PlayStation Network being rebuilt

After confirming the PlayStation Network had been hacked, Sony says it is rebuilding the system before bringing it back online.

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As the prolonged outage of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity enters its fourth day the latest update on the PlayStation blog offers some insight on the steps being taken to restore service but no indication when that might happen. Sony senior director corporate communication and social media Patrick Seybold writes:

We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

Following on the news that the PlayStation Network had been hacked, a complete rebuild does not come as a shock. Doing so before bringing it back online, though, does underscore the severity of the intrusion to Sony's network.

For the moment, Sony gets a pass on the lack of more detailed information with it being a holiday weekend and an ongoing sensitive situation as the necessary repairs are made. In this coming week, though, the extremity of this response demands that a full disclosure of the nature of the issues be given. In particular, subscribers need to know what, if any, threats their online wallet and credit card information may have been exposed to.

Our sympathies go out to all the engineers and their families who instead of enjoying the Easter holiday weekend are under the gun to get the PlayStation Network rebuilt.

Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 24, 2011 12:40 PM

    Garnett Lee posted a new article, PlayStation Network being rebuilt.

    After confirming the PlayStation Network had been hacked, Sony says it is rebuilding the system before bringing it back online.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 12:49 PM

      I wish I could say I was surprised by this, and I'm saddened for people who were using it.

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        April 24, 2011 12:52 PM

        Over in one.

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        April 24, 2011 12:57 PM

        Thankfully updates/patches/downloads and everything still work. I had a bunch of stuff queued up and it all successfully downloaded despite being unable to sign into PSN.

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      April 24, 2011 12:53 PM

      While I fully realize the severity of the attack..... MAN I WANNA PLAY SOME PORTAL 2 AND MK ONLINE. I can't even activate my Steam copy of Portal 2. Oh well, patience is a virtue I suppose. =\

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        April 24, 2011 1:15 PM

        Oh man, you poor thing. I'm so glad I decided to preorder the PC version instead days before launch. :D My condolences. You're missing out.

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          April 24, 2011 1:27 PM

          I made the switch too, $20 less and I don't have a copy sitting around not being used.

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          April 24, 2011 7:00 PM

          The game is playable in SP, he's only missing out on coop since that requires PSN.

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        April 24, 2011 6:28 PM

        Damn that would suck, glad I activated mine on Tuesday when it hit.

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      April 24, 2011 12:58 PM

      How fucking long will this take?

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      April 24, 2011 1:01 PM

      Sony's network may be free but if they are unable to keep it running why bother with it? I hope they have a plan to make it something people care about once they get it up and running but I have a feeling they will not. If I was running Sony? Partner with Valve.

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        April 24, 2011 1:10 PM

        Overreact much? They have been able to keep it running just fine until the hacking started. At worst it would go down for an hour for maintenance. Basically they just now realized they need better security. It's stupid that it took them this long to realize it, but whatever. I am sure they will figure it out and it will be harder to take down, they will have extra backup measures, etc.

        In terms of making it better, their opinion has always been make it better by giving features to people who really want it (ie, people who pay for PSN Plus). They have added auto-updating (while your PS3 sleeps), cloud saves, and tons of free games for subscribers. I think their goal is to just keep improving on that, because they don't want to be like Microsoft where they charge just to play online.

        As for partnering with Valve, I would love this, but it is more expensive and impractical really. It would also put even more strain on Steam, so they would definitely be spending even more money they are now to convince Valve it is a good idea.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 1:03 PM

      Hooray for the hackers! What have they accomplished? SONY has lost millions and will go bankrupt and collapse like the evil giant mega-corp..........wait......

      Taking them at their word that they are rebuilding their network from the ground up means a lot of man hours and while that will cost SONY money (which they will make up for in the long run) the real "vicitims" of this attack are the engineers and network coders that will be spending the holiday in front a screen rather than with family and friends. And those of us who could care less about hurting the great big bad evil capitalist company "suffer" from having no access to the services we have grown to expect or paid for int he case of PSPlus.

      Work hard and fast SONY, I want to play some co-op Portal 2 with my kid.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:13 PM

        Most hackers that do this shit are immature, selfish, socially inept, assholes who don't give a fuck about anyone.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 1:05 PM

      i just want my scorpion costume godamnit!!!!

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      April 24, 2011 1:27 PM

      "Our sympathies go out to all the engineers and their families who instead of enjoying the Easter holiday weekend are under the gun to get the PlayStation Network rebuilt."

