4 ms·

The solution to this is simple and has been clear for years: stop doing business with Sony.

by cryptoz 15y ago

ggchappell 15y ago
It amazes me how little this seems to be grasped. Or even if people don't want to cut off Sony entirely, they could still think, "Ah, this is from Sony. That's a black mark. Do the positives really outweigh this negative?" But apparently few people do think this way. Therefore, to those who wonder why Sony doesn't quit all this nonsense with rootkits and DRM and privacy violations, etc., etc., the answer is, because it doesn't hurt them. People still do business with them anyway. (Kinda makes you wonder about all the "you must treat your customers well" articles you see on here.)
- throwaway32 15y ago
  The gaming industry and the politics that surround it are some of the most toxic relationships I've ever seen. I dont think its a stretch to draw comparison between the relationship between and addict and a dealer.
  - DeanCollinsLCC 15y ago
    I'd like to know if you can return to Sony your PS3 AND all the game titles you've purchased for a full refund as they want to change the terms "after" you've purchased
Natsu 15y ago
I made that exact choice starting with the rootkit fiasco. Every bit of news I have seen since then has further validated that choice as a wise decision. And more than once, I have physically put a product back on the shelf when I realized it was made by Sony, so it is costing them business, at least from me. I estimate that my decision has cost them at least $2,000 so far, most of that being when I went for non-Sony TVs.
- marshray 15y ago
  Me too. I went a step further and showed my kids everything Sony has done. They probably dislike Sony more than they need to really. But if the general concept of "sociopathic corporation" needed a poster child to make the point, Sony volunteered and won the part.
  - chrischen 15y ago
    Aren't all companies, if they do what they're supposed to do, sociopathic? And Sony, being a huge conglomerate, is statistically more likely to commit sociopathic acts because of its size?
    - marshray 15y ago
      Perhaps in theory. In practice, some companies manage to do less badly than others. It's not necessarily even a contradiction, if your primary business is selling to consumers it's entirely reasonable that a company would want to keep a positive image going. For a company that makes earth-moving equipment primarily purchased by strip mining operations, no one would question the business sense of them not donating a percentage of their profits to environmental protest organizations. For a company that sells to some gamer demographic, perhaps it would be the better part of wisdom to, say, decline to antagonize the likes of Geohot and the noncommercial hackers, modders, and Linux users of their platform. (Never mind the legally questionable tactic of retroactively disabling previously advertised and purchased functionality).
tripzilch 15y ago
Yup. Same reason I don't do business with Nokia or Siemens (developing DPI Internet Filter technology for oppressive regimes in the Middle-East, which is slightly worse than this, IMO).

The solution to this is simple and has been clear for years: stop doing business with Sony.

by cryptoz 15y ago

The solution to this is simple and has been clear for years: stop doing business with Sony.

It amazes me how little this seems to be grasped. Or even if people don't want to cut off Sony entirely, they could still think, "Ah, this is from Sony. That's a black mark. Do the positives really outweigh this negative?" But apparently few people do think this way. Therefore, to those who wonder why Sony doesn't quit all this nonsense with rootkits and DRM and privacy violations, etc., etc., the answer is, because it doesn't hurt them. People still do business with them anyway. (Kinda makes you wonder about all the "you must treat your customers well" articles you see on here.)

throwaway32 15y ago
The gaming industry and the politics that surround it are some of the most toxic relationships I've ever seen. I dont think its a stretch to draw comparison between the relationship between and addict and a dealer.
- DeanCollinsLCC 15y ago
  I'd like to know if you can return to Sony your PS3 AND all the game titles you've purchased for a full refund as they want to change the terms "after" you've purchased

Natsu 15y ago

I made that exact choice starting with the rootkit fiasco. Every bit of news I have seen since then has further validated that choice as a wise decision. And more than once, I have physically put a product back on the shelf when I realized it was made by Sony, so it is costing them business, at least from me. I estimate that my decision has cost them at least $2,000 so far, most of that being when I went for non-Sony TVs.

marshray 15y ago
Me too. I went a step further and showed my kids everything Sony has done. They probably dislike Sony more than they need to really. But if the general concept of "sociopathic corporation" needed a poster child to make the point, Sony volunteered and won the part.
- chrischen 15y ago
  Aren't all companies, if they do what they're supposed to do, sociopathic? And Sony, being a huge conglomerate, is statistically more likely to commit sociopathic acts because of its size?
  - marshray 15y ago
    Perhaps in theory. In practice, some companies manage to do less badly than others. It's not necessarily even a contradiction, if your primary business is selling to consumers it's entirely reasonable that a company would want to keep a positive image going. For a company that makes earth-moving equipment primarily purchased by strip mining operations, no one would question the business sense of them not donating a percentage of their profits to environmental protest organizations. For a company that sells to some gamer demographic, perhaps it would be the better part of wisdom to, say, decline to antagonize the likes of Geohot and the noncommercial hackers, modders, and Linux users of their platform. (Never mind the legally questionable tactic of retroactively disabling previously advertised and purchased functionality).

tripzilch 15y ago

Yup. Same reason I don't do business with Nokia or Siemens (developing DPI Internet Filter technology for oppressive regimes in the Middle-East, which is slightly worse than this, IMO).