Why exactly is it necessary for me to sign up for PSN just to use the web browser on PS4?

[lost_soul]

This sends up red flags. What data are they collecting if I was to use that browser? It is also what I would call crossing the line. Look, a lot of people bash Google for invading privacy. However, you can use an Android very effectively without signing up for Google; without giving them a name or anything. You can browse the web, install apps, make calls with SIP, and on and on.

 

This thing with the PS4 is a disturbing trend, though. I do NOT want to see it spread. Imagine if the new version of Windows made you sign up with MS before allowing you to browse the web. Its obvious that MS is in trouble because Google is putting the squeeze on with Chromebooks and tablets. I mean, Windows is now free with certain types of devices (and more pushy than ever before about getting you to sign up for the cloud).

 

Back to Sony though, why would I trust them after the rootkits and removal of "other OS" feature from hardware that was already paid for?

 

They also demonstrated that security is an unimportant concept at best with all the security breaches and passwords that were encoded as plain-text among other things.

 

I wonder if anybody has investigated this with something like Wireshark to see what info gets sent to Sony when you use the browser? I build PCs myself and use Linux, so I really do not need to use the PS4 browser, but I was just curious. I also wasn't expecting them to be so pushy about getting you to sign up like this. For example, even a Dreamcast allowed you to surf the web with nothing more than a log-in for the ISP. I got a PS4 so I can play games offline from a disk with no connection to the cloud.

 

TLDR: this needless lock-out of simple features until you sign up for something is creepy and crossing the line, especially in a post-Snowden world.

[VanishedOne]

Imagine if the new version of Windows made you sign up with MS before allowing you to browse the web.

The last one tried to trick people into making Microsoft Accounts to log into their local machines, so arguably that would be a slight improvement.

[OrbWeaver]

Because the only consequence of them doing so is somebody posting an angry rant on a forum that Sony never reads, and then continuing to purchase and use their overpriced locked-down garbage regardless. So why would they ever change?

[Tels]

It's "Rootkit"-Sony, and "Heh, let's remove Linux from the supported OS from the PS"-Sony, remember? Why wouldn't they screw with you, just because?