Why Should Sony Apologise for the PSN Outage?
by CheekyGuy, HSM team writer
I have been stewing now in anger for the best part of the PSN outage, which resulted from me being away from writing for all you great guys. I was angry that this had to happen, angry at not being able to have access to and communication with my friends in the manner which – thanks to PSN and Home – I am now accustomed to. And I’m not quick to get angry at most things.
But then again, I also realize in doing so that it’s just a waste of energy.
I find that I am not alone in this. Many people all over the internet have expressed their displeasure at the length of which the PSN has been down, as well as the possibility their information has been compromised – from indignant chest-thumping and rage to those just wanting to get back in touch with their friends – and as much as we all want answers now, the fact remains that this is an ongoing criminal investigation. And like all criminal investigations, no real clear answers will be provided until the investigation is complete. Sony have done their best at informing us, and while it may or may not be as much as we, the users, would like, it would be foolish of them to make a statement that they would have to retract a few days later, once more information became clear. It’s far better to give a statement that can be built upon and clarified as time goes on.
The only real people with answers are the Sony engineers in Japan, and aside from the obvious translation challenges, Japan still has a significantly more important issues to deal with at present.
I saw a news broadcast that Sony hosted a conference (North American users can find a summary of this here at the PlayStation Blog) in which they wished to apologise to all of us for waiting so long for the Playstation Network to come back online, complete with a ‘Welcome Back’ programme that will be tailored to each region’s market. It’s a nice gesture on their part, sure. But why should they apologise? And also, why are we so presumptuous to say that this isn’t enough?
Too long; didn't read
From a legal standpoint – which is clearly stated in the TOS, and if you missed that part because you were too busy scrolling down to get to the “accept” button and get on with your gaming, you aren’t alone – Sony is under no obligation to compensate us for the downtime.
If you’re thinking scornfully, “Well, they’re just throwing us a bone so we don’t leave,” you’re right – in a way. What company wouldn’t offer some compensation? That’s just common sense. Toyota did it when the poop hit the fan for them. The break-in of Sony’s database hasn’t caused any injuries or fatalities, and so the compensation is in scale.
They had to shut down their servers because they were under a cyber attack and their customers’ information was on the verge of being compromised. Thinking back, it was pure common sense for them to do that. They were threatened weeks before by a hacker group called ‘Anonymous’ via a video message (which YouTube have now taken down). Then the network went offline. If you want a more detailed idea of what happened and what it took for the hackers to break in, ask Cubehouse. And try – if you can – to keep up.
I saw a CNN Broadcast video lately in which a “representative” smugly tells us that the “Authorities will never catch them.” I would say very differently as they made a huge slip up in not Voice Morphing. (Which is what they usually use in their videos. Maybe they want to be caught this time?) That representative has given cops both in FBI and Scotland Yard (working together) a real head start in searching for them, as their ‘Spokesperson’ has a British accent that I can clearly hear come from a well educated, middle class area of London (It’s not as dumbed down as the streetwise part of South London, Brixton, Hackney, as an example). They may be smart, just not THAT smart.
(Note: Since then, Anonymous has repeatedly denied having anything to do with the attack, as it goes against their values and basic modus operandi. No other group – known or otherwise – has stepped forward to claim responsibility. Reports of arrests being made cannot be confirmed as of this writing.)
Regardless, I don’t think Sony should apologise. It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t as if they wanted to have their network security breached, and nor are they only network – gaming or otherwise – that has been hacked severely in the past. No for-profit company wants to lose money at the rate Sony is as a result of this shutdown. Latest reports have them losing nearly a billion dollars a day. Can you imagine what that looks like? I sure can’t.
And then you got the programmers and developers who no doubt are working around the clock to get the network back online and more secure than ever before. It’s not as if these people are unionized and get paid overtime for working (I’m sure) nights and weekends.
There's no place like it
But lessons are learned in security, and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) have promised to roll these out over a period of time. In their press conference, Sony had stated that they had brought in third-party security experts to test and verify the strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.
As they clearly stated in the conference, Sony will be gradually bringing all the aspects of the network back online. This is a good thing. After being offline for so long, it’s easy to believe that the resultant mad rush online of the user base would send the whole network crashing back down again.
So when the entire network is back up and running – which should be soon – know that we’ll all be playing and communicating on one of the most secure gaming networks there is. It will be good to be back Home once more.
May 10th, 2011 by CheekyGuy | 22 comments
CheekyGuy is a loveable, mischievous Brit who first entered virtual reality via Second Life, and now frequents Home as a Grey Gamer to keep in touch with friends. In real life, Cheeky is a video editor who has just completed a Master's degree in screenwriting from Liverpool John Moores University.
i agree .this was a huge hack job. going back online to soon could result in worse problems.im pretty sure the company wants to be running even more then we want it to.and find the hackers n hang m by there you fill it in.
