Canada Jumps On the PSN Bandwagon

[Bobbity]

Why is no one concerned with finding the people that actually did the hacking? Even if it's impossible to track them, which it shouldn't be, you'd expect people who don't know that to be screaming about it all over the internet.

Instead, no one seems to give a shit, and we're all intent on giving Sony a hard time. Yes, they fucked up majorly, but they're doing their best to fix it up now. No, that doesn't make it better, but neither does bitching about Sony and ignoring the hackers.

 

[A Distant Star]

Some people dont understand the roll of government, and specifically the roll of the Privacy Minister in Canada. Say what you will, I love that woman, she gets shit done, which is more then I can say about most of our Commissions.

People on every side of this debate are over reacting. Sony and the Playstation isnt going anywhere over this... now this could be a sign of the decline of the Playstation, but thats do to Sonys business bungling not because of they got hacked. This could have happened to XBox Live or Steam. Hacks a re a reality of the digital age, that's life... move on. The problem on Sonys end isnt the PSN being hacked, its everything that came after. If Sony can take this as lesson, and learn for it, then they will survive just fine, if not... well...

For any one who says government shouldnt be involved... what can I say. Your just wrong. While I dont usually like to prejudge, thats exactly what I am going to do. I image you all, American of course, sitting back on an old couch fed on a diet of over sensationalist brain numbing American Cable News. If you tax corporations we pay for it and all that schlock the American News media likes to pedal our way. It's not true, it's never been true. Here's why.

I cant speak for other countries governments, but if our Privacy Minister thinks our privacy is endanger, she wont fine Playstation... she'll shut them down in Canada utterly and completely. It's a threat Facebook took seriously enough to redo there security. There will be no fines to be had here. Our Privacy Commissioner does not fuck around.

She very much needs to be involved, it's her very job to be involved. Let's recontextualize her roll here, look at the government as a private corporation. It's a corporation and taxes are our subscription fee. She is an employee of an organization I pay good money to to provide me with services. One of those services happens to be her purview, my privacy. If my privacy is breached, it's her very job to look into it, its what I pay her for.

Sony will not raise the cost of the Playstation or any other products if they get finned. This isnt out of some sense of altruism, or shame. It has to do with market place. Sony is a brand, and at this point a fragile one, for right or wrong people are starting to get fed up with them. If Sony wants to remain competitive they are going to need to both protect and repair there branding. Raising the prices of things would be about the most damaging thing Sony could do. "Oh so your not protecting my security and your going to charge me more because of it? I'm buying an X-Box". I work for a big brand company, and we will go great personal expense to protect our brand, Sony is no different.

At this point the balls in Sonys court. Changes will be made to the PSN, Sony will make it more secure, and hackers will figure out how to get through that new security in about 2 weeks. Our privacy minister might force them to make it a little more secure then they would otherwise make it, maybe extending it to 3 weeks for hackers to figure out how to get into it. She should be involved, its her job, but her effect will ultimately be minimal on that end. What she may actually do is dictate how Sony handles situations like this when they arise in the future, and arise they shall. It's only a mater of time before it happens again... and its only a mater of time before it hits Microsoft, Nintendo and Steam as well. Welcome to the new reality, the dark side of integration. the balls in Sonys court, all we can do is wait and see how they handle this.

 

[A Distant Star]

Why is no one concerned with finding the people that actually did the hacking? Even if it's impossible to track them, which it shouldn't be, you'd expect people who don't know that to be screaming about it all over the internet.

Instead, no one seems to give a shit, and we're all intent on giving Sony a hard time. Yes, they fucked up majorly, but they're doing their best to fix it up now. No, that doesn't make it better, but neither does bitching about Sony and ignoring the hackers.

Trust me. People are looking. Its not in the media because it's simply not a very exciting story, but I guaranty you. The privacy ministers (or equivalent) of Canada the US and Britain, as well as Interpol and Sonys own LPS are all very much looking into this.

 

[frago roc]

DAMN IT CANADA! This why you're the butt of every joke

As the article points out, they did this on the tails of the US and UK Governments.

OT: I have no great love for Sony, but at no point should government be involved in this. Now I'm just annoyed.

