I don't like the way they do business either, starkers - so I'll not be disagreeing with you on that account (good pun, wot?).
Yeah, the rootkit debacle did it for me, but my son has done nothing illegal with regard to piracy - his tunes were purchased via emusic - yet Sony treat him as one by making his MP3 player non-compatible via an update he didn't want. That, to me, is no better than home invasion because Sony used covert means to invade his PS3 console... they entered without consent.
However, I feel they were substandard in their security. This means they are guilty of negligence with respect to their customers imo.
I agree 100% If a hacker is dead set determined to get in, I guess it's going to be near impossible to keep him out at the end of the day, but Sony still has an obligation to its customers to make their information as safe as it possibly can be. Failing to apply encryption is negligent to say the least... criminal, even.
starkers... make sure your son takes care of the credit/personal data stuff. You and he certainly don't want further exploitation of his data.
That's just it, my son never plays online and does not have an account with Sony for anything. The forced update that changed his user experience was encoded into the disc of a new game he'd purchased. I won't repeat his reaction to it for fear of Jafo sitting me in the corner for a while for the extreme use of expletives. Anyway his PS3 is never, ever connected to the net so his details being hacked should not be of concern.
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Sony messes with people by invalidating their pirated/backuped games and what Starkers said so Sony getting punished for it is gleefully delighting (don't know any other way to say it in english).
Um, I only repeated what I had heard, orright? Regardless of Sony's actions I do not advocate what these hackers have done and it is not gleefully delightful in any way shape or form. Let's just say the hackers got hacked [and don't say it can't happen] by more malevolent hackers who are just out to get rich quick off others credit card details, then the victims of Sony's inept, inadequate security measures are hit with a double whammy, aren't they? Not only are their personal details in the hands of unauthorised persons, their hard earned is also in the hands of others who were not intended to receive it. Tell me how that is gleefully delightful!
You won't get very far on WinCustomize by advocating piracy and a backed up game is not the same as a pirated one. I can assure you that starkers will be the last person in the world who would agree about what you said about software piracy.
Right on, Doc! Strangely enough... and despite my Cap'n starkers alter ego, I don't advocate piracy even on the high seas. One only has to look at what the Somali pirates are doing to see that Long John Silver [played by Jack Hawkins] and Jack Sparrow {Johnny Depp] are just romanticised characters and bear absolutely no resemblance to real life pirates whatsoever. Aaarrrggghhhh!!!!
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Oh and starkers......you think PC gaming is immune from what's happening to the consoles?
Nope, not at all. As far as I'm concerned most big business is slimy and far too greedy to snaffle your hard earned dollar at any cost, so no, PC games would not be immune to such manipulation. Thing is, I don't have any modern games that have all this DRM crap and other stuff encoded into them. All my games are old school [Riven and Myst, stuff from that bygone era] so I am not affected by any of it, really.... being I'm never ever tempted to go for the latest and greatest in high-end games.
I have absolutely no patience for any DRM that interferes with the user experience, so I leave that to those gluttons for punishment who choose to negotiate it.