The Great PlayStation Network Outage and the Digital Lifestyle.
By yukoasho 1 Comments
At this point, I can't imagine anyone who isn't aware of the week-long shutdown of the PlayStation Network. While there are obvious questions that have to be asked about Sony's network security, who's responsible for the attack and what personal data may have been taken by the attackers, there is another question we must ask: are we too dependent upon the internet?
Over the years, more and more of our lives have been hooked up to the nebulous collection of servers known as the internet. With more and more people putting more and more of their infrastructure and lives on the internet, the world has gotten more convenient. It has also gotten a bit more dangerous. Identity theft has become a major problem, and both server outages like the one that shut Giant Bomb down and terrorist attacks like the ones perpetrated on Sony lately show us that, in exchange for our convenience, we are handing over more and more of our security.
Now, this being a gaming blog, we have to bring it back to games. Most PC games, even if bought physically, require some form of online authentication, some more intrusive than others. Local multi-player games are becoming rarer and rarer outside of the Wii. We have people pushing hard to get rid of brick and mortar stores as digital distribution services become more prominent. We now live in an age where many games, quite frankly, require you to ask the internet for permission to run.
So, what happens when the servers are shut down? You're fucked, that's what happens. It's one thing if you screw up and damage a disc, that's on you. However, this is different. This is the entire world putting itself, ever so slowly, at the mercy of the most mercurial of fates. Terrorists who cripple anyone they disapprove of, corporations who are unable or unwilling to support their increasingly internet dependent services, and issues that are thousands upon thousands of miles away that would have never bothered anyone outside of the immediate area only two or three years ago.
The fact is this - a sufficiently determined group of hackers can get into damn near any system they want if it's connected to the internet. Now I'm not saying to reject the internet - far from it. It's a valuable tool that has brought the world closer together and spurred social progress. However, we cannot allow the tool to become our master. Turning over everything from entertainment, business, and even our most intimate secrets to the internet carries with it an unimaginable risk. Don't leap headfirst into the digital only age that the Bombcast seems to want SO badly. Physical copies and offline stuff can never be taken away by Anonymous.