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Sony Privacy The Courts

Sony Agrees To $17.75m Settlement For 2011 PSN Attack 66

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the claim-your-prize-now dept.
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes with word that Sony has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought by PSN users affected by the 2011 breach. From the article: Sony has finally agreed to a preliminary settlement of $15m, which may be able to appease most of the customers that suffered from this attack. The PlayStation Network users that did not partake in the "Welcome Back" program that Sony unveiled shortly after their online services were brought back will be able to choose from two of several options for compensation: One PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable game selected from a list of 14 games; three PlayStation 3 themes selected from a list of six themes; or a three-month subscription to PlayStation Plus free of charge. Claiming these benefits will be done on a first come, first serve basis ...The settlement isn't just about free games or services. Customers with documented identity theft charges are eligible for up to $2,500 per claim.
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Sony Agrees To $17.75m Settlement For 2011 PSN Attack More

Sony Agrees To $17.75m Settlement For 2011 PSN Attack

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  • PS3:

    Dead Nation, InFamous, LittleBigPLanet, Super Stardust HD, rain, and 3 others to be determined later

    PSP:

    LittleBigPlanet, ModNationRacers, Patapon 3, Killzone Liberation, and 2 others to be determined later.

    Nothing I'd pay money for. (and per the settlement, they're valued at $9.00 per).

    • >ModNationRacers

      Is there a worse racing game?

    • Considering that stolen credit cards alone go for upwards of $40 each (according to articles I've seen) based on how high the credit limit on them is, this seems like a total ripoff. I also question the $9 per game value for the PSP stuff - most of the PSP games on PSN are $5. I brought my Vita to work, so I'll check it out on lunch break and report back.

    • Aren't those the "Welcome back" games? They haven't listed the games in the new deal as far as I know.

      Ars Technica says those who didn't take part in the Welcome Back get two choices from 3. (PS3/PSP game, Themes, 3 months PS+), those who did get 1 choice of the three. And apparently those who get 2 can choose two of the same benefit, a la two games instead of 1 game and themes.

      • For the most part they seem to be. I grabbed the list from the scribd settlement (section 1.8)

        • The funny thing is, if you took part in the "welcome back" deal, which I did, you could get two games out of those choices for each platform, for a total of 4 games. In addition to a month of PSN, FreeRealms and PS Home goodies (about 20 bucks worth of stuff for each), movie rentals and a Music Unlimited 30-day extension for those who subscribed to that.

          So those who didn't take part in "welcome back", actually get less stuff than those who did who can still get one of the benefits from the new settlement

    • Typical for a class action suit: millions for the lawyers, gift certificates for the claimants.

  • Ouch! (Score:3)

    by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ) on Thursday July 24, 2014 @11:25AM (#47523141) Homepage Journal

    That's going to hurt Sony's bottom line.

  • Why does TFA mention that it is first come, first serve, but not provide a link to where a person should make a claim?

    • Why does TFA not mention we should maybe consider a little personal responsibility, eh? What is this, you let hackers take your identity? Maybe you should have refused to provide Sony with any information that would allow them to take out loans in your name!

      Oh, you have an address, and a credit card number? No social security number? Well, I guess you can spend credit card money; and the owner can chargeback the money, freeze the card, and get a new one.

      Sony wants your SSN, bank account details, and

  • If you had taken part in "welcome back"... (Score:5, Informative)

    by netsavior ( 627338 ) on Thursday July 24, 2014 @11:29AM (#47523171)
    The welcome back program was:
    TWO free titles from this list:
    Dead Nation
    inFAMOUS
    LittleBigPlanet
    Super Stardust HD
    Wipeout HD + Fury

    plus 30 days of Playstation Plus (note: "free" games, if "purchased" during this 30 day time frame remain on your account forever, I got several small/old games this way.)

    The new deal, for the holdouts is worse, imo.
    • I agree. This isn't very appealing to me (already a PS+ member, and I did jump on welcome back program). I still don't trust Sony. I don't have any cc info with my account. Pre-paid cards makes life easier for the paranoid, like me.
      • yeah I have moved to prepaid cards for most everything video game related now, except for places where it carries a hefty premium, but that is rare, Steam cards even go on sale at Target sometimes... last month I paid $17.90 for a $20 gift card.

        • You pay with a credit card, at a location that has suffered a credit breach, for a gift card to a service like Sony, because you're concerned about security and credit card breaches at Sony?

          Does that about sum it up?

