Sony has just announced updates to its Playstation Network Terms of Service.  We take a look at some of the more important items that affect you.

The first issue addressed in the updates centers around Parental Advisory and, personally, I think it’s a good move on Sony’s party to clarify the role of the Parental Unit:
Some content and services may not be appropriate for children under a certain age.  Please check age ratings for content and services before access, download or purchase.  Not all content and services are rated.  Some content is designed to be downloaded to your PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system or PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) system and will be accessible by all users of that unit.  Please monitor your child’s access to content, services, and communications that may be age inappropriate.

I applaud Sony on making this clear – as a parent I do feel we need to be involved and monitoring our children’s content intake.  If you disagree – maybe you should flip off the TV and go spend some time with your kid.  There are more co-op titles available now you know?

The next update seems to be getting set for the first wave of titles  - like Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground – that will be allowing user uploadable content:
You may not upload, post, stream, or otherwise transmit any content that contains any viruses, worms, spyware, time bombs, or other computer programs that may damage, interfere with, or disrupt PSN.

Yeah, no time bombs in my Skate Videos please!

This tidbit here actually makes me wonder what they have in store – feature wise – that could actually support such use?
You may not take any action that we consider to be disruptive to the normal flow of chat or gameplay, including without limitation uploading, posting, streaming, or otherwise transmitting any unsolicited or unauthorized material, including junk mails, spams, excessive mails, or chain letters.

Chain Letters – on my PS3 – the horror!? :O I can’t even get game invites to work in my Guitar Hero III but I can get junk mail?

There are some clarifications that center around third-party data sharing – again, presumable in advance of you taking part in ‘services’ offered by games like Proving Ground.  There are also some clarifications on the use of Prepaid Cards and Transactions involving the PSN Wallet though nothing seems to raise the alarm. 

Actually, a more interesting tidbit arises in the mention of Promo-Codes:
From time to time, SCEA may issue promotional codes or "promo codes" which can be used to access promotional offers for PSN content or services. 

This could be quite an interesting marketing tool – say, give away a month of Warhawk play via a Promo Code – and then lock the game requiring purchase.  This way the Publisher gets the game onto the drive – and would give a player some solid time to try out all the features of the game unlike a feature limited demo.  This would be something interesting to see on Xbox Live.

The next update centers on PSN Upgrades and I’m thinking may be in response to Microsoft’s recent debacle in which they were caught sending stealth updates to XP and Vista machines for their Windows Update tool – even if users had explicitly turned it off.  Let’s hope Sony learned from that one.
From time to time, it may become necessary for SCEA to provide certain content or services to you to ensure that PSN, your PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) system or other SCEA-authorized hardware is functioning properly in accordance with SCEA guidelines.

The last change is related to the sharing of your game play data.  This section was most likely in the first time around – but seems a bit curious.  I’d like to see Publishers make clear when they’re going to share your performance data.  At least then you know when to really make sure you’re playing your best

That concludes our Sony ToS update programming.  Let us know your thoughts by sending us a comment below.