If it was zico & Paul , then I suspect they were testing the fixes for HD that Paul Tweedle hinted at in the account fix thread, as well as FURY online.
They only just worked out what was causing the problem.

I have sneaking suspicion it has been some sort of conflict with the SL server/ HD online & the PSN messaging that has been causing the account problems and Vista pads,none BR's etc.
The reason I say that is that my messaging went down for a few days 2 weeks ago,but I could play online and it was like when HD first came out,no lag,fast,all pads working,BR's worked etc.
As soon as I got messaging working again online went back to having all the problems.
I posted this experience in the HD section before,then a few days later Paul posts that they finally found a fix.

I know that either Colin or Paul had told Elhabib that the account problems had been passed on to SCEE as SL couldn't find a permanent fix and they suspected a PSN problem.