      And what about all the people out for Easter holiday who haven't had a service they were promised during the outage? If someone takes something from Sony (ie., game sales), they go after you. If someone attacks their DRM (taking their security), they go after that person with lawsuits o' plenty. I wonder, do you think we'd get as far in court as they do? Does our inconvenience and their lack of providing a service/what we want matter as much?

      Nope. They get a free pass and a, "Man, feel sorry for those poor people for having built a network apparently easy to exploit." I feel no sympathy for the Corporation that tried to sue Hotz into submission. And I think their lack of contingency plans with regards to this is patently ridiculously.

      When this is used as an excuse to charge for PSN, don't be surprised. Because it's easiest to make big changes to a culture after a catastrophe. I think their biggest problem was not when Anonymous hacked them. I think it was when they stopped early and they had no excuse to bring down the network and claim hackers forced them to go paid-for network.

      So they created their own catastrophe. Else, I think we'd have an idea of who was doing it. There'd be some bragging. There is none. Unless MS or China is hacking Sony, I think this is a prelude to them beginning to charge for PSN, but they don't want to be going back on their word... so they require extraordinary circumstances.

      And so here they are.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:30 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 24, 2011 1:38 PM

        wish i could say i love the smell of smug, but i don't

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          April 25, 2011 7:19 AM

          I agree with (some of) his point, but for other reasons. I am not sorry that those guys had to spend part of a weekend working. They have an 8 to 5 job to take care of the network. They felt that their security was perfect, or at least good enough. They didn't do anything to deal with problems that would cause them to have to work over a weekend. If the security was so bad that they have to rebuild the whole thing to get it back up and running then there are much worse problems that they *should* have been thinking about during their normal working hours but instead left it so they could miss what, for some, might have been a holiday weekend. Cry me a river. I've been an enterprise admin before. I've worked holidays before. I did what I could do at my job to keep that from happening.

          TLDR: Do your job from 8 to 5 so you don't have to do it doing a holiday!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:40 PM

        the psn shock doctrine

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:42 PM

        Are you fucking serious.

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        April 24, 2011 1:44 PM

        wjw

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:46 PM

        they shouldnt have dressed so slutty

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        April 24, 2011 1:46 PM

        I blame Sony for this front page post. If PSN was up this wouldn't have happened. Damn you Sony!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:47 PM

        Viva entitlement!

        • reply
          April 24, 2011 2:01 PM

          Well didn't people pay for the games to be playable, and for the service itself when buying the console? (Just asking, I don't have a PS3.)

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            April 24, 2011 2:10 PM

            No, You're not allowed to be mad at this corporation and people will put their heart and soul to defend it on the internet like their own family is being attacked. Just watch your step, the corporate apologists are out!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 1:51 PM

        Our sympathies go out to HisDevineOrder's family who instead of enjoying the Easter holiday weekend while he played games on his PlayStation are under the gun to spend time with him instead.

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        April 24, 2011 1:55 PM

        This would never have happened on the PC
        http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk51w8lPwh1qctydq.gif

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        April 24, 2011 1:57 PM

        lol, wow. just wow. and lol.

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        April 24, 2011 1:58 PM

        I bet you make all the heads turn with your stylish tinfoil hat.

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        April 24, 2011 1:59 PM

        lol

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        April 24, 2011 2:08 PM

        haha come on.

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        April 24, 2011 2:10 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 24, 2011 2:10 PM

        Get the fuck off my Internet.

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        April 24, 2011 2:10 PM

        This is of course a joke post right? I mean good lord

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        April 24, 2011 2:14 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 24, 2011 2:27 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 24, 2011 2:39 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 2:52 PM

        So much stupid.

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        April 24, 2011 2:56 PM

        Your suffering is part of God's plan.

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        April 24, 2011 2:57 PM

        Oh good lord haha!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 3:04 PM

        This is some of the most retarded shit I've seen posted in a while. And there is a lot of retarded shit posted here. Congrats!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 3:12 PM

        Just like 9/11. It was an inside job. Also, there was a second shooter hacker.

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        April 24, 2011 3:28 PM

        hahaha

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        April 24, 2011 3:49 PM

        Jesus, this outage is brining out some real corkers on the shack.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 4:12 PM

        Front Page!

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 4:28 PM

        HAHAhahahahaha... Oh man, that was hilarious. Thank you for the joke post.

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        April 24, 2011 4:34 PM

        Soon Sony will show their true nature and use WMD's on the XboxLive service and Xbox owners shall be purified in righteous fire! We will sacrifice our customers loyalty and the very livelyhood of our company, regardless of what our shareholders think!!!


        No.. actually, you are crazy.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 4:37 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 5:03 PM

        LOL.

