This situation kinda proves why I never really liked only using credit and debit cards only for purchases instead of the old days of using real physical money to buy things. Difference, later is less likely to get money or way more taken from you unless you get mugged. Companies or other organizations that continue to solely rely on using the internet only for making money or for selling in general to make it easier and everyone is doing it will more than likely falter because of fear of ID theft and less trust on buyin from the internet too.
Speaking as someone who's had to replace his debit card several times because of issues like this, it's really not a big deal if your bank is even remotely competent. In one case, I was issued a new debit card out of the blue because I had used my old one at a restaurant where the servers were copying credit card numbers when charging orders; my bank had seen I'd used my card during the time they were doing this and just automatically issued me a new one to be on the safe side.
In another instance, someone had tried to charge my debit card in Oregon for a few dollars (a test transaction to check the card before making a much bigger transaction). My bank caught this, held the transaction, and called me to confirm I wasn't in Oregon. They then canceled the transaction, canceled my card, and issued me a new card. In total, I was without a debit card for a few days and no money was stolen from me.
Given that I could walk to my bank and make a withdrawal so I could have some cash while waiting for my new card, the only real issue was having to go to a few websites to update my credit card information to use the replacement card number. In all, it's a fairly minor inconvenience.
Banks are vigilant about detecting fraudulent use of debit and credit cards. If they suspect something is wrong, they'll hold the transaction and call you to confirm whether you meant to make the transaction. They have sophisticated algorithms to detect whether a transaction is something out of the ordinary for you, so if something odd does come through, their computers catch it within mere moments. And for actual cases of fraud, you'll never be liable for any such charges incurred.
Yes, it can be an inconvenience when it happens--and it does happen, unfortunately--but such instances are quite rare indeed. I've been using a debit card for well over a decade and I've only had a few instances where the issue has ever come up in any form. And this is coming from someone who does most of his non-grocery shopping online.
So while some concern and caution in these cases is always warranted, it shouldn't deter one from using credit cards or shopping online or any such thing. Sony may have had a catastrophic failure of security, but most companies do a good job of ensuring that such information isn't going to fall into the wrong hands. To use one instance as an excuse to avoid credit card transactions is an overreaction to what should be, at most, a minor inconvenience for the individuals affected. (Taken as a whole, the attack was a massive problem. But for each individual whose card number was stolen, it's really just going to be a relatively minor inconvenience.)
All that said, Sony must be condemned for their poor security in protecting information as sensitive as credit card numbers. And to fall victim to a second attack while they're still working on fixing the first attack is, frankly, unforgivable. They haven't given any information on what attack vector the hackers used, but the fact that they were able to access that information in the first place was a massive failure in security. That kind of information should never be accessible even if hackers gain access to public-facing servers.
What i am saying is sony is in looking bad and wii' new price of 150.00 dollars and Wii 2 coming out in 2012 it well be powerful then ps3 and xbox 360 nintendo going to be on top.
This is irrelevant to the current conversation. Please stay on topic.
