A California district judge dismissed most of a class-action complaint against Sony’s handling of the massive PlayStation Network (PSN) data breach last year. However, plaintiffs will be able to amend and resubmit parts of the complaint in the near future. The lawsuit, first filed last June, takes Sony to task for failing to protect users’ information using industry standard practices, which exposed those users to undue risk of identity theft and fraud. Though the core PSN service is free, the lawsuit also sought restitution for lost access to paid services such as Netflix, MLB.tv, and NHL Gamecenter, which were unavailable through the PS3 while PSN was down for over a month following the hacking incident. But district judge Anthony J. Battaglia’s ruling [PDF via courthouse News] rejected most of the plaintiffs’ arguments, saying, in essence, that Sony never promised their service would be perfect. In fact, the ruling specifically cites a clause in PSN’s privacy policy warning users that “there is no such thing as perfect security” and “we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us through [the PSN],” obviating the suit’s claim that Sony misled consumers or committed fraud itself.Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Judge: Sony didn’t promise "perfect security," isn’t liable for PSN hack