quickly, I doubt there's more than a single name on it -- the initiator of the suit. Expect it to disappear quietly when a relatively small payoff is made.
The other one seems more serious. It actually looks like people are signing on to it and the dollar value will be determined by the number of complainants. It doubt the amount will be in any way groundbreaking, but it will probably grab Sony's attention.
And just to clarify, these suits aren't charging Sony with fraud or malfeasance, so far as I know, so it has nothing to do with the commission of a crime. It has to do with culpability. At best, it might be breach of trust.
Do they have the standing to initiate a lawsuit? No one has been damaged, yet, and I'm not sure you can sue for potential damage.
For example, if you go eat at a restaurant and their food is contaminated with some disease. Some people get it and some don't. Obvious the people who get the disease can sue, as they have standing. You haven't got it yet, but you are worried and spend the money to see a doctor. I don't think you can sue for medical bills.
Not sure, any armchair a lawyers want to weigh in?
If someone could sue me for peeing the wrong way I'm sure they would, while there are a lot of good people in this world there are those that suck @$$ as well.
There is no company that can defend 100% against hackers indefinitently, there are always ways around code and holes to sleek through.
Originally posted by CalmOceans they are supposed to keep our info secure.
They are not supposed to be 100% security breach proof though as nothing as such exists.
Also, in a matter of fact, Sony clearly states that they cannot ensure safety of your personal information, a thing you sign up to when giving them the info.
Pretty much as others noted, the lawsuit is really frivolous and such. The idea of "its supposed to be safe" doesn't take into account the multiple attacks that can legitimately be argued reduced both responsiveness and security. The fact is this wasn't an issue until the actual attacks from Anon occurred in the first place. With the ability to look at events in that perspective, it can be argued in something with language that sounds as if "due to multiple breaches to our security and network, our capacity to both respond and to deter such an action from occurring was both limited and not possible due to the circumstances it occurred under". There is also an underlying standing that if they can show there was an honest effort to respond to an event beyond their means, then no they aren't liable for it.
However there is one interesting thing of value. If you look at the situation from an objective basis, it also puts Anon in a tough spot as it could be both argued that their actions had indirectly devoted resources and manpower to addressing their actions and that, had their actions not occurred, the security breach would also possibly not happened. It also doesn't help that simply professing a hatred for a company and that you'd take revenge on them doesn't help from a legal standpoint as well. I mean if I confessed to hating someone and it was heard the world over, if that same person died a week later, yea I'd be suspect number one and I think some people are ignoring that fact to.
The sad part is, consumers were again victims of this mess at the end and that while we may not like corporations, I still understand (and do favor) that they do indeed have a right to protect their property and it should be looked in light that while some homebrewers don't pirate games, the majority do and that we have to respect that without the whining or bit**ing that comes from most people who disagree with Sony.
If homebrewers weren't pirating sh*t left and right, the "other OS" might still be there. But even I know, not a single acquaintance I know with a Nintendo Wii or DS hasn't homebrewed it for pirating games.
The bottom line is this: if the last 30 years of history has shown us anything, Sony isn't going to lose any of these lawsuits. Any announced lawsuit and dollar amount at this stage boil down to two things: trolling for clients and positioning for a settlement. Just because a lawyer says they are filing a class action lawsuit against Sony doesn't mean a court will grant them class action status. The lawsuits that actually happen will sooner or later be settled out of court. Because particularly in a class action suit, the lawyers will have a lot more leeway to say to themselves "if I pursue this to a verdict, it will take xx years and my profit margin will be $$. But if I settle for Son'y offer, it will only take a year or two and my profit margin will be $$$$$$."
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
$1 billion? For what? Letting the world know that John Doe's PSN screenname is "DoeDoe27"??????
/facepalm
It's not just that, it's personal information, even your secret question/answer to the accounts, your real name and where you live. Thank god we don't have to put social security numbers in online accounts. And they stated that passwords were not stored encrypted, just hashed.
In my email today:
Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer: Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, province, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.
$1 billion? For what? Letting the world know that John Doe's PSN screenname is "DoeDoe27"??????
/facepalm
It's not just that, it's personal information, even your secret question/answer to the accounts, your real name and where you live. Thank god we don't have to put social security numbers in online accounts. And they stated that passwords were not stored encrypted, just hashed.
In my email today:
Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:
Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, province, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.