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        April 24, 2011 5:03 PM

        so I feel no sympathy for the Corporation but you are all up in arms about the collateral damage?

        where in your rant do you address the reason for this outage? when will you get to that part?

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 5:40 PM

        i don't even know what this is saying. someone translate

        • reply
          April 24, 2011 6:24 PM

          It says something along the lines of, "herp and derp".

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 6:28 PM

        So much talking no point.....

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 6:29 PM

        You should read the terms of service you agreed to:

        15. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
        No warranty is given about the quality, functionality, availability or performance of Sony Online Services, or any content or service offered on or through Sony Online Services. All services and content are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” with all faults. SCEA does not warrant that the service and content will be uninterrupted, error-free or without delays. In addition to the limitations of liability in Sections 1, 2, 11 and 13 of this Agreement, SCEA expressly disclaims any implied warranty of merchantability, warranty of fitness for a particular purpose and warranty of non-infringement. SCEA assumes no liability for any inability to purchase, access, download or use any content, data or service. YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE RECOURSE IN THE EVENT OF ANY DISSATISFACTION WITH OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM SONY ONLINE SERVICES OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT AND SCEA’S MAXIMUM LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT OR WITH RESPECT TO YOUR USE OF OR ACCESS TO SONY ONLINE SERVICES SHALL BE LIMITED TO YOUR DIRECT DAMAGES, NOT TO EXCEED THE UNUSED FUNDS IN YOUR WALLET AS OF THE DATE OF TERMINATION. EXCEPT AS STATED IN THE FOREGOING SENTENCE, SCEA EXCLUDES ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, DAMAGE CAUSED TO YOUR SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE, AND ANY OTHER LOSS OR DAMAGE SUFFERED BY YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL AND HOWEVER ARISING, AS A RESULT OF ACCESSING OR DOWNLOADING ANY CONTENT TO YOUR PLAYSTATION 3 COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, THE PSP (PLAYSTATION PORTABLE) SYSTEM, BRAVIA TELEVISION, SONY BLU-RAY DISC PLAYER OR ANY HARDWARE DEVICE, OR USING OR ACCESSING SONY ONLINE SERVICES. UNLESS THIS PROVISION IS UNENFORCEABLE IN YOUR JURISDICTION, THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS, EXCLUSIONS AND DISCLAIMERS SHALL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. Internet Service Provider fees are the full responsibility of the user. Authorized Devices sold separately.

        http://us.playstation.com/support/termsofuse/

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 7:50 PM

        While I think that Sony going after Hotz was a pretty dick move, you're still off your rocker.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 8:28 PM

        The fact that you even consider the possibility that Microsoft might be behind the attacks is ridiculous.

        As is the utter entitlement in your entire post over a free service.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 1:50 PM

      I don't feel bad for them at all. If I owned a Playstation it might be easier to sympathize with all their customers who are affected but I can't say I care too much about that either. Now if minecraft.net goes down..

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 1:58 PM

      " In particular, subscribers need to know what, if any, threats their online wallet and credit card information may have been exposed to."

      Yes goddammit, inform your frigging customers... :(

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 1:59 PM

      Ok, so this tells me they either had a major, fundamental flaw in their system (something that can't be fixed with a simple patch), or the attacker did major damage to the data on the system and Sony doesn't have adequate disaster recovery infrastructure and plans.

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        April 24, 2011 2:02 PM

        I'm guessing it was a fundamental flaw. With things like users unbanning themselves or the ability to ban other players I'm guessing such a lax idea of security carried over into other areas of PSN.

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          April 24, 2011 2:16 PM

          That same lax attitude could've also brought about a "we never tested our backups" situation.

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          April 24, 2011 2:58 PM

          Users weren't really 'unbanning' themselves, they were just able to change the unique hardware id to get around any bans that were active for their hardware id. The problem was that it was easy to see everyone else's hardware id that you were playing with, so you could clone legitimate ones easily and end up getting innocent people banned.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 2:40 PM

      A sincere question and please stop me where I'm wrong...

      recently we were bound to accept the new EULA for PSN (about a month ago, April 1st to be more specific) ... and since the outage happened i actually rechecked the EULA file and was interested in section 15:

      15. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
      No warranty is given about the quality, functionality, availability or performance of Sony Online Services, or any content or service offered on or through Sony Online Services. All services and content are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” with all faults. SCEA does not warrant that the service and content will be uninterrupted, error-free or without delays. In addition to the limitations of liability in Sections 1, 2, 11 and 13 of this Agreement, SCEA expressly disclaims any implied warranty of merchantability, warranty of fitness for a particular purpose and warranty of non-infringement. SCEA assumes no liability for any inability to purchase, access, download or use any content, data or service
      Just in case you didn’t read it before!


