A slow hand clap for Sony...

Salut!

Good news. No one has called me a pussy since that fateful day on the 88, what now seems an age ago! Huzzah!

Today I write to express my dismay about the big Sony personal data debacle. If you've not seen anything about it then the story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13192359 - and the basics are that Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) was hacked and the personal details of 77 million people were taken. Details including: Name, Address, Postcode, PSN sign in, PSN PASSWORD, Date of Birth, and, 'maybe' credit card details.

The media is giving this quite a lot of coverage, as it should, but no-one really seems to be making a big deal about the fact it took Sony a WEEK to tell users of the service that their personal details may have been compromised. That's a week where people had access to one of my Internet passwords, my address, my DOB and (perhaps) my credit card details.

I have spent two hours this morning calling my credit card company (that took five minutes, well done AMEX, you were, as ever, truly splendid) and changing every online password I have that might be the same as the PSN one (yes I know I should have a different password for everything, but how many people can really manage that many different passwords?).

I guess the main issue I have is that there is literally no come back or consequence to Sony for this incident. Can you imagine the scandal if this was the government losing personal data (again!)? The only comeback for users of the service is not to use it at all, or to stop using Sony products - which in both cases is cutting off your nose to spite your face... it just means that you stop using an expensive piece of hardware... and stop buying Blu-Rays?

I suppose what I am getting at is that we don't live in a marketplace where you can always vote with your wallet. Companies like Sony are so big and powerful that there is really no way to stop using all their products/services as a form of protest. Let's just look at what Sony actually do these days: as well as Play Station and Blu-Ray, they do the Vaio computer range, a host of consumer electronics (TVs, stereo, MP3 players, etc), they make movies through Sony Pictures Entertainment, and publish/release around a quarter of all commercial music through the Sony BMG label.

To vote with your wallet, you'd have to stop watching a lot of films, stop listening to a lot of music, and stop buying Blu-Ray, etc. It's pretty impossible. So what's left for the consumer to do? Nothing, really... express their disapproval... and... erm... that's it. So in many ways it is the same as when the government lost data in the past, you just have to live with an apology. That's it. Frustrating eh... Especially considering the way these huge, powerful companies make you agree to terms of service documents running into tens of thousands of words, and when you accept these terms of service you do so from a position on absolute impotence. (Who actually reads those things? And could you return a product if you didn't agree to terms of service? What when the terms of service change?)

I guess that above all, the thing to remember is that the hackers caused the problem, and they are the people we should be angriest with, however... Sony controls how it manages and communicates the problem... and this could have been done a hell of a lot better. Personally, I think users of the PSN should get more than an apology (some credit in lieu of the time spent changing security details, etc?), but I really can't see 77 million people being given a £5 credit, can you?

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Media Fail:

As an aside, I love the way the BBC felt that a journalist for a computer gaming website was the best person to include in the story to advise on what PSN account holders should do. He basically said 'well, if nothing dodgy has happened in the last week, don't worry'.

Now, I'm sorry, but that's just moronic. If you hacked 77 million sets of personal data would you be able to use each set of data for fraudulent activity within 7 days? Processing 11 million attempts a day? No. This could run for bloody years... and the data is likely to be sold on creating wave after wave of potential problems for people who had PSN accounts.

The right person for advice on what to do about credit card data going missing is not a computer games journalist. It's a security expert at a bank or credit card company. This was very sloppy lazy journalism by the BBC. Tut tut.

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That's all from me - the earth shatteringly exciting 'principles for music buying' post I know you are desperate to read will have to wait until I can be arsed thinking about it properly. Now I have to go pot some tomatoes! LIVING THE DREAM MY FRIENDS! WIN!

Onwards!

Levin