News

US judge favours Sony in class action over 2011's PSN hack
Posted: 23.10.2012 14:24 by Simon Priest Comments: 15
Charges brought against Sony by a class action suit over the devastating PlayStation Network hack last year have been largely dismissed by US District Judge Anthony Battaglia.

Claims of negligence, restitution and unjust enrichment have been quashed. He also denied they breached California consumer protection laws, as PSN was a free service.

Bailment charges were cast aside too as "plaintiffs freely admit, plaintiffs' personal information was stolen as a result of a criminal intrusion of Sony's Network," ruled Battaglia.

"Plaintiffs do not allege that Sony was in any way involved with the Data Breach." Sony was also accused in the class action that they were misrepresentative of the protection they provided to data. However Battaglia said that users agreed to the Sony Privacy Policy which had "clear admonitory language that Sony's security was not 'perfect.'"

He ruled that "no reasonable consumer could have been deceived." The US District Judge offered the class action group a chance to amend its claims against Sony for injunctive relief and violation of consumer protection law. The 2011 hack on PSN services led to a month of it staying offline while Sony scrambled to reinforce security.
Source: CVG

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 23, 2012
herodotus
Well of course it does. The whole point of the hacks was to expose the greed and corruption inherant in Sony (as well as screwing them over) and other big name enterprises. The judge probably got a Playstation 4 as a generous "gift".
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Oct 23, 2012
nocutius
That's an unusual name for a call girl.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 23, 2012
herodotus
I think it's cool. More original than "Geisha" anyway, noccy:)
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Oct 23, 2012
nocutius
It might be less original but a single geisha trumps *many* Playstation 4's :)
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Oct 23, 2012
JonahFalcon
PSN is free? What about the user accounts and info and credit card info?
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 23, 2012
herodotus
Many of Anonymous denounced that action and that is how LulzSEC was born - far more radical and extremist than the original group. They did not care about the end user.
By lichlord (SI Core) on Oct 24, 2012
lichlord
yes in the documentary "we are legion" they were a splintergroup from Anonymous they hacked for the fun and sake of doing it
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 24, 2012
herodotus
Good Doco that. Reading the latest book about it now.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Oct 24, 2012
SirRoderick
Am I the only one that actually agrees they didn't do anyhting illegal? Now wether or not Sony as a company is morally on right grounds is a totally different debate, but it would be INSANE if they could be successfully sued over this.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 24, 2012
herodotus
Well they didn't break any EXISTING laws, but our legal systems (worldwide) must get up to speed and quickly to get out of the Dark Ages and enter the 21st Century where all sorts of Rules are broken, without actually being illegal.
Until the legal systems upgrade their software (that is their brains and their thinking - our barristers still wear wigs for Heaven's sake) then corporations like Sony can circumvent the Law and do anything they want with their hundreds of lawyers, savvy on internet law or lack of it, on retainers.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Oct 24, 2012
SirRoderick
Agreed on that, just saying that's a different matter :)
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 24, 2012
herodotus
:)
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Oct 26, 2012
FoolWolf
So what the class action really should have focused on should be if the agreements are OK to begin with or not. Perhaps people will start to "demand" a bit more things in the future instead of signing away their rights and integrity to play some stupid Zynga games...

All you are in their eyes is a walking wallet that only keeps on spending and spending...
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Oct 26, 2012
SirRoderick
Should really mention that PSN is FREE...

I mean it's directed at entirely the wrong thing this class action.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 27, 2012
herodotus
Then there is the EULA agreement that most agree to without ever signing. "South Park" had a great episode about that concerning Apple, and the ridiculous result of not reading the EULA leading to enslavement by Apple - all perfectly legal.