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Originally Posted by EatingPie
MobileRead has remained generally free of the "I Hate Sony!" silliness, but it does crop up now and then. Alas, let's really look at these complaints one at a time; let's give the devil his due.
The rootkit was 6 years ago, and Sony did not write it, First4Internet did. Sony actually removed it from their CDs due to customer complaints (it appeared on approximately 6 CDs!). And now all Sony music on iTunes is DRM-free. Very devilish of them!  |
Yes, the rootkit fiasco was 6 years ago, but it was still something they did, and while they may have not developed it, they still chose to implement it. It caused a lot of problems for people who were doing nothing illegal. It allowed malware to easily hide itself from the system. The tools that Sony released to remove the also opened the users up to more vulnerabilities. Not to mention the hardware issues people had after the rootkits messed with their system.
In addition, your facts are slightly skewed. Sony used two separate rootkits, Media Max and Extended Copy Protection (XCP). Neither were directly developed by Sony (Media Max by SunnComm, and XCP by First 4 Internet). Also, It was not merely 6 albums, but rather 102 in total (52 used XCP and 50 used MediaMax).
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Originally Posted by EatingPie
Sony removed Linux from the PS3 because it was seldom utilized, and it allowed them to lower costs (the number one complaint about the PS3!). BTW, Apple removed support for "Classic" when they went Intel... and that raised no stink at all. I do wish Sony left Linux on the PS3, but I also am glad the PS3 became cheaper.
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It was seldom used by the general public, but it did have plenty of people who did use it. Governments and universities would buy hundreds, or even thousands, of them at a time strictly for installing linux on them and using them for parallel processing (was a cheaper way of building supercomputers). The removal of Linux support did very little to change the cost of the PS3. By the time it was dropped, the PS3 had already dropped to the current price points. I can understand them not adding the support to the Slim PS3s, but they still sold the older style specifically for running Linux to universities after they stopped making them for the general public. Those units sold at higher prices, and bore the cost of Sony's PS3 Linux work (which, mostly had stopped shortly after the PS3 had launched in 2006). What pissed most people off was that Sony was removing advertised features. Everyone who had bought one of those educational PS3s last year, found themselves with zero support. Any issues that existed in firmware would not be fixed, unless they chose to no longer have linux running (which was the point for those systems marketed as such). Hell, even the people who had the older systems and just merely tinkered with Linux on it faced the same choice, they could either no longer use the PSN, newer games, and even some of their existing games or no longer use linux. If people, without access to the source were able to go in break the protection Sony put in place and re-enable OtherOS in a matter of weeks after Sony removed it, there obviously couldn't have been much work for Sony to do to simply keep it that would have effected cost at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EatingPie
And, alas, you end with blaming the victim for the crime. Sony was hacked. They did not "fail to protect user data," they were broken in to by malicious hackers. Sony did not invite the hackers in, or even allow the hackers in. They had security in place, the hackers override that security and stole the data. Oh Sony, you are so positively evil for being hacked!! 
I'm actually glad Sony is helping with Pottermore. They have extensive experience with online RPGs, having designed some of the best. I am also hopeful that this means the ePUB books, and if they have DRM, that it will be Adobe ,which is the most-supported DRM (Sony, Nook, Kobo, etc.) out there right now.
-Pie |
Sony was hacked (multiple times by multiple parties), yes, however, the hack could have been prevented if standard security practices had been in place. They had older databases where credit card info wasn't encrypted, they also had plenty of other information on hand for each user that would enable identity theft even if the particular database it was in had credit card numbers encrypted. Things like email addresses, names, addresses, birthdates, etc were all unencrypted. Not only that, but forensics of the Sony networks showed out of date software with known security issues, etc. Plus improperly configured firewalls. It wasn't just PSN that was hacked, but their websites, servers for SoE, Qriocity, etc. Sony was the victim, but at the same time, they do share some responsibility. If you leave a bunch of money and other sought after items sitting out in the open in your car, are you entirely blameless because someone broke out a window and stole it? You could have put it in the trunk, covered it up, put it out of sight, etc.