Sony Declines Demand for Visit to Congress

May 3, 2011

Congress wanted Sony to come to Washington D.C. to answer questions. Yesterday several members of Congress demanded answers - in person - from someone at Sony. Today the company in the midst of a security nightmare politely told lawmakers "no thank you."

"Sony declined to testify because their internal investigation is still ongoing," an official in Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack's office told Kotaku this morning.

Congresswoman Mack and Congressman G. K. Butterfield wrote a letter to Sony Computer Entertainment of America (addressed to Kazuo Hirai) on April 29, days after Sony detailed the security breach of the company’s PlayStation Network. Both are members of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. While Sony may have declined the "offer," Sony Computer Entertainment of America spokesman Patrick Seybold said that Sony is cooperating with the committee.

"Sony is cooperating with the request for answers to the Committee's questions, and in fact will be providing our responses in advance of the deadline," he wrote in an email to Kotaku. "We informed the committee that we could not appear as early as this Wednesday because of our ongoing intensive investigation and management of this criminal cyberattack."

Sony had better hope that its cooperation is enough to keep members of congress happy.

Source: Kotaku

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Comments

Re: Sony Declines Demand for Visit to Congress

Submitted by Austin from Oregon on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 17:44.

So Sony has betrayed it's customers trust, and caused huge fiscal safety uncertainty for millions of people.

Congress must want to give them a bailout.

-Austin from Oregon

Feel free to check out my blog.

Re: Sony Declines Demand for Visit to Congress

Submitted by Erik on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 19:11.

They don't always reward disaster. I recall during the Gulf Coast oil spill a congressman of Japanese descent telling a BP executive that back in the days of his forefathers they had the decency to kill themselves when they screwed up so royaly.

-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-

Re: Sony Declines Demand for Visit to Congress

Submitted by CEOIII on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 00:47.

The aforementioned congressman was also holding a ceremonial dagger used for such ritual suicides. I don't know if he gave it to anyone at BP.

Which begs the question: What's the difference between harakiri and seppuku?

I'm Charlie Owens, good night, and good luck.

Shout box

NyuRena: You nailed it James! Yikes..06/18/2013 - 1:56pm

james_fudge: With MS willing to share with the government, an always listening device should give everyone pause.06/18/2013 - 1:37pm

james_fudge: you can't turn off the Microphone on the Kinect and it has to be plugged in. It's not rocket science.06/18/2013 - 1:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: The Humble Bundle Guys just don't like me having money in my pocket do they? https://www.humblebundle.com/06/18/2013 - 1:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: CMiner, I know that my Android camera is off unless I am using an application that turns it on. Same with the microphone.06/18/2013 - 12:38pm

CMiner: Can you turn off the camera on an iPhone? Like, -really- turn it off, not just change a setting that -tells- you the camera is off?06/18/2013 - 12:13pm

james_fudge: when they make it a requirement, yes they are06/18/2013 - 12:10pm

CMiner: I just don't think Microsoft bears any more (or less) responsibility for privacy with its Kinect camera than do the makers of laptops or smartphones with integrated cameras.06/18/2013 - 12:00pm

Imautobot: The ability to operate the console without the camera is key. It's a peripheral, not directly integrated into the console, and yet it behaves as if it is. Thankfully I don't have kids, and won't have an Xbone either.06/18/2013 - 11:49am

CMiner: Oh, I agree that the decision to make the kinect mandatory/always listening is terrible.06/18/2013 - 11:48am

E. Zachary Knight: CMiner, and the easier the provider makes to do such things, the better. The fact that the XBone will not even funtion without it plugged in and turned on in some fashion makes a world of difference from a PC Webcam.06/18/2013 - 11:38am

CMiner: It takes steps on the user's part to ensure 100% privacy (unplugging, uninstalling, putting tape over it, not putting it in the kid's rooms, etc)06/18/2013 - 11:29am

CMiner: My point is that no webcam producing company can guarantee that no one will ever ever ever be able to access video from that webcam without your knowledge and permission06/18/2013 - 11:28am

E. Zachary Knight: Of course at that point, you are still opening up yourself to Windows zero day vulnerabilities and back doors that they are happy to share with the government before Windows users.06/18/2013 - 11:26am

E. Zachary Knight: Cminer, I don't because I wipe the OS and reinstall something more secure, Linux. Even still, just wiping the OS and reinstalling Windows fresh removes all the bloatware PC companies install.06/18/2013 - 11:26am

E. Zachary Knight: I agree that the Kinect requirement of the XBone has my civil liberty senses tingling. Just another nail in the coffin for me.06/18/2013 - 11:25am

E. Zachary Knight: Honestly, I wouldn't put anything with an integrated camera in my kids' rooms. You are just asking for trouble. Of course, I am not a fan of having tvs/videogames/computers in kids rooms in general.06/18/2013 - 11:24am

CMiner: In the case of integrated webcams on laptops, do you have the same concern that people at Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc might be spying on you?06/18/2013 - 11:24am

E. Zachary Knight: I love awesome indie devs. Incredipede is free if you run linux! http://www.incredipede.com/linux.html Thanks @ColinNorthway You're the best.06/18/2013 - 11:23am

Imautobot: More creepy is that the Xbox Camera can see in the dark. Now we're in Buffalo Bill territory.06/18/2013 - 11:21am

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