This Is No Video Game Sony

The network entertainment unit of the Sony Corp. is officially having a bad week. On April 27 it was named in a class action arising from a data breach where hackers tapped into data that apparently includes customer credit card data, billing addresses, birth dates, e-mail addresses and other information. The main contentions in the complaint are that Sony did an inadequate job protecting the information and that it did not follow its own privacy policy. This is just the tip off of the suit, so it is entirely possible that Sony will ultimately prevail. But who wants to be a class action defendant? So here are few things to consider if you’d like to avoid being next. First, ask yourself if you absolutely need to collect personal information. And if you don’t need to, don’t collect it. I never worry about someone stealing my Ferrari, because I don’t own a Ferrari. It’s amazing how much peace of mind that brings. Second, a privacy policy is a good thing, unless you don’t follow it. That’s the risk when a company adopts any policy. It may create duties that didn’t otherwise exist. So it’s a good idea to dust the thing off every once in awhile and make sure that the policy reflects reality – do you really need all of the terms it contains, and are you following the terms consistently? It’s worth taking a break from a video game to get it done.