> [Joe Downloader] it's not theft. It's copyright infringement.
Actually, I would call this an instance of data theft. I, too, believe that calling copyright infringement "theft" or "stealing" is ridiculous rhetoric, but there's a difference between music/movies/software available on BitTorrent and personal information kept on Sony's servers. Copyrighted material is meant to be available to the public, even if it's not supposed to be distributed over file sharing networks. In theory, anyone can legally obtain a copy and be able to view it to their heart's content. Sony customer data, on the other hand, is (supposed to be) carefully guarded and kept safe from unauthorized viewers (which I imagine would be just about everyone except certain Sony employees). The unauthorized copying of the latter is, in my opinion, much closer to actual theft, although I nonetheless feel a small chill using the word theft to describe the copying of data.
Furthermore, there is no copyright protection for personal information, so that rules out infringement as well.