HostJury wrote earlier about egregious ToS/ AuP clauses but it appears that Sony is seeking honorable mention for the list! After getting sued for security breaches that exposed personal information connected to more than 100 million online accounts, Sony is now requiring subscribers to waive their right to wage class-action lawsuits for almost any reason.

Sony is requiring people with accounts on Sony's PlayStation to agree to Sony 21 pages of  updated terms of service and user agreement (PDF)   the next time they sign into their accounts if they want to continue using the online services.

The terms include:

ANY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDINGS, WHETHER IN ARBITRATION OR COURT, WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT IN A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR AS A NAMED OR UNNAMED MEMBER IN A CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, REPRESENTATIVE OR PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL LEGAL ACTION, UNLESS BOTH YOU AND THE SONY ENTITY WITH WHICH YOU HAVE A DISPUTE SPECIFICALLY AGREE TO DO SO IN WRITING FOLLOWING INITIATION OF THE ARBITRATION.

The changes come months after an attack on the PlayStation Network exposed names, addresses, email addresses, passwords, and other sensitive data for 77 million accounts. A closer look later revealed user data for another 25M clients had been compromised! In July Sony's insurance company filed a lawsuit that argued its policy didn't apply to a raft of class-action lawsuits filed in response to the high-profile security breaches.

The terms of service does give subscribers the ability of opt out of the class action require, but it will require them to write a letter on paper and send it to an address using the postal service.

YOUR WRITTEN NOTIFICATION MUST BE MAILED TO 6080 CENTER DRIVE, 10TH FLOOR, LOS ANGELES, CA 90045, ATTN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT/ARBITRATION AND MUST INCLUDE: (1) YOUR NAME, (2) YOUR ADDRESS, (3) YOUR PSN ACCOUNT NUMBER, IF YOU HAVE ONE, AND (4) A CLEAR STATEMENT THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO RESOLVE DISPUTES WITH ANY SONY ENTITY THROUGH ARBITRATION.

Really... snail mail!