I don’t feel that Sony owes us unicorns and dancing girls, but I appreciate the gesture of apology. If your business was shut down because of a natural disaster, you would still offer an apology acknowledging the inconvenience to your current and potential customers — Same theory applies here, in my mind.
I agree, they did not *ask* to be hacked, as far as I know were not particularly negligent, and are handling the situation in the best ways as could be hoped.
I also do not believe that Sony was at fault at all. Although there has been some speculation that thier system and protections not being up to date led to the break-in, that has been proven to be dead wrong.
While I do believe that they did indeed make some mis-steps in how they related the information to the public at first(which has improved as the situation has gone on), I’m not sure what more they can say about the situation that they already havent said.
Sony, and it’s customers, are the victims of a criminal act. The fallout from that criminal act has also made victims of the countless devolopers (both for games as well as for Home) who are losing huge amounts of revenue each minute that the PSN is down. In the current economic climate, this is a catastrophic state of affairs for all the companies and merchants involved.
A great deal of ire has been pointed in Sony’s direction due to this mess…but the anger is misplaced and should be directed at thoes who comitted this crime, not those (including Sony) who are suffering from it.
Personal note to Cheeky: you got something against Brixton? :>
Maybe Earl’s Court instead of Brixton, eh, Cheekyone?
I completely agree: it’s like when an airline flight gets diverted by hijackers. Or delayed due to a hurricane. Terrorism (and that’s what hacking is) and “Acts of God” are all accepted by airline passengers as being possibilities. Thus, while there is some grumbling that the meal vouchers handed out at the ticket counter to the affected passengers aren’t much compensation, remember the airline didn’t even have to do that. And just as some passengers swear they will never book another flight on that airline, the airline they switch to is just as vulnerable.
Great job in explaining this simple truth that so many seem to be struggling with in the aftermath of this crime. I have never blamed Sony for any of this. It is like blaming a girl who was raped for seducing the rapist.Sony didn’t ask for this at all and they are the ones who have suffered the most, them and the poor developers involved as well. Like I said in my earlier article, they don’t owe us a thing for this free service that they have provided and in a way it is a testimony to the quality of that service that so many people are this upset about its loss. They have offered compensation when none was required and I for one feel that is a significant sign of just what kind of company we are dealing with, one with great ethics and a sense of responsibility toward its customers. Sony I am proud to be one of your customers.
on my last count, burbie, 2,360……….ugh.
Well the airplane analogy forgets 1 piece of info.,the fact that they were told about 2 weeks before hand and didn’t seem to do much during that time.If i was told ahead of time that i was going to be raped or blown up on a plane,to use the above analogies,i would make sure i did something about it BEFORE the proverbial shit hit the fan.Which kinda gives me the feeling that they didn’t take these guys seriously,assuming that it’s Anonymous that’s responsible,if the hackers are going to be considered the same as terrorists or rapists companies need to take these threats more seriously.I don’t think Sony did anything horribly wrong but it seems that they stuck their heads in the sand and hoped the threats were hot air.Still,all the facts aren’t known to us yet so I’m not really forming any strong opinions until i know more but 3 things seem clear to me,1st the hackers are douche-bags,2ND Sony needs to do things quite differently from these days forward,3rd 123 Lollipop Lane is my new address for all online business from now on,lol.
Johnboye 1970 “Personal note to Cheeky: you got something against Brixton? :>”
No, I actually love it there, more my kinda people
I agree with cthulu93 on conducting online business with gaming consoles, (and I’m not just talking about the PS3) even though Sony has a 128 bit encryption to protect and hide our Visa or Credit card numbers (And i’m told that this takes a loong time to break into that) and from what I understand and read, the hackers havent broken into THAT part of our stored personal Information. The personal Information that the hackers have threatened Sony in exploiting for all to see (Of which will be floating around cyberspace for anyone to use) is our mail and Email addresses.
In the future when PSN finally DOES come back up (so far Sony have stated May 31st) I will not be removing my Visa card details and just buy a PSN Card.
Also I don’t know what extrodinary lengths Sony will go to when we sign back into the PSN, (do we have to sign a new agreement?) And will we have to put in our Full personal details, because this time around (and maybe this is a trust issue I’m having right now, as I’m being cautious) I won’t want to put my personal details. (I don’t think we should have to put our mailing address in there, I don’t care how secure the PSN may be. There is always going to be another chance of it being hacked into again, and i don’t think I want to take another chance on that) So please PLEASE Sony, if you’re reading this, at least make it ‘Optional’ if we want to leave personal information such as this for the new sign in you got planned. I’m happy that you apologised, even though you didn’t need to, but I still feel a little insecure. I think we all are. And with new hacker groups spawning left right and centre to attack you and the consumers that follow you, you can easily see why.
