Sony: 'PS3 User Info Has Been Compromised'

The news for Sony, and for 70 million of their Playstation Network users, continues to get worse as days go by. On April 20th, the Playstation Network, which is the hub of the PS3 experience, suffered an "illegal intrusion".  The network was, essentially, hacked into by an unknown individual.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with a PS3, the network (or PSN) is about 80% of what makes a PS3 a PS3.  The PSN is the only way to play a game online versus another user.  It is also the only way to download updates or additional content for a game that you own.  The PSN is also the system that allows you to purchase new games and movies that are downloaded directly onto the hard drive of your PS3.

There are a number of applications that are unable to work if the PSN is offline, such as Hulu, Netflix, and Sony's new music subscription service Qriocity.  I have read, however, that some people have had relative success getting Netflix to work, even with the PSN offline.  My Netflix account is temporarily on hold, so I can't test this myself.  If you have a PS3, give this a shot:

When you open the Netflix App, you will be prompted to log on to the Playstation Network.

Attempt to sign-in. The sign-in will fail

Press the O button to go back to the previous screen.

You will get another request to sign-in.

Attempt to sign-in again. The sign-in will fail again.

Press the O button again - you will now have access to Netflix.

From what I have read, you will not be able to add anything to your queue, but you can at least watch what you have in your existing Instant Queue.

Yesterday, Sony announced that their network would be down 'indefinitely'.  It appears that Sony is going to have to rebuild it from the ground up.  Today, an update was posted, clarifying the date of the "intrusion" (sometime between 4/17 and 4/19), and admitting that they are now facing the worst case scenario:

"we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained."

I like how in one sentence they say that "there is no evidence that credit card data was taken".  Then, in the very next sentence, they practically say, "but, yeah, your credit card information was taken".

The update goes on to advise customers to change their password information once the PSN is back up and running.  It also talks about steps that customers can take to protect themselves against identity theft in the event that their credit card information was compromised.

As of Midnight April 27th, Sony has no ETA when it comes to having the PSN online and operational.

If there is one positive thing to gleam from this experience, at least I'm not paying $60 a year to play online on my PS3, like I am for my XBox Live membership. 

Tourette's Syndrome 101

Over the last two months or so, my Tourette's has gotten much worse.  I have developed a couple of annoying new tics.  One is an eye twitch, and the other is where I scrunch my face up.  Between the two, if I'm having a bad day, I tic probably 500-600 times a day.  Medication doesn't seem to have an effect any more on my condition.  Words cannot describe how frustrating it can be some days.

For those of you unfamiliar with the condition, Tourette's Syndrome is a neurological disorder that is usually onset in childhood.  In my case, my childhood "tic" was a sniffle.  I also had a nose rubbing tic.  They went unnoticed.  I wasn't officially diagnosed until June of 2009, when I was 34.  For the tics to be classified as Tourette's tics, you have to have multiple motor (body, hand, facial) tics and one vocal tic.  This is video that I took with my webcam a week before I was diagnosed:



I started having the "jerking" tic in August of 2006.  It was the only form of tic I had for months after the diagnosis.  Then, as my medication started to affect my Tourette's, the tics started to manifest themselves differently.  I would smack myself in the back of the head.  I would start tapping or touching my wife's shoulder.  I would sometimes just scream out loud.  And weirdest of all, sometimes, I would talk in an accent.  Mid-sentence, I would start speaking in an Irish accent, using Irish jargon and slang.  Maybe for a sentence or two, or sometimes it would go on for twenty minutes.  It was out of my control.

Having Tourette's is a lot like someone taking over the remote control for your body.  There are times in which I have zero control over my actions.  I've heard other people with Tourette's say that it's akin to holding  in a sneeze, which, for the most part, is true.  Different tics feel differently to me personally.

I have tics that give me a ticklish feeling or like a little surge of electricity between my shoulder blades right before my tic.  I can hold those in, sometimes for hours, but if I do, it gets very painful and I will tic much much longer than what I would have if I just ticked in the first place.  I have other tics that build up pressure in my chest.  It tightens, like a spring.  When I tic, it feels like that spring has had a chance to release.  Those tics require a "trigger" to occur, whether it be a location, a topic of discussion, a memory(usually something stressful).  I have a variety of other tics that occur without warning that I cannot control or hold back.  These are the most frustrating.

***NOT ALL PEOPLE THAT HAVE TOURETTE'S SYNDROME GO AROUND YELLING "SHIT, FUCK AND BITCH***  It's called coprolalia, and it occurs in less than 10% of people with Tourette's.  I for one, have been told that I have it.  I tend to say "shit" a lot as a tic.  I also have palilalia, which is where you repeat a word that you say over and over.  It's hard to explain, but when it happens, I cannot stop until the word either sounds right or feels right coming out of my mouth.  One of my recent tics is a bad stutter.  It gets worse with nervousness or stress.  Toastmasters, here I come.

I highly recommend watching a movie called Niagara, Niagara.  It came out in 1997, and stars Robin Tunney as a young woman with Tourette's.  When I first saw the movie about 12 years ago, I thought her character was ridiculous and over the top.  I saw it again about a year ago, and saw myself.  The movie itself is mediocre, but her performance is extraordinary.  You can stream the movie online for free on Hulu.com.