The government shouldn't get involved? Since when is the security of a country's citizens NOT the concern of its government? You, sir, win the dumbest comment of the day.

 

[Magikarp]

"Sony's PSN antics"? THEY. GOT. HACKED.What now, the girl that got raped was "up to her smutty antics?"

There's a big difference between a defenceless girl & a massive corporation who should have appropriate security, & whose responsibility it is to protect millions of customers.

 

[Nieroshai]

"Sony's PSN antics"? THEY. GOT. HACKED.What now, the girl that got raped was "up to her smutty antics?"

There's a big difference between a defenceless girl & a massive corporation who should have appropriate security, & whose responsibility it is to protect millions of customers.

Should have? Did have. People completely ignore that fact. Intentionally.

 

[Dastardly]

Canada Jumps On the PSN Bandwagon

This is getting stupid.

Now every government has to jump on this, or they'll look like they're not interested in helping their wronged citizenry. And they're going after Sony only because they can't go after the hackers (who are truly at fault), and because Sony has the money (whereas the hackers only have other people's stolen money).

I still don't feel like there's quite this much reason to believe Sony left the door open for this. It's infinitely easier to break into something than to secure it, just like demolition goes faster than construction. Sony's a victim of this crime, too, despite how we currently love to hate them.

These government officials are just going after the most visible target, before anyone really has an understanding of what went down. I can just picture them sitting in a room talking about this, "How could they have let themselves be hacked like this? They just needed more... bits of... encryption, right? Why do people keep stopping at 1024-bit, when there could be so many more... INFINITE BITS! And they could, like, plant a bug that lets them backtrace the hacker to the cyber police. God Sony is so stupid!"

 

[erztez]

"Sony's PSN antics"? THEY. GOT. HACKED.What now, the girl that got raped was "up to her smutty antics?"

There's a big difference between a defenceless girl & a massive corporation who should have appropriate security, & whose responsibility it is to protect millions of customers.

Should have? Did have unhashed passwords. People completely ignore that fact. Intentionally.

There, fixed it for ya.

It
Only
Does
Give away your personal information

 

[Magikarp]

"Sony's PSN antics"? THEY. GOT. HACKED.What now, the girl that got raped was "up to her smutty antics?"

There's a big difference between a defenceless girl & a massive corporation who should have appropriate security, & whose responsibility it is to protect millions of customers.

Should have? Did have unhashed passwords. People completely ignore that fact. Intentionally.

There, fixed it for ya.

It
Only
Does
Give away your personal information

They had unhashed passwords!? Why the hell did they do that!?

 

[airrazor7]

Canada, the U.S, the U.K. and everybody else on the Sony hate wagon...please, shut up.

Sony lost the personal information of millions of people and did not warn anyone that their personal information could be at risk until several days after they discovered the breach. This is a valid reason to launch an investigation into the companies actions. Granted a private letter to the company informing them of this investigation would be a superior idea to a press conference they do have a valid reason to be royally pissed at Sony.

I agree, Sony needs to be held accountable. If all these investigations cause Sony to shape up, do better work all around and fix this situation among other problems, then more power to them. However, if the motivation of everyone involved is "Hey look, I'm bashing a game company cause it's a game company, yeeeeeaaaahh! Vote for me next time!" then this will be nothing more than fodder for anti-gamers and damage to the industry as a whole. There was a supreme court case over the industry that was about more than just selling games to minors (which I am all for, no GTA for kids) and it doesn't seem as if enough people are taking that seriously.

This situation with Sony is the exact reason I was cautious with doing business and shopping online and I've been making sure all my info is secure (which really wasn't a big deal. One call to the bank gets me a new card in days) so I'm pretty ticked over how Sony has handled the situation but I'm more than frustrasted with all of the negativity surroudning the industry lately and I hope that this situation is not made worse by everyone who is involving themselves.

 

[nyttyn]

*Facepalm*

Wow. This is like instead of your dad asking why you forgot to lock the door and someone stole your tv, your dad, mom, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, other uncle, both grandma's, both Grandpa's and the gas station clerk asking why. Give it a rest already.

