Sony: Abusers will be locked out of Home

EDINBURGH, UK--Sony's Home will be different to similar social networking sites, such as Second Life, in many ways. Most notably, those who continually abuse others online will be permanently banned.

Peter Edward, director of the Home Platform Group, speaking about the project at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2007, said that unlike other similar online services, Home would be "safe." Although he didn't mention any names, it was clear the executive was referring to sites such as Second Life, which he branded "anarchistic."

Edward said, "It's a safe place for companies to promote their brand. There's no danger of damage to the brand through anarchistic actions."

When questioned on what the company would be doing to combat abuse from people using the service, he replied, "Ultimately, and we don't broadcast this, but we know the machine details, and we know where they live...So you can be disconnected and have to move house and buy a new PS3 before you could get online again...Although obviously, we don't want to do that too much."

Edward also added that the future of Home would be very much what the users decided to make it. He commented, "We don't know how people will use Home in the long term," but added that it was bound to be interesting.