Last week, Sony released version 8.00 of the PS4 firmware. While one might think that an update at this point in the console's lifecycle would tinker around the edges, this patch resulted in something that caused some alarm in the community.

Naturally, this caused some alarm among players. Is Sony going to eavesdrop on every conversation between PS4 and PS5? No, they are not.

Sony explains this update on their blog: Sony will not actively listen to your chats, but if you say something that violates the PlayStation Terms of Service, anyone who hears it can report you and the clip in question, Sony can then decide if you went too far. [Katherine Jensen, vice president of global consumer experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said, "We didn't clearly communicate this feature or explain why we were bringing it in. 'When the PS5 console goes on sale in November, PS5 users will be able to chat with PS4 users. This is why we had to include Advisory in the latest PS4 system update.

In other words, the PS5 feature needed to be cross-compatible with the PS4. On the new console, players can include a 40-second clip that they send to Sony moderation. This consists of 20 seconds of the main conversation and 10 seconds on either side for context. Players can only send clips from the last five minutes of the voice chat, so harassment must be handled fairly quickly.

Once sent, the Sony moderators will hear it and address it if necessary.

It is important to note that this is not a proactive solution whereby Sony actively listens to abusive behavior. Jensen writes, "Please note that this feature is not meant to actively monitor or eavesdrop on your conversations, but to report online abuse or harassment."

There is no way for players to opt out of this for very obvious reasons. If abusive players can opt out of being recorded, they can be as aggressive as they want, with no record of their actions and no way for Sony to take action.

Some may be concerned about the privacy implications, but we don't see this as a major violation. If you are playing with strangers, some form of accountability is important. We know that anonymity can bring out the worst in players, and having a toxic environment can only make online gaming miserable for everyone. Hopefully this small change will make online gaming on PS5 a little more enjoyable than it has been in previous hardware generations.