Sony offering free identity theft protection

@Guggu Sorry, off topic again. Yes, but your forgetting one critical thing... "The Government." Most people wont have guns, and people having guns is what keeps the government from becoming like biased military obsessed nazis, the thought that the entire government can be shot and killed for treason, helps keep them in check, it reminds them to do the right thing, to be good. We cannot count on people in the military most of them are trained to blindly obey orders, most would shoot at us if they were told, you should read some of the f&@$ed up laws that are allowed to pass, and the f^$@ed up things the government has done before with AND without question or opposition. As long as we normal good humble people have guns, if the government goes too far astray, corrupted, and evil, we can take back control of the government by force, to save America, if they get out of hand worse than they are out of control now. That is the reason that civilians NEED to have guns. Also if someone wants to rob or kill someone, not having a gun won't stop them, they will still do it. Guns and weapons aside, I can kill someone with my bare hands if i wanted to, in more ways than one. A gun saved my uncle's life 20 years ago. ;)

I havnt recieved any freakin email yet about this program. Is this just a scam of Sony to the government a cover up of sorts to tell them that they actually care but then they bite the consumer on the other end and not come out with the service until like 2 days before June 18th and then it's oops sorry better luck next time?? Cause I sure want to sign up but I have no idea where to go and sign up and I can't contact Sony by phone for this reason whatsoever.

@jacobhazard1704 I did read it. They haven't said anything about the other countries yet. They say now only the us and MAYBE other countries. As always the world seems to cater to America more, newsflash THE WORLD DOESN'T BELONG TO AMERICA. Either announce everything for every country or be quiet. But then judging from the crappy Welcome Back package they are offering I can't seem to expect much from Sony.

@lagging_savant - you obviously dont work at a school. 90% of crimes get stopped (guns drugs etc) because other kids tell on their friends. If you make the school even more of a police state less kids will come forward. You cannot prevent a crime with violence. And the school i work at we do have a full time cop, hall monitors, and cameras. yet last week a kid still committed arson and burned a good chunk of the school. Communication at a school is much more important than guns. So I am fine with the cop being there, but guns really dont prevent crime. I would hate to live in a world where a teacher would ever shoot first at a student.... That's plain sick.

lagging_savant "responsible citizens carrying a concealed weapon is a deterrent for crime" and yet the government commits treason on people's faces without they knowing about it by monitoring,illegally making them pay taxes which go to the cartel called the federal reserve etc and yet you arrogantly say THAT we should all behave like GOOD citizens my my you're so naive

have they sent the emails out yet,m does anyone know?

@Guggu: Wrong. Responsible citizens carrying a concealed weapon is a deterrent for crime. Thugs would think twice before trying to mug an old granny if the chance that she had a snub nosed pistol in her purse (instead of money). School shootings would be non-existent or the death count would be greatly diminished if teachers or principles carried. Example, search for Joel Myrick, If he were allowed to conceal the shooting would have stopped at the school very quickly. Either that or we need a cop stationed at every school.

@squidracerX Same here I have the same ?

@squidracerX That's what I got on here to ask. Me and at least one of my friends, haven't received it yet either.

anyone get an email for this yet? This story went up the 5th, its the 15th, and i still have had no word on how to sign up!?

@Electrokah & twztid13: While true that there will always be criminals with guns even if a ban on them was approved, you would still decrease the threat of the common, petty criminals that is not involved in organized crime, like gangs. Most people would not have the contacts for arms dealers if it was illegal to own weapons without a license(which should be very hard to obtain.) The death rate would decrease immensely, and you cannot hide behind the excuse that there will always be people with guns. Sure, the people without contacts would get knives, or something else instead, but they would still not be able to walk into a school and kill innocent kids... That would be extremely unlikely to occur if it was not so easy to get guns....and the school shootings are just one example..

@punkologist Sorry guys this is off topic, but i have to set this guy straight. If guns were banned the criminals would still have them, even if they had to make guns themselves out of ordinary household objects, and they would. Whats next after this, ban bow and arrows, and cross bows, and slingshots with ninja stars in them, and melee weapons, and sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? Pffft. However if most good honest people had a gun, they could defend themselves, and protect others, the criminals would think twice before robbing someone at gunpoint, threatening, or shooting someone, because there is a scary chance the humble person they are messing with has a gun too, criminal would be shot. End of that criminal.

@punkologist the problem with liberals & people trying to abolish the 2nd Ammendment to the Constitution is that y'all think if you ban guns, that they will be gone. all that does is keep honest people from getting guns. the criminals will still have them.

Maybe it was hacked by Debix, Inc. so they get a bunch of new customers who, after the first free year, start getting billed $10/month for the continued protection.

@Electrokah wow are you serious about all that gun stuff? That's the problem with America. You all think the answer to gun problems is to get another gun :(

@armydominican69 I don't care if they was hacked by my great grandma or god, I just hope it never happens again. They could have been hacked by someone that worked for sony and got fired, then used their knowledge of the security to get revenge, who knows. For all we know, exactly, we don't know lol. Like i said, hope it never happens again dude. This event sux. :(

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lets see whats kind of program is that .. lol

@Spahettificator lol

great thanks..il just wait to use this service until my credit card is finished getting violated

what about us Canadians?? don't we mean anything to you Sony?

