Aussie PlayStationers are to be spared the ‘agree or boot out’ strategy Sony is enforcing on gamers in the US, Canada.
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Gamers here won’t be asked to sign the controversial new clause requesting them to forfeit the right to pursue legal action should the PSN be subject to security breaches in the future, reports today suggest.
The move by Sony Computer Entertainment to ban all gamers from use of the network should they refuse to sign the new terms and conditions, which disgruntled users are branding “repugnant” comes after US gamers took a class action against the giant, following a major security breach earlier this year.
The controversial breach saw up to an estimated 100 million PSN users details compromised. Lawyers representing the PSN class action claim negligence led to the theft of their clients personal information as well as the month-long blackout on the network.
The reason PlayStation Australia is being left off scot free is because it is part of Sony’s European operation, according to a compnay spokesperson.
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The clause called “Binding Individual Arbitration’ if agreed to by PSN members, means they forfeit the right to pursue “any Dispute Resolution Proceedings, whether in arbitration or court, will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class or representative action or as a named or unnamed member in a class, consolidated, representative or private attorney general action.”
Gamers can use arbitrator to resolve disputes but only one chosen by Sony itself. Users who wish to opt out will have to write a letter to Sony US headquarters.
Sony was initially slow to admit the hacking even took place, although later apologised to million of PSN gamers affected, which left credit card detail exposed in some cases.