I feel really great now...
anyone whoever got those annoying calls from india and i am sure most have ,means your personal information like address,name,age and phone number has been sold out .so not like your personal information was not out there and what do you think those indian companies do when you slam the phone down on them,they just re sell your info.
$1 billion? For what? Letting the world know that John Doe's PSN screenname is "DoeDoe27"??????
/facepalm
It's not just that, it's personal information, even your secret question/answer to the accounts, your real name and where you live. Thank god we don't have to put social security numbers in online accounts. And they stated that passwords were not stored encrypted, just hashed.
In my email today:
Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:
Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, province, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.
I feel really great now...
anyone whoever got those annoying calls from india and i am sure most have ,means your personal information like address,name,age and phone number has been sold out .so not like your personal information was not out there and what do you think those indian companies do when you slam the phone down on them,they just re sell your info.
They also plug your number into an automated dialer that just keeps hammering your landline. From an 800 number that can't be blocked.
They are not supposed to be 100% security breach proof though as nothing as such exists.
Also, in a matter of fact, Sony clearly states that they cannot ensure safety of your personal information, a thing you sign up to when giving them the info.
This lawsuit is completely baseless and stupid.
Obvious mistakes are obvious mistakes, the fact you can't be 100% sure will never save you from a court decision. If you need a 100% green light to fifull anything nothing would be ever done.
Also from a customer point of view, it clearly appear like your informations are put in a secured environement when you give them, or i'm missing something? i guess not
Gaming industry have a very amateurish way to handle their customer informations, when you get fishing email few hours after giving this information to a top mmo company, it is not hard to question the security of said company. I think this is a well know statement to the mmo players, go read the mmo fan site about the companies account security problems to make yourself an idea. I wouldn't even think about world situation if those kind of amateurish security was ported to banking or anything else in fact, so i think you have to be realist here about the overall situation. It is critical since years in fact, they just got what they deserve to me personally, if they got to pay few billions i would personally applaud, in fact its a shame only SOE will pay the bill, other companies like Blizzard and NCsoft should pay twice as much, this is my personal opinion. In any case this was awaiting them for certainty if you kept track of the overall security info problem in the mmo world in particular, wich is at best a shame that is lasting for years and years now. When some game like Lineage2 are defined by the customer like a RMT and bot heaven, there is really nothing else to add here, as it talk by itself.
Also it seam the overall affair isn't about amateurish security from gaming company, from i understood, but the fact PSN is forcing the use of some software that make customer security very weak. So yes i guess "the situation" get so bad it is not acceptable anymore, this is nothing strange to me as i already said, it is just the step further into their amateurish way to look at security to the point they don't even care about the core security of their product design.
I'm just very sorry for all the people that will get caught in collateral damagse due to this total lack of professionalism to not say the mockery they have put in place these last few years in front of their customers.
I think the people in certain European countries that actually had debit information exposed.. Well they have a right to be pissed off.
This crap law firm out of Canada just highlights one major "wrong" with court systems. "Sir Howard" the CEO of Sony Corp in a letter already outlined Sony's plans for the affected US Residents (and said they will have similar plans in all affected regions). Which included credit monitoring and a identity theft insurance that covers up to 1 million dollars in liability. Beyond that why on earth should anyone get compensation?
Law firms like this.. should have every lawyer they have permanently banned from any legal practice for life. All of their assets seized and used as compensation. Anyone who is a customer or an employee of SOE/Sony Corp is a victim to law firms like this. Why? The end result is going to be higher prices for you and lost jobs for the employees. Also as a class action lawsuit the majority of any money (settlement or judgement) goes to the lawyers... big suprise I know.. but their cost have to be covered of course.
Oh and ya.. if you ever wanna see me foam at the mouth and totally forget any rant about an MMO.. just bring up some law firm with a law suit like this. These types of lawyers are the only thing on this planet that make John Smedley look good in comparison.
I wonder if the next step is to start suing web sites like... anywho, 411, peekyou, intellius, people smart etc etc because someone could go on there and get the addresses and phone numbers of millions of people... along with their "social website" links (ie: facebook etc) along with maps to show you how to get to the address and sat shots of their house and/or street views ... Or its ok you can get the same peoples information.. because you didn't have to hack it? just search the web...
$1 billion? For what? Letting the world know that John Doe's PSN screenname is "DoeDoe27"??????
/facepalm
It's not just that, it's personal information, even your secret question/answer to the accounts, your real name and where you live. Thank god we don't have to put social security numbers in online accounts. And they stated that passwords were not stored encrypted, just hashed.
