New PSN terms of service & user agreement

[blackwiggle]

I don't know if this new agreement is programmed to come into effect on peoples consoles on a certain date, but it's just come up on my console, and refusal to agree means no PSN, so another catch 22 situation with Sony.

Have a good read of this one, it's gives a whole new meaning to legal speak.
Basically absolving Sony from any liability what so ever and putting any blame for loss of service on the poor fool who uses the service.:turd

It explains what the legal situation is with the new premium PSN service =$$$.

I'm especially worried how Sony has written in the user agreement [see Xii of new agreement] that basically if you try to watch any pirated material via your PS3 they can brick it.
How would they know you were trying to watch a pirated movie etc?
The new Cinavia DRM that got downloaded onto your console with 3.30 will not only refuse to show any video that uses this new DRM, but will give you and error code, which is saved as an alert and sent to Sony next time you log on.
I've already had dealings with this Cinavia DRM twice, it even stops the playback of cam's of movies [works by comparing a ultrasonic watermark on the original that if not on the copy will cause shutdown]
http://www.cinavia.com/languages/english/index.html

This new Cinavia DRM will also be built into all Blueray players build from June this year.

[mdhay]

Great, more corporate right wing bullshit. >:(

[KIGO1987]

Does sound like the PSN is creating a bit of a dictatorship, shame.

Wheres that German ProblemSolver, im sure he has some sort of way around this.

[blackwiggle]

It is triggered to appear by date apparently.
I doubt many at this forum will be bothered to read the new 4.5 Playstation Network Terms of Service and User Agreement that appeared on their consoles today.

Don't bother trying to do a search at the http://eu.playstation.com/legal/ as prompted to for a printable version, it hasn't been put up, it's still got the last agreement up from April.
I'd make sure to read it before opting for Sonys new Premium Plus service when that starts operating though, there's a few points in it that have raised alarms for me.

In this new agreement it says.
QUOTE:
"If you cancel your subscription, cancellation will take place at the end of the subscription period,.
After you may no longer be able to access or use any content downloaded during your subscription period or any items related to that content."
This effects PSN games, PSone games, MINIS and Premium game elements.

It also goes on to mention that you have to have your Master account topped up with enough $$ in it to automatically renew your premium subscription, and that if you don't, it would be the same situation as canceling your subscription and the same loss will occur.
Also "That subscription charges may increase after the end of each subscription period"

So basically you are paying Sony for a premium service, but you never actually own anything [apart from Avatars & Themes] that you download and it becomes unusable unless you stay constantly up to date funding wise with that service without any break.

Interesting, I wonder how Sony's new game/demo rental service will go.;)

[KIGO1987]

Sounds like alot of bullshit in writing there.

Good thing ive bought a hard copy of Wipeout HD Fury, in case i cant access my game download from 2008 since i didnt chose to renew my subscription package with Sony on my PS3.

Good times did last for a while, all i can say.

[mdhay]

Wouldn't the subscrption be for Plus?

[KIGO1987]

For now yes, but in 6months, who knows.

You might be forced in a basic PSN subscription package just to use the PSN, with an annual fee included.

Time will tell.

[UB3R~JKP]

Wahh :(
Why. Just Why.

[infoxicated]

You only lose access to the content for the time that your Plus account has expired. If you pay to subscribe again, all the content on your hard drive is reactivated - you don't have to download it again.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Digital Rights Management(DRM)just got more complex. If the most basic PSN access requires subscription like Xbox Live(does it?),I have no idea what I will do(It may be good or bad,but I am leaning toward the "bad" side)

[blackwiggle]

They are not guaranteeing that the content will not be lost, and actually warning of the likelihood of content loss should your subscription not be renewed on time with the new service.

I got stuck in a big furor at another site over the 2nd OS loss when 3.30 came out, so when I saw the prompt today saying that I had to agree to the new user agreement to keep using the PSN I made sure I read the whole thing, it's then that I noticed all the changes to it due in part to the new service and I imagine the class action that has been instigated against Sony for the 2nd OS system loss.
These changes really stuck out, and I saw that they said to get a printable version to go to that site, which I did, but it hasn't been updated yet, so I wrote all the relevant portions of the agreement out verbatim.
I'll be glad when they update the user agreement to version 4.5 at the Playstation site, then you can read it for yourselves.
It tells you at the very bottom of the page at the Playstation site which version you are reading and what date it is from.