          • You are assuming he used a credit card to buy the gift card.
          • There is green paper-like substance that can be used to purchase goods and services. There is even a space for it in your wallet... it is that spot in the back that is twice as wide as the credit card slots.
            • I don't have any green pieces of paper, but I can get blue, orange and purple pieces. There's even the lesser-spotted red piece; I've seen one twice in my life, so I know they exist </obligatorynoteveryoneisamerkin>

    • There is nothing more pathetic then Sony trying to "win" back customers then bribing them with free games.

    • The new deal, for the holdouts is worse, imo.

      It's even worse than you think, because it was TWO free games for both the PS3 and PSP, for a total of four. AND FreeRealms and PS Home content worth about $20 for each, AND the month of PS+, AND an additional 30 days of Music Unlimited if you subscribed to that.

      Not only that, but those who took that deal still get 1 benefit choice from the new deal, either a game, the themes, or 3 months of PS+

    • Also you got that stuff years ago when it was newer.

  • What? (Score:3)

    by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Thursday July 24, 2014 @11:31AM (#47523189) Homepage

    In order to compensate you for our insecure products and indifference to your privacy ... we're giving you more of our crappy, insecure products?

    Wow, did Sony write this settlement themselves?

    What a joke.

  • Since When (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wisnoskij ( 1206448 ) on Thursday July 24, 2014 @11:44AM (#47523305) Homepage
    Have companies been allowed to pay damages, as outlined and verified by the government in a legal suit, in product? Giving aways games is a marketing ploy, not a punishment.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This is like a newspaper graciously allowing you to read the paper at a library in return for not delivering at your doorstep as they were paid to.

    • Re:Since When (Score:4, Insightful)

      by netsavior ( 627338 ) on Thursday July 24, 2014 @12:24PM (#47523615)
      I have been a defacto member of several class actions... very rarely has it been a check in the mail. It has ranged from a Coupon to a month's free service, even gift cards. Paying in promotional materials seems to be the standard.

      I would also like to note that PSPlus is a service that encourages you to purchase discounted items, and also that Little Big Planet and InFAMOUS both have sequels, making them excellent marketing give-aways. This is not punishment at all. This is a 15 million dollar marketing campaign.

      • I have received over $1,000 in class action lawsuits. For me, the big payouts occurred when very few persons joined the class because no notice was given to anyone of those affected that a class action lawsuit even existed.

  • If the criminals (hackers) had physically (instead of virtually) broken into Sony, physically stolen customer information would Sony be responsible in that case also? At what point is it just a crime against both Sony and it's customers?

    I can see people writing that the security should have been better, well the same can be true in a physical crime also. Just seems odd to me, and how do we define when a company/person is liable in this kind of situation where they are also the victim?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JDeane ( 1402533 )

      It's part of the responsibility you take on when you hold your customers financial information too keep it secure.

      Sony completely and utterly failed in nearly any aspect of that, it wasn't valued by them enough to even bother encrypting.

      I would feel different if Sony had even tried to keep things secure, but as it is I don't feel sorry for them at all.

      If this had been a physical crime as you say, then yes the victim would be liable for the property they where holding. If I loan you my chainsaw and your hous

    • Well, it was also loss of service, not just the data breech. They shut everything down for weeks while they sorted it out. Several of my 40-60 dollar games were 100% unplayable for nearly a month, because services Sony agreed to supply were unavailable (log-on servers).

      I actually had a game I had never played at the time that was unplayable (because it required a patch that I could not get, thanks to services being down), and since I broke the shrink-wrap it was not returnable either.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by phorm ( 591458 )

      If your security consists of
      a) A poorly maintained barb-wire fence
      b) A gate manned by a 75-year-old semi-dead/blind security guard named fred

      And records are stored in a big box just inside an unlocked door easily accessible to anyone, then yes... they would be responsible.

      It's not that they weren't a "victim" of hacking, it's that their terrible data retention and security practises put customer-data at risk and enabled the hacking.

  • So the consequence to Sony is they give some more games away, at ZERO marginal cost to them, increasing customer lock-in. How exactly does this deter behaviour again?
    • Your forgetting the up to $2500 people with identity theft can recieve. The consequence was Sony not being able to sell anything in its online store for 24 days. It also lost some customers. Some constomers switched to prepaid cards.
  • Sony Settled in Canada on July 10 2013. Still waiting for my games since....
  • m = 10^{-3}, M = 10^3.
  • So less than $1 per customer.

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