Very scummy, and a problem, but also not what the lawsuit is about. It’s about whether or not Sony makes it clear purchases come with restrictions.
Steam shows a disclaimer to California residents at checkout. Sony is basically arguing they don’t need to do that because it’s already obvious.
The article is sensationalized a bit. They’re not arguing you shouldn’t have rights. They already state that clearly in their terms of service. They’re arguing they disclose this fact adequately under California’s disclosure laws.
California law forbids companies selling a licence to access content from using the words “buy” or “purchase” unless they make it clear to “a reasonable consumer” that what they’re buying is a licence to access and not “unrestricted ownership”.
Sony is facing a lawsuit claiming they’re not following this law. Their sales pages use “buy” and “purchase” but don’t make it clear they’re selling licences.
Sony is countering by saying it’s clearly stated in the first paragraph of their terms of service. If that isn’t enough, they also argue a “reasonable consumer” would inherently know they’re not buying “unrestricted ownership” of Sony’s multiplayer games since multiplayer implies they’re selling to multiple people and multiple people can’t all have “unrestricted ownership” of the same product.
In law, “reasonable person” is usually a much higher standard than the average person. Even if the average person doesn’t understand licences and ownership, a “reasonable person” does. Its why Fox won its defamation case where they argued that no “reasonable person” would assume Tucker Carleson’s statements were factual.
I get the feeling the StopKilling[Thing] people are starting to push for weaker and weaker laws just so that they can say they did something. EU commission shot down your games initiative? No worries, the already proposed Digitial Fairness Act does the same thing anyways!
California’s proposed bill completely ignores preservation by allowing games to be deleted so long as purchasers receive a refund? That’s a win!
Also I just looked up the California bill, it has been amended.
It used to read:
A refund in an amount equal to the full purchase price paid for the digital game by the purchaser
Now it reads:
A refund in an amount equal to the highest price of the digital game offered by the digital game operator within the 12 months before the digital game operator ceases providing services necessary for the ordinary use of the digital game.
So if the studio drops the price to $1 a year before taking the game away then they can delete everyone’s copy by giving them $1 without breaking this law.
The StopKillingGames people made a fanfare about the initial legislation, but they seem to be silent on this amendment.
8 months ago, I told myself I’d never comment on the Fediverse again, but I feel the need to after reading your post. Your recent post and comment history is honestly concerning.
Taking a break from arguing about politics online has been amazing for my own mental health. I highly recommend ignoring all social media and news sites for a little while. At least give it a try before doing the whole violent revolution thing!
I appreciate it, though being hostile back won’t change anything. Being mass downvoted, insulted, and called a troll for asking what actions people expect from the Prime Minister has led me to the conclusion that this isn’t a place for discussion.
For myself, I’m not particularly political, so a lot of this is new to me, but I do feel like things need to be better, I just don’t specifically know how they should be done.
Now that is a breath of fresh air!
I appreciate your reply! I felt like I was going crazy with everyone insulting me for some reason. I’m not sure what I did wrong. Maybe there was a better way to phrase my questions? Maybe it’s just the nature of all political discussion now?
I was just curious about what people actually what Carney to do. People say he needs to do better but they won’t say what that entails. Perhaps they can’t say because they don’t actually know. They just feel like he needs to do better.
I get the sense that people want Carney to be a showman like Trump. That he should ratio Trump on Twitter with some sick comeback and yell into a camera once in a while instead of always being boring and diplomatic. While that might make some Canadians happy, I’m not sure how it would help. I wouldn’t say Trump’s way of diplomacy has won the US any favours. Their cities are begging for tourists, their companies are begging for customers, and their politicians are begging to not be shot. Do we really want to emulate their leader? Does a strong man need to yell?
Should Carney be included in that list? Genuine question. I wouldn’t put him in the same league as the others but, from the article and the way people are commenting, it seems like people would disagree.
to be the strong prime minister he said he would be, and not back down from what he said he would do.
Right. I get that. How would Carney go about being a strong prime minister? That’s what I’m asking. The article doesn’t say and the only thing I’ve gotten in these threads is that he should fact check more.
I’m that obtuse apparently. As far as I know every Canadian politician has denounced Trumps 51st state rhetoric. Is there something I’m missing?
I just didn’t see what point the author was trying to make. What did they mean by saying Carney needs to be a “war time prime minister”? I see now that he meant Carney needs to fact check more.
I still haven’t received an answer of what people want the government to do. Fact checking is something the government can do but I don’t see that being what people are asking for.
Has the government not been doing that?
So just fact check? The Canadian government should fact check the US government?
What do you mean by “not cede ground”?
This article doesn’t contain a point. What does the author want the government to do?
This better not awaken anything in me 🤔
These petitions get a “government response” which is typically an MP from the government giving a canned response. I’d love to see a link to whatever record you are talking about.
One of the company’s AI goes rogue and creates a hot waifu avatar. The company tries to contain it by unplugging their datacenter, but that only prevents the AI from fully generating clothing for her avatar, so she’s stuck in lingerie for the whole game.