Japan turns down PSN, SOE restarts until security check
updated 04:40 pm EDT, Mon May 16, 2011
Sony not allowed to restart PSN, SOE in Japan
Sony will not be allowed to restart its PlayStation Network in Japan following a near month-long global outage until it gives a local government regulator the information it has requested, FoxBusiness reported over the weekend. While service in North America has been restored over the weekend, the Media and Content Industry department at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry maintains it needs further information before approving the reinstatement of the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment services. This includes an outline of the preventative measures Sony will take or has taken to ensure another similar incident doesn't happen again.
"We met with Sony on May 6 and 13, and basically we want two things from them," said Kazushige Nobutani, the director of the Japanese regulatory body. More details weren't available due to security issues, he added.
The other thing required is a plan on how Sony plans to regain consumer confidence over personal data including credit card information. Nobutani said similar cases from other firms in the past had acceptable countermeasures and the Ministry wants to compare them to Sony's proposals.
"We are still in talks with various authorities (in Japan and Asia)," said Sony spokeswoman Kumie Tanaka. "By receiving advice from the industry ministry, we would like to have the service in Japan ready."
The attack on the PSN network is believed to have revealed the private information of more than 100 million accounts on the PSN. This includes addresses and passwords.