      which started to make me wonder, maybe they just wanted to rebuild the database regardless if they are being hacked/attacked or not, maybe now they are bound with adjustments and tweeks from Qriocity (a couple of devs and workers at SCEA where fired not long ago)

      Thoughts anyone? (i hope someone proves me wrong, because this is the cheapest trick in the book, besides the fact the no one is taking pledge for the attack, and we all know that hackers usually do with pride )

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 2:51 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          April 24, 2011 5:24 PM

          Microsofts experience with there OS definitely makes Xbox 360 the safer bet at this point I guess. Its sad for Nintendo and Sony since now you will have to think how safe there online network is. Heck Nintendo's has been so barebones now for such a long time. I hate to feel safe with anything Microsoft but console wise I think Microsoft has Sony and Nintendo beat here.

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        April 24, 2011 2:55 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          April 24, 2011 3:30 PM

          Most EULAs in general have a "sucker clause". Practically all of them have boilerplate that amounts to "If our product doesn't work, it's not our problem, sucks to be you. If our product causes your computer to explode, your house to burn down, and your dog to die, it's still not our problem, sucks to be you."

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 3:24 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 24, 2011 3:40 PM

      A great move by Sony! A big thanks to the engineers, shame this had to happen but it was probably bound to happen thanks to the PS3 being exploited in the first place. You got to give Sony props though their systems been hack free for a long long time... They had to shut down other OS's because naturally you give someone a toy they will get bored and take it apart...

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 4:40 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 4:41 PM

      Pity there's no work around to unlock my PC Portal 2, have to link steam to PSN :-(

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        April 24, 2011 4:56 PM

        the PS3 port is the ultimate console experience!

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        April 24, 2011 5:22 PM

        i dunno what time it went down on the 20th but hot damn if i didn't luck out with this, i linked my PSN with my steamID at like 4 EST on the 20th and redeemed my copy!

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 5:29 PM

      IT ONLY DOESn't work at the moment, please stand by...

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 5:37 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 24, 2011 5:37 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 24, 2011 7:38 PM

      fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. At least I can still finish Portal 2.

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 8:12 PM

      We can rebuild it...bigger...stronger...FASTER!!!!

      Who's the first old fart that can say what thats from.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 8:15 PM

        The 6 Million Dollar Man

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        April 24, 2011 10:54 PM

        3DRealms during the development of Duke Forever?

      • reply
        April 27, 2011 1:58 PM

        It's actually “We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better...stronger...faster.”

    • reply
      April 24, 2011 8:14 PM

      It sucks ass because I can't even use Netflix until it comes back up. ...and here I was looking forward to staying up late and playing some games online with my cousin over this weekend before I stated my new job tomorrow.

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 8:17 PM

        You can use Netflix. Just keep trying to log in until Netflix starts, then it will stop asking you to log in.

        • reply
          April 24, 2011 8:24 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            April 24, 2011 8:26 PM

            Nice, I will have to try this. It let me use it before, but it seems to have logged me out on my PS3 and I need to sign into PSN first now.

    • reply
      April 25, 2011 3:43 AM

      I know we aren't entitled to jack shit with PSN being a free service and all, but I wonder if Sony will give away a freebie or two to save face?

      • reply
        April 25, 2011 5:02 AM

        They gave away plenty of rootkits with music!

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      April 25, 2011 5:06 AM

      Sucks for all the people who wan't to activate Portal 2 on steam via their PS3 copy. Also feel bad for all the people who had to work on this though out the holiday.

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        April 25, 2011 6:21 AM

        I wasnt going to link my copy right away, but then was like who cares fuck it, and now I am happy I did it

    • reply
      April 25, 2011 6:20 AM

      Now all I'm waiting for is the "new" system will be paid for "protection" and additional "services" while the current system stays on the existing platform which may or may not go down like a $5 whore in Thailand.

    • reply
      April 25, 2011 7:47 AM

      Sony should cough up a free downloadable game or something.

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      April 25, 2011 7:59 AM

      SCEA protected themselves in the little agreement you have already agreed to. This is what happens when a free service has problems and the provider knows how unsecure it is.

      You wont be compensated because SCEA is not liable for you not being able to use the PSN service at all times.

      I'm pretty sure they were waiting for something like this to bring it down and rebuild it from the botom up with the right security measures... just make sure you read that agreement this time around.

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