Sony Becoming Little Big Brother
The new Terms of Service agreement for Sony’s Playstation Network have come out and there’s some interesting content. While most of us simply check the ‘I agree’ button instead of going through the endless pages of legalese and relatively unimportant jargon. I’m never going to pirate a game, try to reverse-engineer the software or otherwise profit from some unauthorized use of a title.
Unfortunately Sony has slipped something Orwellian into the conditions you have to agree to in order to continue using their PSN service:
“SCEA reserves the right to monitor and record any online activity and communication throughout PSN and you give SCEA your express consent to monitor and record your activities. SCEA reserves the right to remove any content and communication from PSN at SCEA’s sole discretion without further notice to you. Any data collected in this way, including the content of your communications, the time and location of your activities, your Online ID and IP address and other related information may be used by us to enforce this Agreement or protect the interests of SCEA, its users, or licensors.”
Many won’t take offense to this draconian measure, citing the fact that they don’t anticipate doing anything wrong. Others however will be upset at this invasion of privacy.