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Sony Tries To Remove News Articles About PlayStation 4 Slim Leak From The Internet (techdirt.com) 85

Sony is expected to announce two new PlayStation 4 consoles at a scheduled event on September 7th in New York City, but as that date nears more leaks of the consoles have emerged. The most recent leak appears to show the upcoming PlayStation 4 Slim, which Sony is trying to remove from the internet by taking down news articles from social media accounts about the leak. Erik Kain via @erikkain on Twitter tweeted (Tweet no longer exists): "Sony issued a takedown and had this post removed from my Facebook page: https://t.co/fIjP0buTdY (Warning: may be paywalled)." Techdirt reports: "[The Forbes post] references the work Eurogamer did in visiting the leaker of the image to confirm the console is for real (it is), as well as generating its own image and even video of the console working for its story on the leak. But if you go today to the Eurogamer post about the leak, the video has been replaced by the following update. UPDATE, 7.30pm: Upon taking legal advice, we have removed the video previously referenced in this article. Left unsaid is whether or not any contact had been made by Sony with Eurogamer, thus prompting this 'legal advice,' but one can imagine that being the case, particularly given Sony's threats to social media users sharing images and reporting of Sony leaks and, more to the point, threats against any media that might report on those leaks."
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Sony Tries To Remove News Articles About PlayStation 4 Slim Leak From The Internet

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  • Why (Score:5, Informative)

    by sexconker ( 1179573 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @07:47PM (#52759597)

    Why would you comply with such a demand? It's newsworthy and they have no standing to have it removed.

    • by Falos ( 2905315 )
      Their advisors have no incentive to keep it, and some to warn "absolutely zero risk" is "wisest".

      Of course, that's pretty much why intimidation works.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Maybe they can get Peter Thiel to help them protect Sony's privacy.

      PETER THIEL: WORLD PRIVACY POLICE!

    • by Desler ( 1608317 )

      Because it's easy to tell others what to do when you aren't being threatened with a lawsuit?

      • Oh, I've been threatened. I've never had anyone dumb enough to even try to follow up on their laughable bullshit. The closest anyone came was crying to the police and having them contact me with bogus "we'll open a harassment investigation" horseshit. Guess what never happened.

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The Pentagon papers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] showed that to the US press. Once the press has a news worthy event its free to publish.
    • Re:Why (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @01:54AM (#52760647)
      well legal matters aside places like Eurogamer are dependent for their survival on the good will of gaming companies. Try staying relevant when your reviewers no longer have early access to games or receive devices for testing and reviewing before release.
    • Even persons 100% in the right will decline to spend $1,000,000. in legal fees to prove it. Everyone sued who is in the right faces this dilemma.

      • One million? Court can be expensive, but this is a joke of a "case" that Sony would likely never show up to, let alone file. A completely ignorant person could easily defend themselves against such a thing, presuming they're ever actually served, using the free resources available to them. Just ask the clerk of the court. You'd likely be able to recoup your costs as well.

        Your honor, this is what we published on that date. It is newsworthy, as it depicts a rumored upcoming product our audience, and many

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Its not illegal to report on news or share news unless there is publication ban, if Sony feels they have been damaged they have option to sue source of leak.

  • Original source: (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @08:31PM (#52759771)

    The pictures were originally uploaded to NeoGAF which Forbes then used. Seems to me that Sony is trying to exploit the Streisand Effect, so I won't link to it because it's just another boring looking black box.

    • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      I could believe that, Sony is really wacked when it comes to marketing. Who can forget the whole mysoginst B$ of ghost busters to drive free advertising, that failed and most everyone is pretty hacked off with Sony. I would suggest the switch away from being controversy dicks and develop some reasonable manners. They seem to have switched into panic mode after a series of failures and really stupid blunders.

      • I could believe that, Sony is really wacked when it comes to marketing. Who can forget the whole mysoginst B$ of ghost busters to drive free advertising, that failed and most everyone is pretty hacked off with Sony. I would suggest the switch away from being controversy dicks and develop some reasonable manners. They seem to have switched into panic mode after a series of failures and really stupid blunders.

        Well, it is a black box so they can probably cry racism if you don't like it.

      • I could believe that, Sony is really wacked when it comes to marketing. Who can forget the whole mysoginst B$ of ghost busters to drive free advertising, that failed and most everyone is pretty hacked off with Sony

        I have no idea what you're talking about. In what way was Sony misogynistic about the new movie?

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by el americano ( 799629 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @08:45PM (#52759835) Homepage

    Naturally, their tactics have been completely ineffective at stopping the reporting. I have to wonder if they were hoping for the Streisand Effect, where angry gamers would share the PS4 Slim photos to get 'revenge' on Sony. People don't seem to care very much about this iteration of the Playstation, and why should we?

    • as a marketing strategy. Think about it: it leaks weeks before the announcement. Every day articles pop up, people talk about it for hours on forums, social media, IRL... No-one talks about the XBox One S anymore. Then the announcement comes, and as it looks like the eurogamer article is based on a stolen item, it can very well be the Slim is available immediately: which is the right time because the hype built-up has been going on for weeks.

      • Heh, I agree, my first thought was "Hey, I want to get a look at that!"
        Not that it matters, I stopped buying consoles ages ago, they keep getting stolen, except the Wii, they never steal that.
  • How about boycotting any vendor that does not show any sign of even trying to respect their customer base?
    • How about boycotting any vendor that does not show any sign of even trying to respect their customer base?

      ^^^ This.

      Sony does business like every market is Japan where they are the darling nationally subsidized pet corporation. Why someone would opt for Sony over MSFT because their console had some negligible performance edge is beyond me.

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