Why saying “it will blow over” is bad for you
Turning political, consider this argument which I have seen on TSA several times: “why the fuss? This will all blow over, Sony will release some cool upgrades and everyone will forget about it, it’s only a tiny minority of users affected,”. That kind of thinking is a microcosm of why you don’t live in a free society anymore. According to the National Autistic Society about half a million people in the UK suffer from autism. That’s less than 1% of the population, so, maybe we should just not give them the facilities they need? Which is exactly what happens. What excuse does the government give for why the NHS is so shoddy at dealing with minority disorders? Cost-cutting. A certain ring of familiarity, no?
Is one of the cool content upgrades Sony will release something that lets me tinker around with the Cell processor again? No it isn’t. Will cross-game chat and 100 free Blurays make this problem go away for me? No it won’t. Is it fair that I should be able to stand up for my rights and keep what I paid for? Yes it is, so stop bitching that I’m in a minority, therefore I don’t matter.
An apology from Sony doesn’t cut it. That is the corporate way of fobbing off the consumer.
Over in the free world
I live in Norway. When the iPod was released, the Norwegian Supreme Court declared it to be an illegal device. The reason? Norwegian law states that you should be able to export purchased media from any device to any other device. Videos, music and photos. The iPod was temporarily banned while it was modified to comply with local laws, and the public were in favour of the ban, because they believed they had a right to control their own media and pushed for their rights. They could have let Apple get away with it, but they didn’t. The result? A fairer, less DRM-riddled marketplace.
Sony audio CDs with certain copy protection on them were also banned here as a result of consumer protests, and were re-released without copy protection.
In other, less related examples, the FBI tried to prosecute Norwegian cellphone network provider NetCom because they refused to release the contents of SMSs sent by a suspected terrorist. It went to court, and NetCom won the case. Personally, I applaud that decision. It shows that NetCom respects its users’ privacy and gives me more confidence when I use my phone.
Viasat – one of the two main satellite networks here – decided to get rid of MTV from its channel line-up because people basically didn’t like it or want it. MTV Networks drove vans around Oslo with megaphones and loudspeakers in protest, and they were ignored. The general public consensus was that the world was a better place without MTV, and it was the public who got rid of it from our airwaves – not a forced decision by a company. What is the effect of getting rid of MTV? Less children watching immature irresponsible crap on TV.
What does all this mean? It means that in civilised society, the consumer has the final choice, as it rightly should be. But you must stand up and speak out to avoid your rights from being eroded away.
If a group of Scandinavians came together and sued Sony over the OtherOS removal, Sony would get their asses kicked. It is practically beyond doubt. I hope it happens soon.
Visit www.totalmusicgaming.com for SingStar, Lips, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Karaoke Revolution social networking and contests. Thanks to TSA for their support! – Katy
This is a contributed article and does not necessarily reflect the views of TheSixthAxis or its editorial team.