It has to take a Gandhi-like degree of patience to remain a Sony loyalist these days. There seems to be no end to the abuse and delusion, with a year’s worth of network outages, leaks of personal information, and just the general feeling that Sony simply treats the wants and needs of their customers as an afterthought.
The trend to abuse continues with the latest mandatory Sony Playstation Network update, specially, a new policy in the terms of service. A clause in the lengthy document bans PSN users from filing any class action lawsuit against the company.
“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,” reads the system update’s terms of service.
The policy is an attempt to counteract the slew of lawsuits filed against Sony this past summer, after the company failed to notify customers they had leaked sensitive personal information, including credit card numbers and addresses in a timely manner.
It’s important to understand how necessary these updates are to the console experience. Downloading them is required for any online use with the Playstation. Refusing one bars a user from online play with any game or service, such as Netflix.
That said, even if that wasn’t the case, be honest with yourselves, gamers. When is the last time you’ve actually read the terms of service for — anything?
These days, regular system updates have become the norm, a minor inconvenience that prompts you to put your head down, sigh, and fruitlessly mash the X button in the misguided hope it will get you to your game faster.
The average Playstation 3 owner will blindly hit “accept,” blissfully unaware they just signed away their rights.
There were 77 million accounts compromised during the security breach, a figure taken directly from a Sony Computer Entertainment America Chairman Kazuo Hirai’s letter to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, there is a way get around this binding agreement, but, like most things Sony, it is by no means user friendly. You can send a physical letter to Sony to regain you legal right to a class action law suit, but don’t fool yourself into thinking it will be this easy.
“I would suggest you ask for signature upon delivery, track the letter, and keep records. All this will come in handy just in case Sony decides to claim the letter never arrived,” advises ArsTechnica’s Ben Kuchera.
And, naturally, there is no easy electronic way to solve this issue.
Additionally, if you are already part of a class action lawsuit against Sony filed before Aug. 20, 2011, then you are unaffected by this new policy. Good job on being prudent.
It’s hard to even feel bad for Sony at this point. The company’s faults and failures can no longer be brushed off as hazards of the competitive marketplace.
These days, it seems as if they are almost working towards their own demise in this industry, gleefully enacting policies that only serve to abuse and alienate their inexplicably loyal, but dwindling customer base.
But hey, a measly $50 price drop should fix everything, right?
Reach David at dsydiong@asu.edu