Actually, it's more akain to you leaving the code to the safe which holds a lot of really expensive and valuable things right outside said safe, then leaving a rather obvious way to get into the room which contains the safe accidentally.

In other words, Sony fucked up its security big time.

 

[A Distant Star]

*Facepalm*

Wow. This is like instead of your dad asking why you forgot to lock the door and someone stole your tv, your dad, mom, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, other uncle, both grandma's, both Grandpa's and the gas station clerk asking why. Give it a rest already.

Actually, it's more akain to you leaving the code to the safe which holds a lot of really expensive and valuable things right outside said safe, then leaving a rather obvious way to get into the room which contains the safe accidentally.

In other words, Sony fucked up its security big time.

Maybe... maybe not. I'm in no position to say, but honestly hacks are a reality of the digital age and that Sony got hacked is no reason to persecute them. I'm less angry over Sony being hacked then I am there poor public relations on the fall out of this whole thing.

Canada, the U.S, the U.K. and everybody else on the Sony hate wagon...please, shut up.

Sony lost the personal information of millions of people and did not warn anyone that their personal information could be at risk until several days after they discovered the breach. This is a valid reason to launch an investigation into the companies actions. Granted a private letter to the company informing them of this investigation would be a superior idea to a press conference they do have a valid reason to be royally pissed at Sony.

I agree, Sony needs to be held accountable. If all these investigations cause Sony to shape up, do better work all around and fix this situation among other problems, then more power to them. However, if the motivation of "Hey look, I'm bashing a game company cause it's a game company, yeeeeeaaaahh! Vote for me next time!" then this will be nothing more than fodder for anti-gamers and damage to the industry as a whole. There was a supreme everyone involved is court case over the industry that was about more than just selling games to minors (which I am all for, no GTA for kids) and it doesn't seem as if enough people are taking that seriously.

This situation with Sony is the exact reason I was cautious with doing business and shopping online and I've been making sure all my info is secure (which really wasn't a big deal. One call to the bank gets me a new card in days) so I'm pretty ticked over how Sony has handled the situation but I'm more than frustrasted with all of the negativity surroudning the industry lately and I hope that this situation is not made worse by everyone who is involving themselves.

I can't speak for any country but Canada. But the Canadian Privacy Commission isnt an elected position, so she has nothing to gain electorally from going after Sony. She's actually one of the most effective people who work in public office. I've also never heard her say anything ever being anti-video games. She only deals with privacy,thats her job, so some one stealing my information is her job otherwise, nothing she has to say about video games matter.

Canada isnt like the US. Politicians dont get very far proclaiming this value or that value. We generally dont give a shit what our politicians think about anything other then what there specific jobs entail. No politician would get very far in Canada decrying video games. Actually we in Canada love video games, we give massive subsidies to the video game industry to try and lure video game makers here and generate employment. Ever wonder why so many video games are made in Canada?

If your worried about security on the PSN you should do what I do and buy PSN Points cards are the drug store instead of using your credit card. Its what I do, because I am distrustful of having my information floating around online.

 

[airrazor7]

-snip-

I usually use PSN cards as well so I'm not really worried; I just used finance info once when I didn't feel like leaving the house just to get a card (ugh, that makes me sound like a stereotyped gamer, I assure you my skin does not lack sunlight exposure).

However, thanks for reminding about the perks that game devs get in Canada. I can't believe I forgot about that. Also now I'm starting to understand why most Americans act like they hate Canadians and Canada; It's because you guys truley do have it better. No B.S. speaking politicians and a country that embraces the gaming lifestyle. Everyone else can keep their green eyes of jealousy and hate, Canada is next on my list of places to go when all hell breaks loose here in the states.

In the words of the Boondock's version of the great M. L. King Jr., "I've seen what's around the corner, I've seen what's over the horizon, and I promise you, you have nothing to celebrate! And no, I won't get there with you. I'm going to Canada."

 

[Baresark]

snip.

The government shouldn't get involved? Since when is the security of a country's citizens NOT the concern of its government? You, sir, win the dumbest comment of the day.