In my email today:
Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:
Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, province, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.
I feel really great now...
anyone whoever got those annoying calls from india and i am sure most have ,means your personal information like address,name,age and phone number has been sold out .so not like your personal information was not out there and what do you think those indian companies do when you slam the phone down on them,they just re sell your info.
How very true, it has happened time and again that personal details have been sold on to companies abroad that do not operate under the same strict rules as most of the western world, from banks to cable companies, our details have been stolen by disgruntled employee's for a quick buck.
As for SoE being sued well I guess there had to be some low lifes out there wanting to try their luck in making some money out of this, I can't see them getting anywhere with them though.
Good luck on that suit, Sony may settle, but it won't be for 1 Billion. First off I would think that you would have to findout that your info was actually being used by someone else. Then you have to be able to prove it was from the Sony data theft. How many times have to put that same info into other forms? How do you know that info didn't come from one of those that someone hacked and that company never knew it?
Unless someone can make a direct line between this theft and illegal use of that stolen info, it's not going to fly. In this sue happy society, people will sue for anything, but seldom do they win.
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
Comments
Must we believe this? How does this square with they fact that they were breached by a "known securtiy vulnerability", why they had customer information in an out-of-date database, and the fact that none of the compromised customer data was encrypted?
Obviously SOE is a victim here, but they are in part a victim to their own practices as well as to external hackers. SOE's customers are victims to both the external hackers and SOE's practices.
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
if it makes you feel any better, per their may 02 customer service notification, they may have been giving it to you consistently since 2007.
Glad I could help:):):)
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
The people on these forums are sadists and narcissists that is why they are focusing on the demise of Sony and not the criminals. Most on this forum are going to view Anonymous as being martyrs and pray that the empire of Sony collapses just to make them feel all warm and fuzzy. Forget about all the people that could potentially lose their jobs or the tremendous financial impact on the world economy if Sony did, in fact, dissolve…
_______
|___
\_______/
=
|X| \*........*/ |X|
|X|_________|X|
You wouldn't understand
SONY won't pay out $1B. Just won't happen.
It will be interesting to see what does come out of all of this... but I doubt anyone really gets rich off of this.
Okay... so the network is unavailable. That's the most that the majority of people will see as far as overall impact.
To those that MAY have issues with credit/identity theft after this event has taken place. Those events should be investigated when they are reported/as they come about. Those customers should be entitled to some compensation from SONY at that point. How much? Damages + monetary award for undue stress.
SONY doesn't need to fork over $10-15,000 to every customer.
It's just not reasonable for every customer to think they are all entitled to more than 1-2 months free gameplay. I have read posts where some idiots are saying 'we're all getting money for this' or 'we're all getting a free Playstation'. Seriously?
Again, the data was encrypted. If/when the data is cracked and available to the hackers, that's when things get interesting. When the other foot finally drops. Until then... hide and watch?
SONY's reputation suffers a pretty substantial blow from this, though. I mean, it gives a whole new meaning to the nerf that the NGE brought about. Does SWG really mean Security Wasn't Good?
So, to tread semi-lightly on this topic due to a "flaming" warning (which of course I'm not going to do)... a moron from another country thinks that "they" are entitled to this sum of cash? When we make an account to any "free" service, we agree to anything and everything that can happen. Hackers are everywhere and they target everything. So, Natasha, why not sue the hackers instead? (Considering one has been identified and more will come.)
I'm sure I'll get a warning(or worse)but honestly, go ahead.. give me one because these type of things need to be dealt with. And sitting idle when a peon; like each and everyone of us, thinks they are more inclined to more of anything..laughs.
Anytime we give our information to any company or to any site we register with, there's always a chance that that information could be obtained by another party. If you are new to the computer or interner world, start reading up.. because clearly you think that the best security can not be hacked or bypassed... Think again.. these "cruds" have nothing better to do than wreck havok on the ones that just want to enjoy themselves in their spare time. People like Natasha target the "Corporate" company because they know that the hackers can't pay a thing.. the only thing they will pay is the years and years they will spend in jail. (and it's well deserved too)
To you, Natasha.. you're one of the more ignorant people I have read about. You think that you are the only "victim" in this and that you are doing something "right" because you've used a free service for two years and are "entitled" to compensation just because someone might possibly know your name or where you live.. Wow, we know your name and now anyone can track you. How does it feel to be in the spotlight when everyone's eyes are on you? i hope it chills you to the bones. (yes, I'm sure this will lead to a banning)
But it was to make a valid point on the things she has "issues" with.
