Topic: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

[NWR_insanolord]

It appears that PSN is back up, at least in some limited capacity. I tried to sign in, and instead of telling me it was under maintenance it told me to download a system update.

[broodwars]

It appears that PSN is back up, at least in some limited capacity. I tried to sign in, and instead of telling me it was under maintenance it told me to download a system update.

Yep, Sony just updated their blog stating just that: they're putting the system update there so everyone can get their PS3's ready for when the network is brought back up.  If they're doing this now, I'd hope that means we're really close to that, like within a day.

EDIT: ...and that was pretty underwhelming.  The update only took less than a minute to download and about 3 to install, and that's all you can do.  I didn't expect to be able to sign-in, but I did expect to be able to change my password.  Nope, that's still down for the moment, assuming that they don't need to send me an email with a password since this isn't my original PS3.

[NWR_insanolord]

As long as it's up by Wednesday it's fine by me. I've got finals the first part of this week, so I wouldn't have much time to play, but as of 2 PM Wednesday I'm on summer break, and I'm going to want to celebrate with, among other things, some MLB The Show.


EDIT: Yeah, now that I've installed the update it's back to saying PSN's under maintenance.

[Chozo Ghost]

Maybe this patch was just intended to lock out hackers before the REAL patch can be rolled out.

[broodwars]

Kazuo Hirai announces the relaunch of phase 1 of the Playstation Network "in most territories" as of right now on the Playstation Blog.  That means online play, Netflix, and Sony's silly music-streaming service I can't be bothered to spell.

Umm, that's nice and all, Kaz, but as of this writing I still can't log-in and my PS3 says the network is still down for maintenance.   

UPDATE - The Sony Blog now has a map of the United States on this page.  When your state is shaded in, PSN has been restored to that region of the country, though you may have to wait a little bit for the "servers to populate" before you can log-in.
 

[Halbred]

See, I couldn't buy that Darmok episode, largely because I cannot understand how a civilization could FUNCTION by speaking only in metaphors. How would that even develop? You have to have a more stable grammatical system before you start going off and forming metaphors, so why not just stick with the base linguistic skulls? It's less of a hassle.

It was also cheap that the horrible alien monster they were trying to avoid was conveniently cloaked.

[Chozo Ghost]

See, I couldn't buy that Darmok episode, largely because I cannot understand how a civilization could FUNCTION by speaking only in metaphors. How would that even develop? You have to have a more stable grammatical system before you start going off and forming metaphors, so why not just stick with the base linguistic skulls? It's less of a hassle.

It was also cheap that the horrible alien monster they were trying to avoid was conveniently cloaked.

I agree, and I also found it extremely odd that this advanced metaphor speaking alien species (they were so advanced their ship outmatched the Galaxy class Enterprise D for example) has been in space for god know's how long and so you'd think they would have encountered many races themselves over the years, so learning how to communicate with non-metaphorical species should have been a hurdle they should have had to cross many times before, but the episode treats it like this is their first time.

But its best not to nitpick things like Star Trek because if you do it seriously damages your enjoyment.

[broodwars]

But its best not to nitpick things like Star Trek because if you do it seriously damages your enjoyment.

Indeed, when you have a series that explains away any story contrivance with technobabble like "Multimodal reflection sorting", it's best to just go with the flow.

By the way, according to the newly-updated map, PSN has now been restored in the Northeast United States (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Vermont).  Hopefully, the restoration moves East-to-West, as I live in Florida and would like to see it restored here before I go to bed.   

EDIT:  Ugh...California just got added.  Sony's doing this randomly.  Why am I not surprised?   

[Morari]

"Greed", the desire to want more than you have and the dedication to realize your desires is one of the primary forces that ensures that our civilization continues to evolve and change.  It is neither innately bad nor good.

Greed isn't the desire to want more than you have, it's the desire to want more than is needed. It almost always spirals into malevolence as people are driven to acquire more than is needed by depriving others of precisely what is needed.

[broodwars]

"Greed", the desire to want more than you have and the dedication to realize your desires is one of the primary forces that ensures that our civilization continues to evolve and change.  It is neither innately bad nor good.

Greed isn't the desire to want more than you have, it's the desire to want more than is needed. It almost always spirals into malevolence as people are driven to acquire more than is needed by depriving others of precisely what is needed.

And who are you or anyone else to tell someone what they "need"?  Besides, if you want to go by the strictest terms, all human beings "need" to survive is food, water, and some form of shelter.  Sorry, but I look for a bit more than that in life, and I don't think badly of anyone else who feels the same.

Besides, anything in this world is bad in excess...even the best intentions and philanthropy.

[NWR_insanolord]

I would like to hear your argument for how you can have too much philanthropy.

Also, to be on topic, I'm 20 minutes from the New York border, and will be very pissed if Pennsylvania doesn't have PSN back by the end of the Sounders game.

[Chozo Ghost]

I would like to hear your argument for how you can have too much philanthropy.

