Stop Apologizing For Sony

The PlayStation Network’s situation went nuclear earlier this week when Sony revealed they couldn’t guarantee the safety of registered users’ personal data; including credit card numbers. Almost instantaneously the event was dubbed “PSNGate”.

We at Nukezilla have been doing our best to stick close to the situation with our PSN Downtime Live Report. As one of the four people assigned to update the Live Report I’ve stayed vigilant and seen many different opinions on the situation.

There is one opinion however, I just cannot agree with: That it’s “not that big a deal”.

This is the common sentiment among the Sony apologists. They say things like, “people will forget”, “fraud is common; it doesn’t have to be PSN”, and my personal favorite, “you’re overreacting”.

To that I say no, sorry. When my identity is at risk to be stolen and my credit card data is vulnerable, if I’m angry, I’m not overreacting.

The fact that fraud appears in many other places is no excuse. And while Sony apologists seem to think the company and everyone involved will just move on in the next few days, they’re in a for a rude awakening. Multiple political officials intend to question the corporation about this incident and GamePolitics has reported on a survey that says a fifth of consumers have considered switching their main platform to Microsoft’s Xbox 360. It’s easy to say “it’s only a fifth, not that much”, but when Sony caters to up to 75 million registered users, I imagine a fifth of that total is quite a few.

On the topic of the 360, many seem to believe that while Microsoft charges for their service in Xbox Live, PSN users have no right to complain as the PSN is free. To that, I say this: You get what you pay for; in this case, nothing extra. PSN lacks a lot of the premium functionality that Live has and what it does do it rarely does well. However, competent security isn’t a bullet point on a fact sheet; it’s a prerequisite. You don’t pay to access Steam or iTunes and those services have never had their entire network breached.

What people need to understand is that it’s not about PSN being down. Nobody is (or at least, should be) upset about missing out on Uncharted 2 multiplayer or another (to be frank) lame-ass PSN update. SOCOM 4 and Portal 2 can wait; they aren’t going anywhere. People need to know that they can trust Sony with the details they put into their PSN accounts. PSN is free; if Sony doesn’t want to upgrade their terrible servers or add cross-game voice chat, I can’t complain because I’m not paying anything. But when I trust you with my address or my phone number or my credit card details, I need to be absolutely sure you’re protecting that information as best as you possibly can.

Sony says credit card numbers were encrypted and personal data was kept behind very complex security, but to what standard do I hold those measures? The one set by PSN’s main security?  The security that was breached last week? Do you see how that might not inspire confidence?

They can keep hoping Sony will be able to bury this in the backyard this weekend, but the mainstream media and the government parties involved will only make them dig it back up. I expect a large portion of the company’s E3 presser this year will be dedicated to discussing the ways PSN has been strengthened. Sony needs to earn back our trust, and that’s exactly what we should let them do: earn it.

I consider myself to be on the lower end of the totem pole when it comes to how critical we are at Nukezilla. That’s in regards to games journalism, industry practices et al. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with holding companies accountable for their actions. If we did it more often, the industry would likely be in a far better place.