Sure seems that way.
So much wasted energy here, truly hating a company that makes computer games. So many have lost perspective.
If SOE loses these lawsuits, its probably the end of them.
If Sony loses this lawsuit I am going to hate everyone of you plebians who think this is a just course of action. 1 billion dollars for a crime they didnt commit. Wow, good job people, good job.
To my knowledge, no one placed their trust in Anonymous to keep their personal information safe. I think the direction is perfectly reasonable.
The billion dollar lawsuit has 'settlement' written all over it. For an amount of that size, there would need to be a whole hell of a lot of plaintiffs signing on for it. Because it was launched so quickly, I doubt there's more than a single name on it -- the initiator of the suit. Expect it to disappear quietly when a relatively small payoff is made.
The other one seems more serious. It actually looks like people are signing on to it and the dollar value will be determined by the number of complainants. It doubt the amount will be in any way groundbreaking, but it will probably grab Sony's attention.
And just to clarify, these suits aren't charging Sony with fraud or malfeasance, so far as I know, so it has nothing to do with the commission of a crime. It has to do with culpability. At best, it might be breach of trust.
1. A person feels something has happened that they don’t like.
2. It involves a company with a lot of money.
3. No win no fee means you don’t have to pay to sue.
= So what do you think is going to happen?
If someone uses your name to commit a crime you would not say that.
CC numbers + name + age + where you live + payments + lots of private info from chat sessions = huge fucking deal.
Of course it's the fault of SoE, they are supposed to keep our info secure.
If someone could sue me for peeing the wrong way I'm sure they would, while there are a lot of good people in this world there are those that suck @$$ as well.
There is no company that can defend 100% against hackers indefinitently, there are always ways around code and holes to sleek through.
They are not supposed to be 100% security breach proof though as nothing as such exists.
Also, in a matter of fact, Sony clearly states that they cannot ensure safety of your personal information, a thing you sign up to when giving them the info.
This lawsuit is completely baseless and stupid.
Pretty much as others noted, the lawsuit is really frivolous and such. The idea of "its supposed to be safe" doesn't take into account the multiple attacks that can legitimately be argued reduced both responsiveness and security. The fact is this wasn't an issue until the actual attacks from Anon occurred in the first place. With the ability to look at events in that perspective, it can be argued in something with language that sounds as if "due to multiple breaches to our security and network, our capacity to both respond and to deter such an action from occurring was both limited and not possible due to the circumstances it occurred under". There is also an underlying standing that if they can show there was an honest effort to respond to an event beyond their means, then no they aren't liable for it.
However there is one interesting thing of value. If you look at the situation from an objective basis, it also puts Anon in a tough spot as it could be both argued that their actions had indirectly devoted resources and manpower to addressing their actions and that, had their actions not occurred, the security breach would also possibly not happened. It also doesn't help that simply professing a hatred for a company and that you'd take revenge on them doesn't help from a legal standpoint as well. I mean if I confessed to hating someone and it was heard the world over, if that same person died a week later, yea I'd be suspect number one and I think some people are ignoring that fact to.
The sad part is, consumers were again victims of this mess at the end and that while we may not like corporations, I still understand (and do favor) that they do indeed have a right to protect their property and it should be looked in light that while some homebrewers don't pirate games, the majority do and that we have to respect that without the whining or bit**ing that comes from most people who disagree with Sony.
If homebrewers weren't pirating sh*t left and right, the "other OS" might still be there. But even I know, not a single acquaintance I know with a Nintendo Wii or DS hasn't homebrewed it for pirating games.
The bottom line is this: if the last 30 years of history has shown us anything, Sony isn't going to lose any of these lawsuits. Any announced lawsuit and dollar amount at this stage boil down to two things: trolling for clients and positioning for a settlement. Just because a lawyer says they are filing a class action lawsuit against Sony doesn't mean a court will grant them class action status. The lawsuits that actually happen will sooner or later be settled out of court. Because particularly in a class action suit, the lawyers will have a lot more leeway to say to themselves "if I pursue this to a verdict, it will take xx years and my profit margin will be $$. But if I settle for Son'y offer, it will only take a year or two and my profit margin will be $$$$$$."
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
It's not just that, it's personal information, even your secret question/answer to the accounts, your real name and where you live. Thank god we don't have to put social security numbers in online accounts. And they stated that passwords were not stored encrypted, just hashed.
