If you have an account with Sony you should receive an email today notifying you of a new name change as well as new terms of service.

“On February 7, 2012, Sony Network Entertainment International LLC ("SNEI") will update its Terms of Service and User Agreement and its Privacy Policy. As a part of this update, your “PlayStation®Network account” will be renamed a “Sony Entertainment Network account”

The first time you sign in to your Sony Entertainment Network account on or after February 7, 2012, you will be asked to agree to the new Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy with SNEI if you wish to continue using your Sony Entertainment Network account. Please review all changes to the Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy carefully before indicating your agreement.

In particular, these are some of the additions and changes we have to these agreements:

• New terms for parents of minor, subaccount holders regarding the limitations of chat parental controls. Your reacceptance of the Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy affirms your consent to the sharing of your child’s data that may occur if your child utilizes certain communication functionalities on PlayStation devices such as PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita systems.
• New terms that explain the location-based services offered through the PlayStation Vita system. For parents of minor, subaccount holders your reacceptance of the Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy affirms your consent to your subaccount holder’s user of these services on the PlayStation Vita system.
• A description of our “What’s New” section, which provides topical information about our services and advertisements.
• Information about pre-ordering content.
• The name of your "PlayStation Network account" is changing to a "Sony Entertainment Network account."

From here links are provided to review the changes to the
Terms of Service and User Agreement and the changes to the Privacy Policy.

You may click here (23 pages PDF) to review the changes to the Terms of Service and User Agreement and you may click here (13 pages PDF) to review the changes to the Privacy Policy.

The changes are said to be in name only but you can also close your account, request a refund or contact customer service with any questions. All in all this does not seem like a big deal but in typical large corporation fashion you will need an attorney to review all the changes (26 pages) or do what most people do; trust them until you no longer can.


The summary of all the changes can be read at http://us.playstation.com/support/answer/index.htm?a_id=2474 which now shows an effective date of February 8th, 2012.