You're completely ignorant. The problem is, it not only gets involved with Sony, but in the lives of everyone. You sir/madam, may be really needy and feel you can't survive without that level of protection from the world, but me and many like me feel differently. And just because you need to be sheltered, all of us who don't want that get scooped up into a group with you, and I don't want/need that "protection". I personally will take matters into my own hands and do what I can to show my unhappiness with the situation by simply not supporting them anymore.

snip

I don't care about the constitution or the US government, we're talking about a whole different country here. In Quebec, we've got the Office de la Protection du Consommateur (Office of consumer's protection). It's mission is: The Office enforces legislation under its jurisdiction, it informs consumers collectively and individually, it educates consumers and receives their complaints. Moreover, the Office fosters concerted action between socioeconomic agents.

The Office of the Privacy Commissionner of Canada is mostly the same thing. It investigate complaints about privacy in the public and private sector to publicly inform the population about the situation and it may pursue legal action before the Federal Courts.

What's wrong with the government investigating swindlers and crooks and telling it's population who they are?

As I had stated in my post, I know different governments have different values. The article also stated this was on the coatails of the US and the UK, something that was woefully neglected by the media.

It's fine if it investigates swindlers and crooks, but the only thing any government agency can do is find Sony at fault and fine them(worst case scenario). If they investigate, they cannot hope to find more or better answers than Sony themselves can. As I explained in my post, that will not turn out good for anyone. And like it or not, that money will be taken and used to feed more layers of useless government bureaucracy. I know that some people feel really strongly about their government, and I'm fine with that. But that is pretty much every centralized government of todays world, Canada is certainly not exempt from that same assessment.

 

[Braedan]

*Facepalm*

Wow. This is like instead of your dad asking why you forgot to lock the door and someone stole your tv, your dad, mom, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, other uncle, both grandma's, both Grandpa's and the gas station clerk asking why. Give it a rest already.

Actually, it's more akain to you leaving the code to the safe which holds a lot of really expensive and valuable things right outside said safe, then leaving a rather obvious way to get into the room which contains the safe accidentally.

In other words, Sony fucked up its security big time.

I seriously doubt you have any knowledge of Sony's security.

 

[lomylithruldor]

snip.

The government shouldn't get involved? Since when is the security of a country's citizens NOT the concern of its government? You, sir, win the dumbest comment of the day.

You're completely ignorant. The problem is, it not only gets involved with Sony, but in the lives of everyone. You sir/madam, may be really needy and feel you can't survive without that level of protection from the world, but me and many like me feel differently. And just because you need to be sheltered, all of us who don't want that get scooped up into a group with you, and I don't want/need that "protection". I personally will take matters into my own hands and do what I can to show my unhappiness with the situation by simply not supporting them anymore.

snip

I don't care about the constitution or the US government, we're talking about a whole different country here. In Quebec, we've got the Office de la Protection du Consommateur (Office of consumer's protection). It's mission is: The Office enforces legislation under its jurisdiction, it informs consumers collectively and individually, it educates consumers and receives their complaints. Moreover, the Office fosters concerted action between socioeconomic agents.

The Office of the Privacy Commissionner of Canada is mostly the same thing. It investigate complaints about privacy in the public and private sector to publicly inform the population about the situation and it may pursue legal action before the Federal Courts.

What's wrong with the government investigating swindlers and crooks and telling it's population who they are?

As I had stated in my post, I know different governments have different values. The article also stated this was on the coatails of the US and the UK, something that was woefully neglected by the media.

It's fine if it investigates swindlers and crooks, but the only thing any government agency can do is find Sony at fault and fine them(worst case scenario). If they investigate, they cannot hope to find more or better answers than Sony themselves can. As I explained in my post, that will not turn out good for anyone. And like it or not, that money will be taken and used to feed more layers of useless government bureaucracy. I know that some people feel really strongly about their government, and I'm fine with that. But that is pretty much every centralized government of todays world, Canada is certainly not exempt from that same assessment.

So instead of behing sure that they did something wrong or not, you'll just act as they did? How can you be sure that they didn't have enough security without a public investigation on the matter? Basing decision on wild guesses is not a better decision than one based on an unbiased investigation.

