Difference between revisions of "PlayStation Party Recording"

Revision as of 17:01, 25 March 2021

Sony's PlayStation is a gaming console that offers Internet gaming from a wide range of game choices and is a common known competitor with Xbox. Other competitors throughout PlayStation's development have included Nintendo products and PC versions of similar games. ^[1] As a part of their interactive online platform, PlayStation offers parties - a virtual location in which users can play games together and interact via text and voice chat. In the fall of 2020, PlayStation received backlash after an update regarding the recording of these party interfaces.

Software Update 8.00

The announcement

^[2]

On October 14th, 2020 PlayStation announced system software update 8.00 to its PS4 system. As announced in the official PlayStation blog, updates included new avatars, the ability to mute all mics, improved parental controls, and dual-factor verification. ^[3] As the update rolled out, users were quick to jump to social media about a pop-up they received, stating: “Voice chats may be recorded for moderation. By joining, you agree to be recorded.” Many users questioned what this pop-up meant, its implications, and why it was not included in the announcement. Twitter user @Tacodog13 replied to the official PlayStation twitter account with a photo of the announcement and a caption including “So anyone gonna acknowledge this???” ^[2]

The follow up

After the initial social media blow-up, PlayStation released an update to its announcement stating that the voice chat recording feature is available on the PS5 and enables individual users to record the parties they participate in and submit them to PlayStation for content moderation. This means by playing in a party with a PS5 user, PlayStation users are consenting that a user may be recording them. ^[4]

Ethics

Safety

PlayStation clarified that the company itself is not recording parties, but rather it is a choice for individuals who feel that the conversation in question is harmful in some way. In a follow-up blog by the Global Consumer Experience head at PlayStation, it is clarified that the intent is to manage online safety and report inappropriate behavior that violates its conduct code. She states “the feature will not actively monitor or listen in on your conversations” ^[4]

PlayStation argues that Code of Conduct violations need to have a way to be truthfully reported to maintain online safety. There is no option to opt-out of recording, as PlayStation argues all users should be abiding by safety guidelines and therefore not threatened by the potential implications of the recording -- so long as they're acting appropriately online.

Privacy Policy

This discussion led users to dig deeper into PlayStation's privacy policy and found contradictory information. In 2013, Sony (the parent company of PlayStation) altered its PS4 Terms and Conditions to allow Sony Playstion and any of its associate companies to monitor activity including: "your UGM [user generated media], the content of your voice and text communications, video of your gameplay, the time and location of your activities, and your name, your PSN Online ID and IP address." ^[5] Social media users were quick to point out that the party recording notification may not mean it is the first time their parties are being recorded or monitored. PlayStation introduced the pop-up as a means to demonstrate that now it is up to individual players to record parties - something they later apologized for due to lack of clarity. ^[4] Given users already consented to recording, PlayStation had no legal obligation to inform users using a pop-up format. The pop-up sparked heavy backlash from users - despite being something they had already agreed to. This led to user debate on a popular reddit thread about PlayStation's obligation to disclose the change and whether or not users actually read the privacy policies that they had agreed to in order to be users of PlayStations. ^[6]

Transparency

Social media backlash caused #PS4Update to trend after users began seeing the pop-up. Users questioned why PlayStation was not placing a larger emphasis on the recording feature and what exactly "consenting to being recorded" meant. ^[2] Users were concerned that they would unknowingly be recorded and were unsure of when they were being recorded, by whom, and for what purpose. Although PlayStation clarified that the purpose of the recording feature was for individual safety concerns, users were still skeptical of the way this information had been shared. This raises further legal issues of the ownership of party recordings. Allowing Playstation to record conversations, even if users dictate when recording is taking place, puts personal user information in the hands of Sony or A similar legal issue is that of phone call recording, which has both federal and state guidelines that may vary. ^[7] As topics of consent and purpose of use arise, phone users may not know that they are being recorded and could potentially face backlash from a recorded conversation if used in a variety of contexts.

With laws such as those regarding phone conversations, arguments about the responsibility to know the information arise. There are laws in place that require companies to notify customers when collecting user information. When it comes to PlayStation, all users received that pop-up notifying them of party recording. Terms and Conditions often include similar policies that users must agree to in order to use the platform. However, there is no guarantee that the users actually read and understood everything presented to them.

Terms and Conditions

One of the primary methods modern companies use as a method for notifying customers/users of privacy and security policies is through this "Terms and Conditions" document. They exist as a requirement for essentially every platform or service, yet consumers never actually take the time to internalize the information. This is primarily because these documents are incredibly long and hard to read, even for expert lawyers. ^[8] These documents play roles in countless modern ethical debates. It is within these agreements that companies can conceal some of their less appealing data collection habits without customers finding out. Social media companies like Facebook have received backlash for changing their terms and conditions without proper warnings. However, they have also been ridiculed heavily after openly releasing the changes they would make because users weren't happy with the changes being made. ^[9] This is an example of the predicament many companies are in. The dynamic between companies and consumers when it comes to data privacy continues to lack trust. Additionally, users are starting to take it upon themselves to be aware of changes to privacy policies. While this process is still very labor-intensive, it functions as a way to keep companies in check. Terms and Conditions documents have always served this purpose, but as the public continues to adjust to the increasing availability of personal information, these documents are becoming essential pieces of evidence in ethical debates.

Timing and Issue Awareness

The PlayStation announcement timing - Fall 2020 - coincided with a larger focus on data ethics and transparency headed by then President, Donald Trump. Trump began a campaign to ban TikTok and WeChat in the United States for invasion of privacy and data collection from US citizens and the battle continued on for many weeks. ^[10] As a result many US media sources more actively discussed ethical issues on data privacy and usage. Given PlayStation's existing privacy policy permitting similar data recording, some link between the timing of the issue and the attention it received is possible.

References

1. ↑ PlayStation. (2021, January 28). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/PlayStation
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Ivan, T. (2020, October 16). Ps4 update trends after users warned 'voice chats are recorded'. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ps4-update-8-00-is-causing-multiple-issues-and-trending-after-players-realise-voice-chats-are-recorded/
3. ↑ Director, S., Shuman, S., Director, S., Manager, S., Manager, S., Specialist, G., Director, C. (2020, October 14). PS4 system software update 8.00 launching today. Retrieved March 11, 2021, from https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/14/ps4-system-software-update-8-00-launching-today/
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Jensen, C. (2020, October 16). Details on new voice chat functionality coming to ps5. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/16/details-on-new-voice-chat-functionality-coming-to-ps5/
5. ↑ Staff, M. (2013, November 11). New Sony T&Cs say it can "monitor and record voice and TEXT communications" on PSN. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.mcvuk.com/business-news/new-sony-tcs-say-it-can-monitor-and-record-voice-and-text-communications-on-psn/
6. ↑ R/PS4 - Update 8.00 discussion and Issues megathread. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/jb8zt2/update_800_discussion_and_issues_megathread/
7. ↑ Digital media Law Project. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/recording-phone-calls-and-conversations
8. ↑ Cornish, Audie(2014, September, 1). All Things Considered: Why Do We Blindly Sign Terms Of Service Agreements? Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/2014/09/01/345044359/why-do-we-blindly-sign-terms-of-service-agreements
9. ↑ Warwick, Stephen (2020, September, 1). Facebook is changing its Terms of Service, and users are not happy. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.imore.com/facebook-changing-its-terms-service-and-users-are-not-happy
10. ↑ Paul, K. (2020, September 29). Trump's bid to ban TikTok AND WeChat: Where are we now? Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/29/trump-tiktok-wechat-china-us-explainer