I’m delighted to inform you that Sony got slammed by a class-action lawsuit 🙂
For those of you who don’t know what’s going on, Sony released an “downgrade” last month removing a key (advertised) feature from the system; essentially making people choose between two key features they payed for. you can also find the previous posts regarding this matter here and here.
Well, a guy from the US decided to do what most self respecting playstation owners want to do and sued Sony. here is one of the part of the complaint:
intentional disablement of the valuable functionality originally advertised as available” for the Playstation 3. The disabling of Linux support is not only in breach of the sales contract between Sony and its customers, the suit says, but also a deceptive business practice “perpetrated on millions of unsuspecting customers.
you can read the rest here.
The guy brings up a lot of good points, most of which i would post here if only the pdf was not in such a bad shape. some good points include 48-pg12, 54-pg13, and definitely 64-pg14. to be honest, all of the arguments i read are logical. and the only real reason Sony went through with the downgrade is because it thought it could get away with it using loopholes in current laws.
Sadly, this only affects residents of the US. but the thought of Sony getting dragged in to court is enjoyable nonetheless. so who’s up for suing Sony here in Kuwait?
Not to say i dont hate the removal of the install other OS option, but here’s my 2 cents:
“Sony went through with the downgrade is because it thought it could get away with it using loopholes in current laws.”
False dude, they removed it cos of a retarded hacker that wanted to use it to cfw the ps3.. and therefore he fucked us all in the process..
Sony can easily say they are protecting their patented device from hacking which will lead to piracy and loss of revenue.. the piracy and hacking being illegal the revenue loss being the result.
they can also say that even though they advertised the install other os, they have the right in the EULA to
1) Change the Software anyway they see fit (dont see anybody having a Class action lawsuit against when they added trophies o.o)
2) Protect themselves from any form of hacking and piracy via software updates..
the CA lawsuit might win, but im just saying, Sonys got some lawyers >.>
(my 2 cents btw.. not starting another SONY IS THE DEVIL war.. just commenting on the lawsuit >.>)
That avatar of yours is epic. i just needed to say that before the reply 🙂
“they removed it cos of a retarded hacker that wanted to use it to cfw the ps3”
I have reason to believe that this is not the case. sony has been selling systems (fat & slim) with this feature disabled long before the hack surfaced. some believe it was some sort of deal with IBM to promote their cell processors. who knows, who cares.
Also, I have no problem with sony protecting itself, as long as it’s not on our expense.
As for the EULA part, one of the arguments brought forth by the lawsuit addresses it beautifully:
The suit states those who purchased a PlayStation 3 had “no ability to negotiate the System Software License Agreement’s terms which was only provided to them after they purchased their PS3s, including the terms allowing Sony to remove functions at will, allowing it unilaterally change the System Software License Agreement at will and forcing consumers to either accept any changes in the System Software License Agreement or cease their use of their PS3.” — copied from IGN
From what I read, the lawsuit counters to every argument supporting sony’s move (including the ones you posted above). The plaintiff’s attorney probably took a lot of them from the shear sum of comments posted all over the web.
but in the end, arguing about it is useless. sony did what they did, and it’s over now.
PS: adding trophies != removing advertised feature
true .. well best of luck to the dude..
thats a very nice way of protecting our rights from the crap that is the EULA..
we’ll see what happens..
also, the trophies was just an example of non-advertised “elements” added to the xmb/device post-release.. so to me its not about if trophies == removal of feature.. its just trophies == something that wasnt advertised >.>
(oh and thanks for the comment about my avatar, i thank the guys that made Fallout 3 for having a dark sense of humour >.>)