Playstation 4 and your real name

[AlpsStranger]

Perfectly put Akka. Surrendering all of our privacy and anonymity ( and I thank you for rightly pointing out that I shouldn't concede any difference in the two ) just to stop forum trolling and trash talk is akin to burning down a mansion to kill the roaches in it. I also don't put nearly as high a value on "societal pressure" as most of you do because I don't think "the voice of the people is the voice of God." I think the voice of the people is usually a chorus of misguided idiocy, frankly.

 

[Akka]

I also don't put nearly as high a value on "societal pressure" as most of you do because I don't think "the voice of the people is the voice of God." I think the voice of the people is usually a chorus of misguided idiocy, frankly.

Well, you could just point to him that his nice plan of putting pressure only work when the jerks are in the MINORITY. And it only work for a brief moment, because how would a real jerk react if he was put down by someone, but had the name, phone number, address and the like of this person right under the hand ?

 

[AlpsStranger]

There's a certain naive philosophy in the air at the moment. It runs from the common folk all the way to smart guys working in game development and such. It's an almost dogmatic belief that privacy is not desirable, but is merely a failure of sufficient surveillance. I fear I will ultimately be driven out of gaming entirely as this philosophy becomes more and more dominant amongst software developers themselves. I'm just not on board for it, period.

 

[squadbroken]

What exactly is preventing me from just putting my name in as A. Gorilla or something similar?
I don't even use my real name on Facebook, how is Sony going to stop me?

 

[AlpsStranger]

By pulling it from your credit card, for instance.

I suppose if you never use a credit card or give them your real name in any way they can't completely stop you, but they might decide to ban people who aren't using real names.

 

[downtown]

How would you pay for the online service without a credit card? Don't they make you?

 

[AlpsStranger]

I believe you can buy anonymous PSN cards at Wal-Mart and such Downtown.

By the way, don't take anything I'm saying the wrong way. Please don't think I'm angry with those of you who disagree about this. I'm exceptionally passionate about this topic ( ten times worse than I am about the violence censorship stuff ) and I hope none of that comes across as personal.

And anyway, thinking that the BASIC RIGHT of having our own privacy is trumped by "let's shame someone who made a bad comment online" is seriously f'ed up.

Privacy is a hillbilly thing now I think. It's right up there with being a creationist or having one tooth. Saying that you want privacy will, quite possibly, be the great taboo of the future. Saying that you want anonymity, which is like a more horrifying version of privacy, is roughly equivalent to confessing that you're a rapist and a terrorist.

 

[Silurian]

This is likely to be illegal somewhere.
Probable in the EU.

So the people there will be anonymous.

Anybody for pizza, junk mail etc.

 

[squadbroken]

Privacy is a hillbilly thing now I think. It's right up there with being a creationist or having one tooth. Saying that you want privacy will, quite possibly, be the great taboo of the future. Saying that you want anonymity, which is like a more horrifying version of privacy, is roughly equivalent to confessing that you're a rapist and a terrorist.

Honestly I wouldn't be quite so suspicious of all this... "transparency", if it didn't seem to be exclusively directed against the individual.

But I suppose it does fit in with the mindset that people are just another resource to be exploited.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Yeah, it's thoroughly disgusting. The worst part is that, by default, the people who embrace the total information clusterf*ck are better connected to each other

I can't exactly start a pro-anonymity Facebook group

We exist. My circle of meatspace friends are bitterly anti-Facebook and I'm sure many others are. The problem is that we're an archipelago facing a continent.

 

[Silurian]

I can't exactly start a pro-anonymity Facebook group

Why not

 

[AlpsStranger]

Because it would seem a little crazy for a hardline privacy advocate to be using Facebook?

EDIT: Honestly, I think we have the "ugly feminist*" problem. A lot of us do fit the negative stereotypes of people who want to be anonymous and that causes our concerns to be ignored summarily.

EDIT2: Before anyone attacks me, I read about this issue on I Blame the Patriarchy at some point. The gist of it was that certain types of people are insulated from the problems a cause is trying to address. The prom queen is probably statistically less likely to be a feminist, and completely socially fluent people who don't have any social difficulties are less likely to be privacy advocates.

 

[illram]

So you guys have a right to use Sony's products and Sony's network on your own terms?

If you want to play with Sony's stuff, you have to play by their rules. If you don't want to tell Sony your name, you don't buy a PS4. Problem solved.

 

[Goodfella]

So you guys have a right to use Sony's products and Sony's network on your own terms?

If you want to play with Sony's stuff, you have to play by their rules. If you don't want to tell Sony your name, you don't buy a PS4. Problem solved.

I think the problem is that that's the situation.

 

[illram]

How much is playing a PS4 worth? Is it worth giving Sony your real name? If it isn't then Sony has a problem.

 

[Silurian]

It is possible that this will run into problems in the EU or elsewhere.

Would people be happy with their name being seen by people who are anonymous.


From BBC

Six European data protection agencies are contemplating legal action over Google's privacy policy.

The threat comes as a four-month deadline to change the policy expires with Google making "no change" to the policy.

Google's perceived failure to act is being looked in to by data watchdogs in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22003551

 

[Goodfella]

@illram:
I'm not sure. I don't really play video games. But I think the fact that it's "don't like it, don't buy it" is why Alps and friends are upset. They want a different option where they can play the playstation and not have to give up personal information. Maybe they want to play grand theft auto without people knowing.

 

[Zelig]

How would you pay for the online service without a credit card? Don't they make you?

There's some mysterious segment of the population who somehow manages to pay for all of their online services by purchasing gift cards with cash.

 

[AlpsStranger]

How much is playing a PS4 worth? Is it worth giving Sony your real name? If it isn't then Sony has a problem.

I'm not buying it until I'm not only convinced they don't require your real name, but that they won't waffle on it later. Once they have a consistent record of allowing anonymous play for several years I will possibly buy one.

As of right now I'm not planning to buy it. Which is a shame, really.

@illram:
I'm not sure. I don't really play video games. But I think the fact that it's "don't like it, don't buy it" is why Alps and friends are upset. They want a different option where they can play the playstation and not have to give up personal information. Maybe they want to play grand theft auto without people knowing.

Exactly. In the current moral panic I don't exactly want to explain to a potential employer why I have logged over 120 hours in GTA 6.

There's some mysterious segment of the population who somehow manages to pay for all of their online services by purchasing gift cards with cash.

It isn't always an option, but I do pay for as many of my online services as possible this way. I've participated in several MMORPGs where they never interacted directly with my real identity. I'm sure they could find my real identity if they were determined to, but I didn't volunteer it to them.

EDIT: Also, I heard this "cash" stuff is only used by terrorists and drug dealers.

 

[ace99]

I wonder what kind of red flags using the Skyrim kill-able children mod raises. (Those potato faced brats deserve it. I regret nothing. Smashed Braith's face with a warhammer when she insulted me for the 20th time. Then killed Frothnar and his dog when he said he would go easy on me. Come at me brah.)