@Electrokah I created my own language, built a computer operating system using a code language derived from that language, hacked into PSN and implanted a program to be run whenever I entered my secret phrase into the username and password bar which would switch the language into my own and then implanted an algorithm which generated a constantly evolving pass code which could only be deciphered from my computer using a program I designed which is written entirely in my language :P

@bilal100 haha. ME TOO! Exams are closing in, unlike you, offline games are killing my time though =o="

Walk tall people! ;)

Fortunately i use a unique super super strength random max length password with letters and numbers, no letter or number repeated, lowercase and uppercase too, and that is used only for the SOE site, so i do not have to go changing any other passwords. I still have to get the bank to give me a new bank card and deactivate my old one though. I do not keep money in the bank, or have much anyway. Also the culprits will know the address that is tied to my account, but i don't care, not like they will murder me, i am poor and they have no reason to kill me, even if they did come to kill me they would die if they did not kill me proper, if i had to crawl after them using my chin with a gun held in my teeth using my tongue to pull the trigger. I am like my grandpa, he used to carry a gun around and stand up to biker gangs and random dumbarse people. I don't have a gun yet but i am looking to buy one someday and get a permit to carry it with me in public. Gangs are just cowards in large groups, only as strong or powerful as you make them out to be, and as a little stab might bring me down, so can i bring down them just as easily.

And on June 19th, 2012, everyone will be in trouble.

Well my personal info on PSN is all fake and I dont have a credit card so it doesnt matter to me at all although its sort of benefitting me coz now I get the free PSplus service for a month woohoo.Also when PSn broke down and even now I have my exams so I couldnt play anyway man am I lucky :)

is this program going to be free always

It's better than nothing I guess.

@ top-wiz I like your moniker, but I'll try to be gentle in how loosely I use your quote "top whiz" unquote name, I will provide enlightenment for you as thus: "Sony also confirmed speculation that credit card data may have been compromised as part of the attack. "While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility," the Sony spokesperson said."

@fan360 Maybe you should go back to play your xbox, because you're wrong. they think NO credit card information was stolen but personal information was.

The PSN loss is just credit card number. Just change the number. To sign up this offer, you need to provide them SSN, birthday, etc. If these info get stolen, you screw.

One wonders if this was planned, or a reaction to the lawsuit? Either way, I look forward to seeing similar programs rolled out in other territories. Given how closely they guarded the facts about the incident initially, lets hope that now they're completely open and honest about the many resolutions they will be putting in place. I was genuinely worried that this would cause so much damage to them, that they might drop out of the race against MS and Nintendo by next gen... that's the last thing I or any true gamer would want. But fair's fair - something needed to be done about this. I can't blame Sony (or any company for that matter) for not having a crystal ball and seeing an attack coming, but I would criticise how cloak-and-dagger they were when releasing press statements for the first 10 days or so. I would have found complete honesty more honourable, no matter how bad it would have sounded admitting what was compromised. They have a long hard road still ahead though, this still isn't over by any stretch.

It astounds me how many people lack basic reading comprehension. Jesus, it says protection from the day of the "attack," indicating you'll be covered if anything does happen. FFS.

I would say they were asking for it, not having taken the basics of security..hrrmm not having security. Seems pretty open door to me. -redskinstu

"By allowing millions of PlayStation Network users' personal info to be stolen, Sony caused no shortage of consternation and concern among its customers.' They didn't allow it, "video game journalist." A criminal broke their system.

Bwa ha ha!

If i had a ps3, I would take advantage of this instead of spending my own money. I should go get a ps3 just so I can get this service. lol. I know that is not how it works but, I am glad to see Sony doing this for its people.

so what its down? some people can live without video games for a couple of weeks, its the id theft, thats the problem, hearing psn had no firewall is just plain stupid, makes me wanna go back to 360.

CyberKlown28: you obviously didnt read the article, it also states it gives up to 1,000,000$ fraud in identity theft insurance, so yes this does help people. This is a very good(pretty much mandatory) move by sony. The 1,000,000$ insurance is very good. However, it's usually standard to offer 2 years of monitoring and insurance. None the less this is a very good start to the "sony make good" program.

you guys should NOT be pissed that PSN down time is extended.The reason its extended its for your own safety,and for sony to improve the defences.Whats wrong with that?You keep saying "SAfety first" and yet you do the exact opposite

Oh cool identity theft protection after it already happened. woohoo.

When does PSN store come back online?

There is a lot of anger here, and I suppose it is justified. I want to mention, however, in case there are others who haven't realised it: if your credit card has ANY unauthorised use, you simply report it. Your credit card company cannot bill you for unauthorised charges. From what Sony has reported, no security numbers were accessed from unauthorised points.

After the damage is done then u guys think about this.

Good because I have one million dollars to be insured. :p

This service is good as long as I don't have to give out my Credit Card#. If it's free they shouldn't need anything but my name, address and phone#. Sony already has all the other information which they will be handing over to AllClearID.

***by signing up for this, you forfeit any rights to sue them later

Sign up online for your free one year credit check service, compliments of Sony Corp. All we need is your name, address, social, mothers maiden and, of course, your credit card.