Remember that time Sony wanted customers to sign away their right to sue Sony?

[Amake]

I don't remember the exact details, and if someone could find the old thread from I think 2011 that would probably help. But this is the letter I sent to customer support this morning which is probably not a good template for any form letters if you want to join in harassing the evil megacorporation:

Greetings. I have a problem with a blue-ray movie I recently bought - The World's End - and I hope this is the right address to address that. The case says the distributor's name is Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Nordic AB, but I was unable to find any way to contact this entity or connect to their website www.sphenordic.se, and you seem to be their parent company or something like that, so you get to answer for their questionable decisions today.

At least I hope it was their questionable decisions. The problem, you see, is that the movie demanded that I update my "licence" from the hardware manufacturer - one Sony Computer Entertainment Inc - before the hardware in question would play it. This movie demanded that I a) have a blue-ray layer with an Internet connection and b) surrender my right to take legal action in case Sony uses that internet connection as carelessly as they have in the past and leave me vulnerable to their enemies.

I had successfully avoided connecting my blue-ray player to the Internet for several years specifically because I don't agree with the way your parent company does its business on the Internet, but you finally caught me on a day where I wanted to cheer up my cousin who was having a shitty day by indulging her crush on Simon Pegg and the only way I could do that was by signing away my rights to you. Congratulations on your evil plot I guess.

I imagine you have nothing to say to this.* And I imagine the next time I think about buying a movie, I'll look through the fine print on the back of the case and put it back if I see a Sony logo there, and then I'll download your movie illegally instead to save myself some trouble. If I need to have an Internet connection to watch movies I might as well give in and don't try to resist the future, right?

*In hindsight, I wish I had added "Why should you apologize when you've already gotten away with it, right?" here.

To summarize, your ability to own movies that you buy is being threatened, because now it's apparently okay to require people who want to watch a movie to have an Internet connection, and if you want to complain to anyone about it you're going to have a confusing and laborious time figuring out who to contact and how to contact them, let alone how to make them answer for their shit. And also now Sony owns me.

---------- Post added at 09:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:29 AM ----------

An update: It turns out neither Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's nordic division nor Sony in general has anything to do with this movie or its distribution, despite the prominent logo on the back of the case. I was directed to Universal, who IMDb tells me both produces and distributes the movie in all forms everywhere, and formulated a perhaps more constructive form letter in case anyone wants to continue to be able to watch their own movies on their own terms:

I wish to alert the distributor of the The World's End blue-ray disc to a serious problem. Someone has put a lock on the disc that prevents it from playing in a perfectly good blue-ray player without an Internet connection by which the player can update its "licence" from the manufacturer. Surely it's not in Universal's interests to have your customers bow and scrape for the favor of video technology producers to let us use their machine to watch your movies - or for that matter requiring customers to have an Internet connection to watch your movies.

[Magus]

I've never had a Blu-ray act in this manner, although I usually play them in a PS3 so maybe I already signed my rights away.

I have a question, though, is the issue that you can't sue them if the movie plays badly, or you can never sue them ever for anything? Like if the disc exploded and shrapnel got in my neck, you'd think I could sue.

[Amake]

No, the really crappy part is it doesn't even have anything to do with movies. As I recall, to use a PS3 with an Internet connection you have to agree not to join in any class action suits when Sony gets hacked and all the credit cards get stolen - you know, the only kind of lawsuit that would give customers any chance against a big multinational corporation when they do something wrong that hurts millions of people but not in a sexy newsworthy way like injuries from exploding DVDs.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they can do anything they want up to and including go into your home and grab all your movies, games and music CDs if they feel like you've had those things for long enough.

[greed]

Originally Posted by Amake

No, the really crappy part is it doesn't even have anything to do with movies. As I recall, to use a PS3 with an Internet connection you have to agree not to join in any class action suits when Sony gets hacked and all the credit cards get stolen - you know, the only kind of lawsuit that would give customers any chance against a big multinational corporation when they do something wrong that hurts millions of people but not in a sexy newsworthy way like injuries from exploding DVDs.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they can do anything they want up to and including go into your home and grab all your movies, games and music CDs if they feel like you've had those things for long enough.

I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply outside the US. I know Australian consumer courts and am fairly sure European ones have both said you can't actually sign away your right to sue for a company's malpractice. Hell I believe the European courts have flat out said EULAs are the legal equivalent of toilet paper.


If you're in America you're probably boned though.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

USA! USA!

[Aerozord]

Originally Posted by greed

If you're in America you're probably boned though.

If they have found a way to get you to sign away your right to sue I'm sure they will but most EULA dictate the specific court system you are entered into. If they are fair its one they and most consumers are familar with, if they aren't fair its one thats unfair to consumers but still legally binding. This is to get around the absurdly complicated jurisdiction rulings. I mean if the company is in Japan, the player is built in China, sold in Europe by an American company, to someone that has the accident in Australia, which court system do you use?

Of course they could also be expanding it in other ways. I can see them getting away with "you acknowledge the potential risk of identity theft", kind of like how your coffee says hot so if you burn yourself they aren't liable.

Upside is there is some courts have ruled a EULA isn't legally binding since you cannot prove it was actually read, nor that it was understood.

[Bells]

Also, wasn't there lots of talks of EULA being void in many instances (specially when abuse is proven) since you don't have access to it prior to purchase?