Maybe they can't find better answers, but what they can do is make it public. You can't really trust what sony has to say on the cause of the breach or if they had enough security. That's why this investigation is important and they have to get involved.

From your posts, you're all about people being able to make their own choice. Why are you then against an organization that make it easier to make these choices informed?

Are you also against speed ticket and other form of monetary punishment? It's often the best thing to do. Government have three ways of dealing with unreasonable company policies. Making it public, fining them or banning them from the country. I don't think that baning them is a good way to go in this case. So are you for them getting away free from a criminal negligence (if it's what it was)? Companies should not get special treatment in these matter, even if people still like what they do.

 

[larumae]

What proof has anyone found of fraud linked to this situation? It's been a week, more than long enough for someone to find something. And yet here we are, nothing. Just more shit piling on based on what? Possibility? Maybe's? You can't bring assumptions and maybe's to court and walk out with a conviction. You need evidence.

Essentially here's a quick wrap up of what we know has happened:

- hacker got into PSN

- hacker likely saw roughly 77 million users private information (i.e: Names, Postal code, email address)

- Sony shuts down PSN within 24hrs of breach.

- Sony let's everyone know the whole situation some days later.

- We remain waiting for PSN to come back.

And.. That's it. People are just being stupid and hysterical. There's nothing you can't do listed that can be appropriately taken care within 20 minutes. Calm down and grow up for fucks sake. This isn't the end of the PS3, it's not the end of Sony. People said the same about Toyota when the gas pedal fiasco happened, and where's Toyota now? They're still here, they were found NOT GUILTY on all charges, and they're still better off than GM and Ford.

Go do something else for once. PSN is down for time being; So tough it out, get a new hobby, shit will be back up and running soon.

I'm out.

You clearly missed a few points here.
"- Sony shuts down PSN within 24hrs of breach.
Balderdash! Sony actually shut down the PSN on April 20th, which was up to three days after the attack took place. ("We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised.." http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/update-on-playstation-network-and-qriocity/)

"What proof has anyone found of fraud linked to this situation? It's been a week, more than long enough for someone to find something."
Well first of all, if the hacker has even an OUNCE of common sense, he would not fraudulently use 10 million credit cards within a week of a massive data breach that produced the credit cards for him. Besides the point of which, there *has* been reports of fraudulent use of credit cards linked to psn accts, but like you said, it's only been just over a week. I'm pretty sure a fraud investigation on a credit card purchase takes more than a week. (http://www.pcworld.com/article/226775/playstation_network_users_reporting_credit_card_fraud.html)

"You can't bring assumptions and maybe's to court and walk out with a conviction."
:facepalm: Really? Quote from Sony's press release.. "in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network." It has been confirmed with absolutely NO doubt, that the PSN was hacked, and personal information was at the very least viewed. It is Sony's responsibility to protect our data that they require us to give, in order to use their service. Pretty sure there's a law written somewhere about that..

"- Sony let's everyone know the whole situation some days later."
It wasn't until the 26th that Sony confirmed our personal information, and that they were looking into the possibility of credit card info being stolen. Even to date, they haven't "let us know the whole situation." I'm willing to bet that Sony knows more than they're telling us. And this is MASS FRAUD we're talking about here. This isn't one or two credit card numbers that "may" have been compromised. We're talking TEN MILLION CREDIT CARDS- and Sony still can't confirm if they were taken?! But they "can" confirm that our PSN handles and info were taken? Bullshit.

No one claimed this is the end of Sony, or the PS3. Stocks have dropped 5% in days. I'd love to find the numbers of PS3s being traded in during the past week, and 360 sales. Bigger than financial problems for the company, though, is the trust that Sony has completely broken between consumer and corporation. Yes, this is a shitty situation for everyone involved, Sony included. Yes, it could have happened to any network. Yes, we don't KNOW that the hacker has our cc info. HOWEVER. This happened to PSN. The hacker gained access through a KNOWN VULNERABILITY, according to Hirai. If this vulnerability was known to Sony, and they did nothing about it, thinking no one would ever figure it out.. how the HELL is this not their fault?! While the hacker gained illegal access to the network, Sony allowed it to happen.