Sony Isn't Liable For PSN Hack, Says California Judge

Last year, Sony's PlayStation Network was hacked, resulting in a massive breach of users' personal information, something the company delayed in announcing. A class-action lawsuit was filed against the company, which was mostly dismissed this morning by a California district judge. The reason? Sony didn't promise users perfect security.

The lawsuit was filed against Sony due to the company's failure to protect users' data via industry standards, claiming that this put users at unnecessary risk. Restitution was sought for the inability to access paid services, such as Netflix, for over a month via the PlayStation 3 while the PlayStation Network was down. The suit was filed last June.

California district judge Anthony J. Battaglia has ruled in Sony's favor, however, rejecting the majority of the arguments against the company. According to Battaglia, Sony did not, at any point, promise its users perfect security. It was pointed out that the PlayStation Network's privacy policy warns users that the company couldn't guarantee the safety of user data transmitted via the PSN.

Another nail in the lawsuit's coffin is Sony's terms of service, which state that there is no warranty about the quality, functionality, availability, or performance of Sony's online services. These snippets of legalese render many of the lawsuit's arguments inert. Plaintiffs have until November 9th to make amendments to their claims.

[via Ars Technica]