SONY HACK

[Duchess]

Can this be called terrorism? It's one thing to release a bunch of emails but now people are being threatened and theaters are not going to show The Interview because of threats. The stars of the movie have received death threats and pulled out of all the publicity interviews for their film.

[Maggot]

Technology and computers were once considered Pandora's box. With the good always comes the bad and when people become dependent on it all hell can break loose. Wait till phone conversations are hacked, then we will see some scrambling and you know only the famous ones will be targeted for excitement. As far as a terrorist plot......I really don't think so. The NSA is far worse.

[HairOfTheDog]

Sony just announced that the North Korea spoof film, THE INTERVIEW, has been shelved altogether due to its distributors cancelling showings for fear of terrorist acts at their theaters.

Man, I don't wanna see anybody hurt at the theater.

But, it bothers me a lot that the effin' North Korean wingnuts, of all people, were able to terrorize American business and halt free speech like that.

Story and reactions: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stars-react-...w-release/

[username]

I do think it's a form of terror that hopefully we're equally if not more adept at. The theaters refused to run the movie and they can't even get cable companies to pick it up. Comcast apparently doesn't want to get hacked either.

The concern becomes our enemies abilities to hack in to power sources and completely fuck up our infrastructure (at least for a time). The costs of something like that could be staggering.

If it hasn't already occurred, I gather the U.S. is going to formally announce that North Korea was most certainly behind the hack. What we're going to do in response is anyone's guess. More sanctions? I dunno.

[Maggot]

The movie will get played. I have no doubt of that. Maybe not in the movie theaters but it will get played. Fuck any other country that tries to change American freedom. And that includes the clueless ones at U.N. who are a waste of skin.

[username]

One of the best ideas I've heard is dropping dvd's of the movie all over North Korea.

For whatever reason supposedly that was the regime's biggest concern; its own citizens seeing the movie.

[IroningBroad]

This is why I don't watch tv or even movies.People need to start reading books again.

Anyway, I wonder what type of shit we'll discover if/when celebrities, politicians etc phone convos start getting hacked ..?

[Duchess]

This is why I don't watch tv or even movies.People need to start reading books again.

I agree with this. I haven't actively watched tv in years. I watch football and football related shows, Game of Thrones and the news. Television programs have changed for the worse. If there are smart, funny, well written shows like MASH on, I am unaware of them.

[Cutz]

Big Bang Theory is smart, funny, and well written.

As far as the movie getting shelved... that's just crazy. There HAD to be a spineless exec that said, "I don't want to piss off Korea" when they PITCHED the film. How you ignore that guy and go through the entire expense of making the film and then give in to fear of retribution... That's just cowardly.

I don't see it as America losing any free speech tho. That's a business making a business decision. Hopefully I'll still be able to find a copy.

[FAHQTOO]

It was because the movie theaters wouldn't show it. I can see how they wouldn't want the liability just in case something happened. They've opened up a can of worms...now anyone can threaten us if there's a movie coming out someone or some other country doesn't like.

[Cutz]

That's true, some distributors declined which changed the profit margins. So really it's the cowardly theater companies.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't see it as America "losing" free speech either, Cutz. If anything could make that happen, it would take a lot more than North Korean cyber terrorists, I agree.

I do see it as "halting" free speech of the businesses who decided to shelf the movie, though. The distributors and Sony were convinced to (at least temporarily) abruptly stop from showing the movie, which mocks North Korea, because North Korea doesn't like what the movie has to say and threatened repercussions.

I'm actually surprised the movie was shelved as a result of the threats. I didn't think those threats would carry so much weight with the decision makers. But, I understand the safety concerns.

[username]

I heard on the radio this morning that Sony got a "thank you" and then a further warning from the hackers to destroy all copies of the movie and make sure it doesn't come out online or anything.

THIS IS A JOB FOR ANONYMOUS!!!!

Seriously, I'd love to see them kick some North Korean butt.

[Maggot]

Guaranteed it will come out on-line. What will they do, threaten to blow up the internet? Since when does the U.S. pay ransom? That never ever works and just snowballs out of control.

[Duchess]

They caved. I understand the theater owners doing it because they can be held liable but for the studio to do so is nothing more than giving in to a bully.

[Maggot]

North Korea puts out more propaganda in a day against the west than any 2 hr movie could do. The idiot chief over there reminds me of the Austin Powers villain.

[HairOfTheDog]

They caved. I understand the theater owners doing it because they can be held liable but for the studio to do so is nothing more than giving in to a bully.

I don't know why Sony's decision to halt the release altogether surprises me so much, but it does. I keep wondering how much embarrassing/damning/incriminating personal communications are contained in all that Sony data that was hacked.

I too understand the theaters' safety concerns, though I'm undecided as to whether I agree with their decisions to pull out (in principle). Tough call.

In any case, the FBI has confirmed that the hackers are from North Korea. They are known as the GOP (Guardians of Peace). I'm not convinced that the hackers are part of a North Korean government-backed initiative, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. That's unclear to me.

FAHQTOO was right; the cave is already resulting in more demands and gloating from the hackers.

Today's hacker's message to Sony is effectively a victory lap, telling the studio, "Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy."

The message also says, "And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."

It warns the studio executives that "we still have your private and sensitive data" and claims that they will "ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble."

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/in...?hpt=hp_t1

[Duchess]

I think the film should have been released and let the public make their own decisions on whether they want to go to the theaters. Everyone is aware of the threats, some will believe them, many will not and see the threats for what they are.

I read that the theaters had to do what they did because if something were to happen they could have been sued for every last dime they have, they would have been held responsible because the threat was known.

It's never a good idea to give in to threats.

[Maggot]

You forgot their other demand. Exhume John Wayne put him on Trigger Roy Rodgers stuffed horse and mount the entire thing to a rocking chair so the chief can sit behind John and say "Hiyo Silver awayyyyyy"

[blueberryhill]

It is a tough call, but we take pride as country to not practice censorship. It is "catch 22" scenario, but we don't want to become like some of the countries who dictate what people read, watch, etc. It could be ever so subtle, but we could wake up one day and find that "they" have decided we can't watch a certain movie....Oh wait, they just did that! I say show the movie, but then again..........I wouldn't want the responsibility of making that decision, but once you bow down to wishes of a specific group, they will keep demanding more..