Sony Tries to Pacify Consumers but Notifies Through Their Blog

I’m cruising through various websites, checking business news. I find “Sony Chief Says Playstation Network to Return Soon” by Nick Bilton of NYtimes.com. The first line reads: “Sony posted a series of announcements on its PlayStation blog Thursday” and I pause. I begin to fury with anger; my boyfriend has/had a PlayStation Network account and he received no email from PlayStation announcing any update on the security breach and PSN outage. I clicked the link to the PlayStation blog and read two announcements from the company “A Letter from Howard Stringer” and “Sony Offering Free ‘AllClear ID Plus’ Identity Theft Protection in the United States through Debix, Inc.”.

Howard Stringer is the Chairman, CEO and President of Sony Corporation. The summation of the letter from Stringer and the Identity Theft Protection announcement:

According to Sony, there is no proof that “any credit card or personal information has been misused”. But they will play it safe and offer Identity Theft Protection to all PSN and Qriocity consumers.

Sony will email a code to customers to sign up for the free 12 month Identity Protection program provided by Debix, Inc. “one of the Industry’s most reputable identity protection firms”. The program consists of “but are not limited to”: “Cyber monitoring and surveillance”; “Priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists”; and “A $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user”.

Customers will be given a “Welcome Back” package. Free advanced membership and extension of subscriptions.

The security breach notification delay was due to forensic analysis, which is “complex, time-consuming process”.

Finally,

Sony is "working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend those responsible”

Consumers should have been emailed the announcements - mind that all Sony customers affected needed an email address to be part of Sony’s network. It’s insulting that because I was looking for articles I happen to come across the news. I, the consumer, should not have to take it upon myself to search for updates; Sony should provide the updates through email (just as they automatically notify customers of software updates). I appreciate the message of the announcements and offer of identity protection, but Sony doesn't realize that notification is a major part of customer service and crisis management. 

I have read comments on the announcements about people who state they are loyal and Sony is a great company and this will not stop their loyalty. Loyalty is nothing compared to the protection of my personal information. At this point, free subscriptions have not subsided my anger over not being informed properly and quickly. I have said this before on my previous post that hacking can happen to any company; I am furious at how information is being handled. I acknowledge and commend that the company is attempting to pacify customers but they must work better at informing customers.