A newly discovered patent, filed in 2011, points to a new anti-piracy measure under consideration by Sony -- a method of challenging illegitimate software by comparing load times. 

According to the filing: "A system and method for detecting piracy of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type is described. Embodiments of the invention track a title load time of a software product that is distributed on a particular media type, and compare it against a benchmark load time for that media type. This comparison is used to detect if the title may have been illegally transferred or pirated to another, unauthorized media type."

Basically, if your game doesn't take the same time to load as it should, Sony could know about it and come round to your house to smash your face through a bit of glass. 

As with all patents, there's no guarantee this will make it into future hardware -- all it shows is that Sony's having conversations and ideas about this kind of stuff. Would you be okay with the PlayStation 4 having this kind of feature? So long as it doesn't make problems for paying customers, I'm generally not bothered by anti-piracy measures.

My condition's pretty important, though, and many publishers seem unwilling to respect it. 

[Via NeoGAF] [Image]