[mdhay]

Hold on, how the hell are we supposed to renew a subscrpition we don't even have on time with the new service? :S

[AG-wolf]

Wait wait, so if I happen to watch something that my machine doesn't deem legitimate, it'll sh*t the bed AND send a red flag to Sony?

I don't think I'm ever going to even bother with a second PS3 to play online at this point.

[blackwiggle]

If you play, or try to play as the case is now, a video that has the Cinavia DRM on it the movie will stop and a screen will appear with this error code message.

“Playback stopped. The content being played is protected by Cinavia™ and is not authorized for playback on this device.
For more information, see http://www.cinavia.com.
Message Code 1.”

According to some uber geeks that are trying to find a work around to counteract this Cinavia since April when it first appeared, Sony has programmed into the PS3's 3.30 update for an alert to be sent the next time you log into the PSN if the Cinavia protection has been tripped, obviously they can't do this with standard Blueray players, as it is unlikely that they would be connected to the net.
If this is true or not I'm not too sure, but some strange events make me think it might be, possibly Sony could just be trying to gather information to see the percentage of illegal content that belongs to them, and not go any further knowing that the Cinavia has stopped playback anyway?

If you read the new 4.5 user agreement you will see that just the fact that you tried to playback an illegal copy contravenes the user agreement, the fact that you know it was illegal or not doesn't matter.
Sony reserves the right to cancel your service and has the ability to brick up your PS3.
QUOTE from relevant portion:
(xii) You must not access, use, post, stream, transmit or distribute any content or material that you know or should have known to be pirated or which infringes copyright, trade marks or other third party rights, any law or regulation, or contractual or fiduciary duty.

New 4.5 agreement in full.
http://au.playstation.com/legal/detail/item238014/PlayStation%C2%AENetwork-TERMS-OF-SERVICE-AND-USER-AGREEMENT/

If Sony actually went that far and did brick up your PS3 or deny you PSN services for trying to watch "illegal content" I suppose we will have to wait and see, there are already some strange reports from people coming into the various Playstation forums asking why would they suddenly find that they have been banned from the PSN, error 8002A227.
Sony has traditionally sent emails to people who have been banned explaining why it has happened, but this hasn't been happening in these most recent cases.
Anyway , that's the situation atm.

[UB3R~JKP]

This is fricken crazy man! Thanks for all the information Blackwiggle ;). I just deleted all my illegal movies but am I allowed to keep my music? The movies thing didn't bother me since I was basically backing them up as I all own them with blu-ray/DVD/UMD released but it isn't the same law that applies to video games which allow you to own backups! I just hope I get to keep my music, or there goes the custom soundtracks :( What about pictures too?

[blackwiggle]

Music is fine, so are pictures, any older pirated stuff you have won't get picked up either so there is no need to delete anything if it was working before.
This Cinavia can not work retroactively, it can't detect pirated stuff unless it has the actual Cinavia watermark on it, and that has only been in operation since around March 2010.
There aren't many movies that are using it yet, I know the new Robin Hood movie does, as I tried to play a cam version that had been put on a USB stick plugged into the PS3, that's when I has my first experience with it, the Cinavia warning came up [about 1.5 min in] and it stopped playing.

It's only a problem with the PS3 and any new Blueray player that has the Cinavia software installed on it, it won't and can't effect any other playback equipment.

So basically it's a pretty limp attempt to stop people copying stuff all told, more of just a PITA if you use a PS3 as your media server.

[RedScar]

I'm scared to turn my PS3 on now... I don't have a spit of pirated stuff on it but it seems that regardless there is less reason for me to turn it on.

Looks like I just continue to use my PC for anything and everything.

[okam]

According to a norwegian article on ITavisen.no it's just the premium content (such as free games available for download for premium subscribers) that you lose access to if/when your premium sub ends. Everything else stays the same. For instance, games bought with premium users' discount is not affected, they stay on your PSN and are available to play even if you cancel your premium sub. Fair enough, IMO.

Source: http://www.itavisen.no/845675/dette-faar-du-for-betal-psn (norwegian).

[Darkdrium777]

Haha Sony is funny

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/9598/sonyfail.th.jpg (http://img203.imageshack.us/i/sonyfail.jpg/)

Basically it informs me of the policy change on June 29... Today: July 10.

[KIGO1987]

Dumb....

Convenient isnt it.