I wonder how many times a company can install trojans on your computer, destroy your OS's security, secretly watch all your actions, then proceed to not properly protect your data when you voluntarily give it to them...before going out of business.
Sony's size and momentum must be pretty crazy. Or maybe it's our society. I just can't imagine a small record store in the 1960s, after being caught spying through the bedroom windows of its customers, ever staying in business.
I feel terrible for anyone caught in this. But maybe, just maybe, Sony isn't the company to do business with anymore?
Don't read this as a defense of the company, but there hasn't really been a single, monolithic Sony for decades. Sony Music Entertainment, perpetrators of 2005's rootkit debacle, is pretty far removed from Sony Computer Entertainment, the division responsible for Playstation. Sony Electronics, makers of TVs, home theater systems, and Walkmans, is another silo, as is Sony Pictures.
Of course, every act of incompetence under the Sony name tarnishes that name, and in the marketplace, that's ultimately all that matters.
every act of incompetence under the Sony name tarnishes that name, and in the marketplace, that's ultimately all that matters
As it should. When these companies merge, buy other companies out, or execute reverse takeovers, there's always talk of "brand synergies" and all of the business advantages of having one set of products associated with another. There's absolutely no reason why that particular sword shouldn't have two edges to it.
There have been rumors that Sony Music/Pictures has "oh no, piracy!" veto power over the rest of Sony, though. Either that or every division of Sony happens to be really DRM-happy.
Sony Music's meddling is the reason Sony failed to make a successful Mp3 player, all the more remarkable because Sony created the individual portable music market and dominated it with the Walkman.
Not only that, but they're responsible for the Minidisc's failure. That could have been a really nice format, but they had to slap a bunch of restrictions on it.
Not only the DRM restrictions, but that they limited manufacturing licenses to other companies. MinkDiscs are the perfect size and a little more durable (scratch resistent) imo. It's a shame CD's won out.
Sigh. The CDs said "Sony." That means "Sony" is the party responsible for the rootkit. The goodwill (or lack thereof) accrues entirely to Sony.
As a consumer, I'm not the least bit interested in a detailed breakdown of the corporate structure. Sony pays brand managers very well to encourage me to think of it as a single monolithic company, and I'm happy to oblige.
You sigh too quickly. The CDs said "Sony BMG." The merger with BMG was in March of 2004 and the rootkit was in 2005. The reason you associate it with Sony corporate and not Bertelsmann (of Bertelsmann Music Group) is because reporters are lazy and shorten the name of the company to just Sony. Maybe Germans were boycotting magazines because that was the part of the name familiar to them. I don't recall that.
Its fair for you to say you're not interested. However, if you're going to try to boycott a company to punish them for their behavior, being aware of exactly who is responsible is a good place to start.
Bertelsmann was just as aggressive with music protection. They had to issue replacement CDs that had anti-rip software to annoyed customers in 2001 for instance. The executive in charge at the time of the fiasco came over to Sony BMG from Bertelsmann.
I worked closely with some of the people involved in it at Sony BMG. One lesson I took away from it all was that even though it was a 50-50 merger, Sony had way more name recognition and therefore more on the line. As you said, they benefit from the goodwill disproportionately and they also took the brunt of the PR damage.
Nothing much. In his defense, he's also been in charge as the industry has moved away from DRM. The music labels view computer technology as just a hammer in the toolbox. If they have a better option, they go to that.
People want to play God of War, Little Big Planet and Gran Turismo. I think Sony could do just about anything and stay in business. As sad as that is, it's probably true.
I know, right? Reading through the comments on that post, the "you should have told us this last week" comments are just about balanced out by the "why are you wasting time with this instead of getting the PSN back online" comments.
Kids don't give a shit. Privacy is crap, they got their penis pictures on facebook. They want their fucking video games.
People playing games all day don't give a shit. They want their fucking games, stfu privacy and get moar kof33 and fucking get this shit online.
People with money to lose care. They care that their information is stolen because that could lead to their money being stolen.
People who know the value of information care. Thats few people though, since facebook exists.
In the end of the day people are willing to talk shit, when it comes to action that is a different story. How many people were so against EA's rootkits, but how many actually boycotted? Same with Apple? And now its same with Sony. Nobody will do anything. Nobody will boycott, the company will just shrug this off as an "opse".
Oh noes, some people value different things than me how dare they.
Let's be all elitist and imply "kids" don't know the value of information, whatever that may be. More like they know the information PSN had on them didn't matter (some nickname and email). And yeah, they want they games online, that's why they paid for a PS3 and multiplayer videogames after all. And Sony promised online multiplay.
Even if PSN didn't collect any financial information a breach of usernames and passwords is a big deal. As the Gawker hack has shown us, people tend to use the same usernames and passwords across many different websites. You can argue that this is the user's fault, but it doesn't matter. They'll still blame you when their bank account gets hacked.
In this case, though, there are indications that financial data was disclosed. PSN (just like Steam and XBox Live) collects financial data to allow for online game purchases. Disclosure of that information is quite a serious matter. Yeah, the "kids" playing might not care about their PSN account, but the parents who enter credit card information to buy their kids games sure will.
A poorly made argument does not automatically render the conclusion false.
If you care enough about information then sony being compromised shouldn't be a threat to you. How come no one is talking about Anonymous' role in this? Unless you are a Sony exec you shouldn't be too concerned about anything but finding another device to watch netflix on.
Mm was nearly fully Sony-funded pre buyout. Sony put a lot in to start that studio and also published LBP1, so it's not horribly surprising that they acquired them once it was revealed that Mm would be more than an indie fluke of a business.
This is one of the reasons its a shame you need to buy a console to play exclusive titles. I was going to buy a ps3, but am hesitant now. A security breach like this is really unacceptable from anyone, under any circumstance. I'll need to be careful about disclosing any of my data if I do get a ps3.
Momentum and hydra-esque qualities. Sony manufactures parts for a lot of tech companies, who would suffer if Sony ceased to exist. So it's in their best interest to keep them alive, especially in the short-term as it would be crippling to have to change suppliers suddenly.
Large companies like Sony don't just go out of business - they are bought out, maybe broken up in the progress. This "cease to exist" idea is really removed from reality.
I would expect Sony to be bought out and split up and sold off in the next few years. They have been in trouble for a while now.
A number of PE firms have been looking at doing this deal with Apple mentioned as a potential purchaser of the fabs, chips and personal computing divisions
Happens to lots of organisations. Look at the Catholic Church. They are pretty big, still popular and have had their share of 'incidents' (to put it very mildly) recently.
> I just can't imagine a small record store in the 1960s, after being caught spying through the bedroom windows of its customers, ever staying in business.
I think it's been proven that you can do just about anything in the US and get away with it because the consumers/populace are too placid to do anything about it ... except a BJ from a jewish girl that will get you in serious trouble.
Sony's size and momentum must be pretty crazy. Or maybe it's our society. I just can't imagine a small record store in the 1960s, after being caught spying through the bedroom windows of its customers, ever staying in business.
I feel terrible for anyone caught in this. But maybe, just maybe, Sony isn't the company to do business with anymore?