Reader Comments

I guess the question is- Why do the support pesonnel see any personal information for the customer? Call center security 101 - the rep can't give away what they don't have access to.

Where are you at will84, shark47, and Waethorn?

Paul's Fact Checker: where are you at doing justice to your namesake? XP

That's your best response, Waethorn? It's just a name. My early posts corrected several factual errors of Paul's. I continue to use that login. I'm not going to create a new login identity for every type of post I make. Get over it. Now, any response to the actual point of this post or should I expect further ad hominem?

If Microsoft is doing something wrong, I don't think any of us are going to defend it. Microsoft clearly is in the wrong here.

"should I expect further ad hominem?" what was that pot and kettle analogy again? XP

Again, point out anything disrespectful or ad hominem about any of my posts on this topic. You have not done so yet... at all.

"Where are you at will84, shark47, and Waethorn?" Well, I was wrong. Microsoft did goof up here.

It just looks like a DESPERATION move by Microsoft. It’s become apparent in recent months that Sony is going to win the format war in high-def DVD… Blu-Ray will win, and HD-DVD will disappear, likely within a year. So Sony has an advantage in that the PS3 is not only a next-gen console, but gives you access high-def DVD content as well. What does the 360 have in that regard? HD-DVD? HD-DVD is a loser, and will be going away soon. So, when you think about it, Microsoft had to do SOMETHING here. Jumping on the Blu-Ray bandwagon would’ve made them look stupid. So what else is out there? Oh yeah… IPTV and the HD content available there… the 360 could give you access to THAT. Now MS has a selling point to (sort of) match the PS3’s, regarding the console giving you access to HD content. The problem is, IPTV is available only in a very limited number of locations (yet). But availability will improve, and I guess they can keep pointing to their HD-DVD drive add-on for awhile yet, until it becomes obvious even to the suckers that HD-DVD is going bye-bye in the market. This is a decent defensive move on Microsoft’s part, one that they can spin/market as an ‘aggressive/offensive’ play, even though its really just a reaction to the writing on the wall regarding HD-DVD.

@NateB2 "If Microsoft is doing something wrong, I don't think any of us are going to defend it. Microsoft clearly is in the wrong here." Yeah, but the overriding opinion from all the anti-Microsoft posters here is that all of us that support Microsoft blindly and are willing to defend them in anything they do. Nevermind that pretty much all of us who support Microsoft are also quick to point out when they've made a mistake - such as this one.

"point out anything disrespectful or ad hominem about any of my posts on this topic." how about every single post with your name? XP

"Again, point out anything disrespectful or ad hominem about any of my posts on this topic. You have not done so yet... at all." I'll bite. "Where are you at will84, shark47, and Waethorn?" What does this have to do with Xbox slip-ups? Nothing. The inferrence is that those people tend to fall on the side of Microsoft in debates. You are inferring that they will try to defend everything MS does, whether right or wrong. That could be construed as "fanboyism" and an affront to their character. Consequently, the above phrase is ad-hominem - it does not address the topic at hand and instead attacks the character of several people.

Stop fighting, girls. You're all pretty. "it appears that staffers at Xbox support have been giving up users' personal information to callers without properly verifying their identities. " This is almost a non-story, considering how few people it really affects. Now if Microsoft would 'fess up to the very REAL problems they have with xBox 360 reliability, THAT would be a story. As is: *yawn*.

@Paul's Fact Checker- "Where are you at will84, shark47, and Waethorn?" Why would you even post something like this unless you were attmepting to start a flame war? Go lurk elsewhere... --tayme

"This is almost a non-story, considering how few people it really affects." for once, i'll agree with losta on this one. (don't laugh - it won't happen too often) 12 out of 20 million isn't very much at all! i'm sure losta knows this all too well. ;) sorry, that was just too easy. XP

For once, i'll agree with losta on this one. (don't laugh - it won't happen too often) 12 out of 20 million isn't very much at all! i'm sure losta knows this all too well. ;) People whom have more miles on their snowblowers then on their automobiles should not throw hockey pucks in their glass houses. Your right though it is a non-story. Vista (SP1)

....and people whom have more miles on their donkeys than on their wives should learn a thing or two about a thing or two. XP

Wait, didn't I call this last week? ""It's pretty well known the clan who hijacked his account. They flaunt their abilities." Yeah, their abilities to get a moron to tell them the password." -Me So I was wrong about 'which' moron. So I apologize for assuming the attackee was the moron. More oft that is the case. The initial story ran with there being a breach in the XBL security model. That never was and still isn't the case. The model is fine, the part where humans are in the loop broke down because humans are humans. Here's a novel idea, know how all of those phone conversations are recorded? Time to sue. Assuming the 'l337 haxxor' was dumb enough to call from a home phone, sue for identity theft. But more importantly, sue Microsoft for misconduct and civil neglegence. With the convos it won't be hard to prove, and it's even worse for Microsoft admitting a breach of protocol. Normally, I'm against lawsuits, however look at what Microsoft is going to do to correct this otherwise. Most likely, they will simply fire a few phone monkeys to put the fear in the rest to fly straight. This will work for a few months, until the fired phone monkeys are gone. The problem isn't in the phone monkeys, it's in the manager. He should instill this fear 24/7, so he needs to be fired. If you bring a lawsuit into the equation, then the problem gets shifted. A phone monkey isn't going to be defending Microsoft's actions at the support level. No, it's going to be the manager over the whole thing, and once's the dust settles, and the gross misconduct brought to light in the face of this king phone monkey, he'll be gone. Not only that, but his replacement will have fear of job security, which should make things work much more smoothly. -- *Phone monkey is not a derogatory term for any race,ethnicity,religious affiliation,nationality,etc. It is a derogatory term for someone who spends their life answering phonecalls from 16yo 'haxxors'.

"Normally, I'm against lawsuits, however look at what Microsoft is going to do to correct this otherwise. Most likely, they will simply fire a few phone monkeys to put the fear in the rest to fly straight. This will work for a few months, until the fired phone monkeys are gone." nah. lawsuits don't help the consumers any. really, if you've ever worked in the service industry you'd know that all you have to do is give some stuff out for free and then everything's hunky-dorey again. Microsoft just needs to give out some free 1-year subscriptions to XBOX Live, and everybody's happy. XP

"Now if Microsoft would 'fess up to the very REAL problems they have with xBox 360 reliability, THAT would be a story." What issues? Sony needs to fess up about why my PS3 clicks like a posessed demon if I move it while there is a disc in the tray. And I'm not talking about shaking, more like sliding it to plug in the ethernet to the nic. I had to pull the power, it was going crazy. My xbox has been rock solid. Now granted I didn't get one of the first ones, waited a couple months. Maybe if you have one of the earliest (and thus oldest) and you are xcorex and leave it on 24/7, it might crap out on you. But I've never seen a broke one yet. Which is better than the clicking demon sitting beside it. The press release I'm waiting for is when they release the new X360, effectively shafting everyone who dumped 400 on the 'first gen' one. That's a spot annoying.

So wait, the new XBox is going to cost MORE money than the old versions?? This seems like the real story here. I was planning on buying a few for my new house as media center extenders... will have to reconsider now. And boomkin seems to have no idea how long it has taken to develop Microsoft's IPTV solution. He thinks it is a reaction to poor PS3 sales and BluRay domination? Wow, that's the wonkiest conspiracy theory I've ever heard... I guess IPTV was whipped up in a couple days by Bill working in his garage.