In my email today:
I feel really great now...
anyone whoever got those annoying calls from india and i am sure most have ,means your personal information like address,name,age and phone number has been sold out .so not like your personal information was not out there and what do you think those indian companies do when you slam the phone down on them,they just re sell your info.
They also plug your number into an automated dialer that just keeps hammering your landline. From an 800 number that can't be blocked.
Obvious mistakes are obvious mistakes, the fact you can't be 100% sure will never save you from a court decision. If you need a 100% green light to fifull anything nothing would be ever done.
Also from a customer point of view, it clearly appear like your informations are put in a secured environement when you give them, or i'm missing something? i guess not
Gaming industry have a very amateurish way to handle their customer informations, when you get fishing email few hours after giving this information to a top mmo company, it is not hard to question the security of said company. I think this is a well know statement to the mmo players, go read the mmo fan site about the companies account security problems to make yourself an idea. I wouldn't even think about world situation if those kind of amateurish security was ported to banking or anything else in fact, so i think you have to be realist here about the overall situation. It is critical since years in fact, they just got what they deserve to me personally, if they got to pay few billions i would personally applaud, in fact its a shame only SOE will pay the bill, other companies like Blizzard and NCsoft should pay twice as much, this is my personal opinion. In any case this was awaiting them for certainty if you kept track of the overall security info problem in the mmo world in particular, wich is at best a shame that is lasting for years and years now. When some game like Lineage2 are defined by the customer like a RMT and bot heaven, there is really nothing else to add here, as it talk by itself.
Also it seam the overall affair isn't about amateurish security from gaming company, from i understood, but the fact PSN is forcing the use of some software that make customer security very weak. So yes i guess "the situation" get so bad it is not acceptable anymore, this is nothing strange to me as i already said, it is just the step further into their amateurish way to look at security to the point they don't even care about the core security of their product design.
I'm just very sorry for all the people that will get caught in collateral damagse due to this total lack of professionalism to not say the mockery they have put in place these last few years in front of their customers.
I think the people in certain European countries that actually had debit information exposed.. Well they have a right to be pissed off.
This crap law firm out of Canada just highlights one major "wrong" with court systems. "Sir Howard" the CEO of Sony Corp in a letter already outlined Sony's plans for the affected US Residents (and said they will have similar plans in all affected regions). Which included credit monitoring and a identity theft insurance that covers up to 1 million dollars in liability. Beyond that why on earth should anyone get compensation?
Law firms like this.. should have every lawyer they have permanently banned from any legal practice for life. All of their assets seized and used as compensation. Anyone who is a customer or an employee of SOE/Sony Corp is a victim to law firms like this. Why? The end result is going to be higher prices for you and lost jobs for the employees. Also as a class action lawsuit the majority of any money (settlement or judgement) goes to the lawyers... big suprise I know.. but their cost have to be covered of course.
Oh and ya.. if you ever wanna see me foam at the mouth and totally forget any rant about an MMO.. just bring up some law firm with a law suit like this. These types of lawyers are the only thing on this planet that make John Smedley look good in comparison.
I wonder if the next step is to start suing web sites like... anywho, 411, peekyou, intellius, people smart etc etc because someone could go on there and get the addresses and phone numbers of millions of people... along with their "social website" links (ie: facebook etc) along with maps to show you how to get to the address and sat shots of their house and/or street views ... Or its ok you can get the same peoples information.. because you didn't have to hack it? just search the web...
people sued mc donald's for too hot coffee, which they themselves (the suiing ones) spilled over their pants...
not surprised, mankind gets dumber every day.
got a new idea for you guys: sue architects for the walls you ran against :P
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
How very true, it has happened time and again that personal details have been sold on to companies abroad that do not operate under the same strict rules as most of the western world, from banks to cable companies, our details have been stolen by disgruntled employee's for a quick buck.
As for SoE being sued well I guess there had to be some low lifes out there wanting to try their luck in making some money out of this, I can't see them getting anywhere with them though.
Good luck on that suit, Sony may settle, but it won't be for 1 Billion. First off I would think that you would have to findout that your info was actually being used by someone else. Then you have to be able to prove it was from the Sony data theft. How many times have to put that same info into other forms? How do you know that info didn't come from one of those that someone hacked and that company never knew it?
Unless someone can make a direct line between this theft and illegal use of that stolen info, it's not going to fly. In this sue happy society, people will sue for anything, but seldom do they win.
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.