Keep your legal rights when you buy video games

[BoringSupreez]

Europe will be the last haven of legal rights in a very short time.

Do Canadians also not have rights?

Technically, yes. In reality, definitely not always. It's really a police state here at the core, although thankfully there are enough decent humans in uniform that it is not always as bad as the term "police state" implies. The problem is that everything is in place for it to potentially get that bad.

That's too bad. When everything's in place for a police state to happen, it usually will, given enough time and the right people/circumstances.

[SuperAnthony64]

I dont buy EA and Sony games anymore and, this is my last Sony console.

Thank God people are starting to realize where the industry is going.

[J T]

So, again, what are the law suits about? Data collection, or is it more than that? I don't get what exactly all the hub-bub is about.

our RIGHTS, man!!!1!!

Some people die in wars to protect our rights. Others will sign theirs over for a videogame.

Admittedly, there aren't many reasons that jump to mind for me to want to take a games company to court in a class action lawsuit other than data collection violations and security breaches like what happened recently when PSN got hacked by anonymous. I suppose since PSN is more of a service than a a product, I don't even have to worry about some fire hazard from poorly designed electronics or some carcinogenic chemical used in their production that I'm unwittingly exposing myself to, which are the kinds of things you see in more traditional class action suits against products.

But I can't predict the future and that's why I want to keep my rights: for the unknown. There are any number of problems that could happen with a faulty product or service that negatively affect me. I'm not just going to give up my recourse to pursue compensation for future events simply because I don't currently need to use that right and don't foresee a reason to. I'll keep my rights, thank you, and Sony doesn't have anything to fear from me as long as they don't do something horribly wrong. In the mean time, they've pissed me off for thinking they could include this in their EULA and that I would be ok with it. I'm not.

[Zing]

I'm not just going to give up my recourse to pursue compensation for future events simply because I don't currently need to use that right and don't foresee a reason to.

You aren't. You are simply agreeing to arbitration by a neutral third party instead of civil court. The third party in this instance is actually an independent company with arbitration as its sole business. No one wants to go to civil court, not even people who sue companies like Sony. It's almost never worth it. Both parties will always want a settlement. Arbitration makes it easy for both ends of the complaint. Sony is just as vulnerable as before, and possibly more so, since the arbitration binds both parties and could result in a larger settlement than Sony would offer in a civil case.

[J T]

Arbitration is on the table whether I sign off my right to go to court or not. I don't see how this benefits me or other consumers, only Sony (and AT&T and Microsoft and T-Mobile and all the other companies now putting these clauses in their EULAs).

[MrPopo]

So, again, what are the law suits about? Data collection, or is it more than that? I don't get what exactly all the hub-bub is about.

our RIGHTS, man!!!1!!

Some people die in wars to protect our rights. Others will sign theirs over for a videogame.

Did you seriously just compare this EULA to such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II?

[o.pwuaioc]

Some people die in wars to protect our rights. Others will sign theirs over for a videogame.

Did you seriously just compare this EULA to such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II?

Not at all.

[BoringSupreez]

Some people die in wars to protect our rights. Others will sign theirs over for a videogame.

Did you seriously just compare this EULA to such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II?

Shut up, Hitler.

[J T]

Did you seriously just compare this EULA to such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II?

Quibbles over a videogame service obviously pale in comparison to our nation's independence, slavery, or Nazi Germany. However, much of the Bill of Rights and other amendments in the US constitution are about our rights as citizens to access the legal system. Those things are important for a free society and even if the content of the concern is small (a gaming service) our rights to access the legal system are still highly important and should not be taken lightly.

[ZeroAX]

our RIGHTS, man!!!1!!

Some people die in wars to protect our rights. Others will sign theirs over for a videogame.

Did you seriously just compare this EULA to such conflicts as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II?

This reminds me the old argument by the aristocracy that simple people were too stupid to run themselves, so they shouldn't be left "alone".