Sony messes it all up again.

As a prelude to the aborted launch of Little Big Planet Sony altered its Terms and Conditions to use their Playstation Network (PSN) service regarding user created material. This makes sense when you consider the game that was about to launch allows its users to create and share their own levels. Trouble is like so many things a broad brush has been drawn across everything.

Specifically I'm looking at section 10 which is where things get funky. What can be posted, streamed or transmitted include "pictures, photographs, game-related materials, music, home video content or other information" this is legally bundled up into the phrase "User Material". Now logically Sony point out that they might provide you with content to use in the creation of your User Material and that such content remains their property. Likewise they assure everyone that "User Material created by you will belong to you". So where's the harm?

You authorise us, our affiliated companies and other PSN users, to use, distribute, copy, modify, display, and publish your User Material throughout PSN and other associated services.

Now hold on there you've bundled up the content into one phrase and now you're trying to separate it out by prefixing it with "your".

You also authorise us and our affiliated companies, without payment to you, to license, sell and otherwise commercially exploit your User Material (for example, selling subscriptions to access User Material and/or receiving advertising revenue related to User Material), and to use your User Material in the promotion of PlayStation products and services.

Notice the switch from "your User Material" to "User Material" and back again

You must not commercially exploit User Material without our consent. You waive any moral rights you may have in your User Material.

Again note the switch from "User Material" to "your User Material". So here's the scenario imagine you're a budding film director using the Sony's new PSN driven Home. You invite some people from your friends list into your virtual pad, turn on the virtual TV and show them your latest creation; they enjoy it and you then try to sell it to a studio.

At which point Sony drops a lawsuit on your head because you're trying to commercially exploit material that was streamed through PSN and which according to them is therefore classed as "User Material". To pour salt into the wound Sony then provide 'your' video on their store to download for a price with all proceeds going to um Sony.

Now let's re-read the agreement substituting "Provided Material" and "User Material" to substitute for that which is provided by Sony or the game and that by the user.

'You authorise us, our affiliated companies and other PSN users, to use, distribute, copy, modify, display, and publish User Material throughout PSN and other associated services.'

'You also authorise us and our affiliated companies, without payment to you, to license, sell and otherwise commercially exploit User Material (for example, selling subscriptions to access Provided Material and/or receiving advertising revenue related to Provided Material), and to use User Material in the promotion of PlayStation products and services.'

'You must not commercially exploit Provided Material without our consent. You waive any moral rights you may have in your User Material.'

Schizophrenic, badly phrased, meaningless gibberish. As I said at the start I can understand what they're trying to do; with the ability to drop in your own photos into a level of Little Big Planet they want to be able to grab all the content contained therein and shout "Ours!" without getting tied down in copyright cases. They've just applied it everything in PSN such that in theory if I want to use the service I'm agreeing that if I send a photo to my cousin via the console email system and thus via PSN it means said photo now belongs to Sony to do with as they wish.

PSN users in the USA seem to have picked this up and are being verbal about it so a change may be on its way, but still once again Sony have fumbled when it comes to the people they should be trying to keep on-side - their user base.