It could lead to dependence. I heard somewhere that millions of people would starve to death if the U.S. suddenly ceased to export food aid to foreign countries. Its not a good thing to be dependent on someone else's charity. If you do, then you have less incentive to provide for yourself and then it can be disastrous when that charity becomes severed for some reason. The best kind of philanthropy I think is the kind that helps people to help themselves. As Lao Tzu said, give a man a fish and he eats for a die but teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

[broodwars]

I would like to hear your argument for how you can have too much philanthropy.

Alright, Wikipedia defines philanthropy as "the pursuit of excellence in every facet of human life, for every human life, by imagining and implementing new systems, to bring that philosophy to fruition."  In excess you have a desire to "improve" the lives of others as you define it, even against their wishes if it advances your agenda.  After all, you know best.  That can lead to philosophies like Socialism, or any other Big Government-centric political philosophy for that matter.

I would like to hear your argument for how you can have too much philanthropy.

It could lead to dependence. I heard somewhere that millions of people would starve to death if the U.S. suddenly ceased to export food aid to foreign countries. Its not a good thing to be dependent on someone else's charity. If you do, then you have less incentive to provide for yourself and then it can be disastrous when that charity becomes severed for some reason. The best kind of philanthropy I think is the kind that helps people to help themselves. As Lao Tzu said, give a man a fish and he eats for a die but teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Yep, that too.

[NWR_insanolord]

An argument based on the wording of a definition found on Wikipedia isn't very compelling, but Chozo Ghost came up with a halfway decent answer. Either way, in addition to being extremely off topic, this is getting far too close to politics, so let's get back to taking shots at Sony, okay people?

[broodwars]

Quick PSN Update: The Southeast United States has now been added to the restored list: Maryland, North & South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.   

Either way, in addition to being extremely off topic, this is getting far too close to politics, so let's get back to taking shots at Sony, okay people?

Agreed.
 

[broodwars]

So, has anyone besides me had their PSN restored?  It was nice to get all those trophies synched (including getting my Fallout 3 trophies back so I can jump into the DLC now).

[Mop it up]

Either way, in addition to being extremely off topic, this is getting far too close to politics, so let's get back to taking shots at Sony, okay people?

Ah dirty floors, I'd just written up a nice post about how philanthropy is a much better motivator than greed and one's own ego, but now that you've said this I should probably can it. Oh well.

I can at least agree that yes, excess of anything can be bad.

[Oblivion]

Aw man, my best friend from Florida is online! DX

[broodwars]

Ah dirty floors, I'd just written up a nice post about how philanthropy is a much better motivator than greed and one's own ego, but now that you've said this I should probably can it. Oh well.

For the record, I actually agreed with you.  I just hadn't found a good place to post it with everything else that needed to be said.  I just think there's a role for both in a healthy civilization.

[Mop it up]

I guess I'll just say that I think things work as they are now. In order for philanthropy to work as my idea would have suggested, humans would have to be free of an ego. But every human has one, and so, given that, I think the system we have now works pretty well, even with some of its problems. I guess I'll leave it at that.

[Chozo Ghost]

I heard from one of my online friends who lives in Florida that it is up there. It is still down here in Michigan, though.

As for the whole Philanthropy thing, let me ask who are the ones who do the most philanthropy? The Millionaires and especially Billionaires like Bill Gates and so on. But how did they get to be Billionaires? Greed. Had they been content with just enough for their own mere survival then they would not have created enough wealth to be capable of helping others. So in that sense Greed and Philanthropy go hand in hand. Also, if it weren't for the rich the governments of the world wouldn't have the revenue via taxes for all that government aid and so on. So greed is vital, because without greed there is less tax revenue to be obtained. Whether the charity is done voluntarily, or through force by the government either way it depends on people actually having the wealth in the first place, and that's why greed is essential.

[broodwars]

I heard from one of my online friends who lives in Florida that it is up there. It is still down here in Michigan, though.

Try it now.  The map's been updated with Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, West Virgina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

[Chozo Ghost]

Yeah, its telling me an email was sent and to follow the instructions in the email but the problem is that email never came. I've been waiting like 20 minutes. I tried to get another email to be sent but it gave me a server error. Looks like I may need to create a new account...

[broodwars]

Yeah, its telling me an email was sent and to follow the instructions in the email but the problem is that email never came. I've been waiting like 20 minutes. I tried to get another email to be sent but it gave me a server error. Looks like I may need to create a new account...

Hmm...odd.  I'm not on the PS3 I created that account on (my dead 80 GB), yet I was able to log-in and change my password just like that.  I guess the Email people are going to be dealt with in one go, so you'll probably have to wait for the rest of the U.S. to be restored before they'll send it out.

[Chozo Ghost]

They said in a previous blog entry that people who bought stuff on PSN could just change the password through the console, so that's why it was easy for you. I have never (yet, but may some day) purchased anything over PSN, so I have to change my password via email. I don't know why that's the case, but I guess its natural to expect it to take awhile for millions of emails to get sent. That may be the reason they're rolling this out slowly instead of all at once, because if everything went online at once it might overwhelm the network.