Sorry, CORRECTION; I will be removing my Visa card details and just buy a PSN Card.
yes cheekyguy that very well point altho every1 probly gonna buy psn card for now on that be my guess
Yeah I’m having those same trust issues as well so I’m with you on the new sign in,optional would be best at this time.And you are correct about it not being just Sony I’m going to be much more cautious from here on out about any transactions i enter into online now.
My only question is whether whatever they are doing now with everything offline could have been done before all this without taking everything offline. If so, then an apology is appropriate. If not, then no apology necessary. I don’t think people would have been as tolerant if they took everything down for this long without an attack.
I think people would have been tolerant of a prolonged downtime (maybe a week?) IF it was for a core update that brought in all the changes we have pleaded for.
If Sony is smart, they will use this opportunity to do that kind of core update to make the changes so many of us have been begging for: increase the item limit in personal spaces to at least 75 (100 would be best), install a ‘delete’ option for unwanted items, change the default phrases by removing “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?” and “How old are you?”, put a permanent link to the Sony Forums on the small billboard next to the dance floor in CP, add “Make Invisible” to the Block, Report and Mute options, increase Friend List size to at least 150, change Club Room capacities to 64, and BRING BACK THE POKER ROOMS!!!
Doing at least some of those actions would be the best welcome back present they could come up with for most of us. If they are going to be off until May 31, surely they could at least start on some of those changes. An announcement to that effect would bring back a lot of people.
Before the PSN went down, I purchased two subscriptions to Free Realms, both for a month. Me and my husband were truly enjoying the game, and were contemplating on purchasing the full game for each account. After a week of running around and leveling up, we began having problems loading into Free Realms, and logging into the PSN as did many others. When we did get in, it was glitching, people were missing, body parts were invisible and game play was non-exsistent. Finally, I called Sony to see what could be done about our subscriptions, since we were having so many problems. I was hoping that they could extend the subscriptions for another month to make up for lost time. Unfortunately, I received an answer that I didn’t like, Nothing could be done. After asking to speak to her manager, I ran into the same problem. I asked, hypothetically, if the game went down for a month, would you add time or refund me then? The gentleman replied, No. But feel free to call your bank and cancel the payment, and we will ban your accounts. I was appauled at the response he gave me. Now that the PSN, has actually been down almost a month, and I’m out my $10 for subscriptions, I no longer want to purchase the full game. I have also, decided that I will not pay for any more subscriptions, for that matter.
Does Sony owe us anything? I think a welcome back package is expected in my opinion, and will never live up to everyone’s expectations, but that doesn’t mean its unwelcomed. I for one will not be jumping ship to XBOX anytime soon. Do I blame Sony for the PSN being down? Not fully, the hackers are largely to blame, and I hope they are dealt with in time. I think Sony is trying their best to upgrade the security, to prevent something like this again, think of all the money they are losing every day. I look forward to the return of the PSN, but when it returns, I will think twice before I purchase any (online) only games, and will use only PSN cards. And I think, I will also be using 123 Lollipop Lane, in the future.
This is a good example of the recent,within the last 6 months or so,decline in Sony’s customer service.Which is a shame because once,around a year ago or so,they used to have some of the best that i had used.As for occupancy at 123 lollipop lane,sure there’s room for all there.It’s where the Morrison Hotel is at so i hope you like “The Doors” playing in the background 24/7,lol.Seriously though i hope Sony’s customer service returns to it’s former self.
I agree about the customer service as pertains to the network and Home especially. I have heard many complaints from people who told me they were missing things in Home and called Sony only to be told go find a MOD, like that is the easiest thing in Home to do. Then I heard that the MODS have nothing to do with fixing the technical stuff in Home anyway, so what is your next option? I have no idea, maybe Sony can tell us the answer to that quandary sometime. They might say searching the forums is a way, but if you don’t have a computer that can be hard, as the search engine on the PS3 is hard to even read off of because the print is so small, at least it is for me.
I hope 123 Lollipop Lane is a huge condominium complex since so many of us are moving there.
Well, it IS a real address after all. Maybe there’s a vacancy there…
No, really: http://maps.google.com/
I purchased my PS3 originally so I could have the streaming capabilities and be able to use my Netflix subscription (which at the time required me to put a disc in the PS3). When the service first went down, I could still watch Netflix with some quick button smashing and persistance, but lately it does not work at all. Netflix doesn’t want to hear about it, it’s not their problem! SONY can’t do anything about it and I haven’t heard that they are willing to refund my monthly payment for this unusable service. So, who pays? Me….for nada. Yes, the cyber criminals got me in more ways than one.
The effects of this cyber attack will linger for a very long time, and I honestly feel badly for SONY and their client base to be the one’s to feel the brunt of the first storm of this criminal act.
Times are a changin….
P.S. Johneboy, only YOU would actually google map that address! Too funny!
I’m still enjoying Netflix, it went down for a little bit yesturday, but it’s back up for me
Me too it is working for me.