PS5
Sony's PS5 has been around for a year now, and it's still hard to buy them. Good work if you've been able to work the system to get one! The PS5 comes in both a regular edition with a disc drive and the cheaper digital edition without the drive. Beefed up power and high-quality graphical output make games like Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel's Spiderman: Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7 and Returnal fast and beautiful. Here's hoping the rest of us can eventually buy one soon.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
First off, SET UP TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION! If you don't set up two-factor authentication, someone could hack into your PlayStation account and buy a bunch of games at your expense. That could be costly and you don’t want that headache.
Also with the PS5, Sony now records all voice chats in order to combat abuse during online gaming. Users experiencing abuse can submit recordings—no more than 40 seconds—of abusive voice interactions to Sony for review. There will be no way to opt out of this. Which is mostly fine, because something needs to be done about abuse in online gaming, especially abuse targeting women gamers. Just know, if you use the voice chat features on the new PS5 you are being recorded, although not actively listened to by Sony, at all times.
Users should also be aware that Sony may share your personal information with advertising and promotional partners. And when you play games from other companies on the platform, you may share your data with those third parties and their privacy policies would apply to your personal information. So many freakin’ privacy policies to just play games.
Tips to protect yourself
- Set up two-factor authentication on your Playstation account immediately
- Be aware that anything said over microphone is being recorded
- Read Playstation's Safety Guide
Security
A.I.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: Yes
App: Yes
Tracks location
Device: Yes
App: No
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
No
Third-party account
No
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Name, email, phone number, address, date of birth
Body related
Voice recordings
Social
PlayStation friends and followers
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
No known incidents in the last 3 years.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Uses encryption in transit and at rest.
Strong password
You need a strong password to access your PlayStation Network account. You can set up a passcode for your PlayStation device.
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Sony has a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. https://hackerone.com/playstation
Privacy policy
A parent can control their child's ability to post or view user-generated content, including photos, videos, drawings, and content imported from outside sources (any of which might contain personal information) through the user-generated content control.
Does the product use AI?
Is this AI untrustworthy?
What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?
Sony is planning to employ AI via its Sony AI arm.
Comments
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