Sony cleared in PSN hack case

The class action lawsuit against Sony over the 2011 PlayStation Network hack has been dismissed by a district court judge in California, mostly because subscribers had consented to a privacy policy that included the convenient free pass clause that “there is no such thing as perfect security”.

Judge Anthony Battaglia dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims that Sony acted negligently, further finding that the plaintiffs had failed to provide evidence of any personal harm as a result of the data breach.

He also determined that because the service is free and the terms of service state that “no warranty is given about the quality, functionality, availability, or performance of Sony Online Services, or any content or service offered on or through Sony Online Services”, the subsequent downtime did not violate any consumer protection laws.

The plaintiffs have until next month to amend and resubmit their complaints, but the ruling already effectively precludes the most obvious arguments against Sony.

In related news, people still don’t read stuff before agreeing to it.