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News

Sony Patents Anti-Piracy RFID Tech

by Kimberley Wallace on Jan 03, 2013 at 08:44 AM

 

We’re not new to the war on piracy and used games, but it appears Sony is taking a new step for prevention.

A Neogaf user found a patent application for an “Electronic Content Processing System.”  Just what would this system do? It would tie game discs to specific user accounts and/or consoles. An RFID tag on any given disc would be read by the console to determine if the game had been used before on another console and/or account and would block you from playing it. 

Obviously, this is an issue for those who buy used games and/or share them between friends and family. It seems that Sony is trying to cut back on piracy with the PlayStation 4 on the horizon. Still, the filing of a patent is not necessarily an indication that the technology will actually be used. Sony owns many other anti-piracy patents, like USPTO #6,782,477, which have never been used.

Thanks Aaron Quixote for the news tip!