Sony to Face Legal Woes: may Have to Pay Compensation

All the attorneys out there, you might want to get in touch with Sony, as the company is all set to land in a hot messy legal soup real soon. Sony PlayStation Network has been out of commission for the entire week and now it has been revealed that its users data may have been stolen by the hackers. The news essentially spells doom for the company, which has already got the taste of the first class-action lawsuit.

Sony's legal woes are expected to deepen with time. The first case has been filed on behalf of Kristopher Johns, who claimed that Sony failed to meet industry standards for protecting personal information of its users. The plaintiff is demanding compensation for "extra time, effort and costs" incurred by the PSN users for damage control.  In the US, the staff of a House Representatives subcommittee has been given the responsibility of investigating the security fiasco and its implications. Similar step has been taken by the UK government as well.

In the meantime, Sony is busy explaining the causes for delay in communicating about the data breach. The company has been accused of being tardy and evasive in announcing about the data theft. If Sony is asked to compensate the users for the losses caused to them by this incident, then its bill may exceed £150 million in the UK alone. There are quite a few precedents in this regard. Back in 2004, a bank had to pay £50 to each of its customers whose email ids were inadvertently revealed by the bank.

Backlash against the company is expected to be more severe in other European countries which highly value the integrity of users' data. If you do not believe us, you can ask Google, which seems to pick a new fight in Europe every other day. The EU regulators are not expected to take any lenient view of the situation.

The incident is also likely to put a dampener over the company's ambition to link all its devices through an intricate online system. Sony has an enviable base of 77 million users, which it was planning to further monetize by delivering movies and music. Well, It may have to put these plans in the deep freezer for some time now. So, have you been affected by the PSN fiasco?