I still maintain that this hack and threat have nothing to do with North Korea

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-cancels-theatrical-release-for-the-interview-on-christmas-1201382032/

Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas

DECEMBER 17, 2014 | 01:58PM PT
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Reporter
@BrentALang
With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas release of “The Interview.”

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks.

“Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like,” the statement reads.

“We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”

The comedy centers on a hapless television host who is recruited to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. The country has condemned the film and some cyber security experts believe that it played a role in the hack attack on the studio. Seth Rogen and James Franco star in the picture, which cost $42 million to produce.

Sony has been reeling for weeks since hackers broke into the studio’s computer system in November and stole internal documents, email messages, film budgets, spreadsheets detailing top executive salaries and the social security numbers of thousands of employees. The documents and records were subsequently leaked online, setting off a firestorm of media coverage.

Tuesday’s message accompanied another data dump. It threatened violence on theaters that showed “The Interview” and people who attend screenings.

“The world will be full of fear,” the message reads. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)”

In response, exhibition industry lobbying arm the National Association of Theatre Owners said its members must decide individually whether or not to release the picture and Sony said it would respect theater owners’ decision not to exhibit “The Interview.” That set off a cascade of cancellations.

The bulk of the country’s ten largest theater chains — a group that includes AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Carmike and Southern Theatres — announced the would delay showing the picture or would drop it altogether. In statements many of the theater chains suggested that Sony’s lack of confidence in the film prompted their decision.

Regal, for instance, said its decision was “due to the wavering support of the film ‘The Interview’ by Sony Pictures, as well as the ambiguous nature of any real or perceived security threats.”

Sony was more conciliatory even as it said exhibitor defections motivated its decision.

“”We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers,” the studio’s statement read.

Bruce Nash, founder of the box office site TheNumbers, said that Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for moviegoing and is particularly strong for family films. Any perceived danger or threat might have depressed ticket sales.

“It was never going to be one of the big films of Christmas and clearly chains are going to be concerned about making sure people feel comfortable bringing their children to ‘Annie,’ ‘Into the Woods’ or ‘Night at the Museum,” said Nash.
-------------------
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does it really matter?

for all my fans who keep my name in their mouth: http://i.imgur.com/v2xNOpS.jpg

Lol

Jk

But I think the move may sell more DVDs and on demand streams.

Im disgusted with pretty much everyone involved in this but moving a movie date because of hacker threats? Can someone get these hackers on the line when the next Transformers movie comes out?

not wanting to lose precious profit because of death threats, so dumb

>not wanting to lose precious profit because of death threats,
>so dumb

They parachutting in on Christmas day? We need to holla at John McClane.

lines up with it perfect.

they next threatened an attack if any films at all got shown in theaters in 2015?

its like a bad 90's hacker movie

THEYRE IN OUR COMPUTERS
HACKING OUR SYSTEMS!!



someone call angelina jolie!

Get the carrier pigeons!

http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2010/03/razorandblade.jpg

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

Fuck your fort!

That dude didn't bat an eye at THIS movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_President_%282006_film%29

Catastrophe happens

Create boogieman

Rally the people for support against boogieman

Kill boogieman

Pass new laws & regulations that take away your freedom in the name of safety & protection

Rinse & repeat

this is about security breaches by hackers
and using it as a catalyst for future online/internet regulations

You aint gotta believe me just watch

Time will tell

Oh shut the hell up man. This isn't about some grand media plot. The theaters didn't want to show the film because they would be liable if something happened. With most theaters either canceling it or delaying it, there's no need for Sony to release on Christmas.

Sounds great to just say "let's stand up to them," but if something happened which of you fuckers would be giving these families solace.

At this point just wait a month and release it in theaters or just go straight to VOD/Blu Ray.

to stay away from multiplexes on Xmas day due to the 'threat'. It was about that bottom dollar more than its about fear of an actual attack, I think.

>to stay away from multiplexes on Xmas day due to the
>'threat'. It was about that bottom dollar more than its about
>fear of an actual attack, I think.


Basically....LOL at anyone thinking that Sony backed down because they feared North Korea was going to bomb or shoot up US Theaters...They could give less than a fuck for people's welfare....

Sony simply saw that The Interview was not worth the hassle. They saw that their money was going to be fucked up by the controversy. Capitalism is the only thing that matters....

Not to mention other studios were probably calling Sony Studios (which is just a small piece of the puzzle to Sony's overall corporation) up on some "this is bad for business foe ALL of us....Kill it..."

And of course there's the matter of Sony being based in Japan, a country that has a REAL fear of crazy ass North Korea....

The world is bigger than America....

Good point. Something else to weigh. Wanted to make sure every kid could see the Annie remake.

They're not releasing it on VOD, online, nothing.

>They're not releasing it on VOD, online, nothing.


Yes...for a FOREIGN company that views their movie company as a small piece of their global empire....It's small change....And that small change would fuck up their bottom line....

Japan don't care about America's feelings.....Or holding up our free speech values....lol

The employees at Sony dont even think its North Korea

North Korea fits the narrative becuz of the what the movie is about

its all an effort to spook the public (so called threats referencing 9/11)

Soon they're gonna say "if this could happen to Sony, it could happen to you...so in order for us to protect american citizens we're gonna need to make some changes to the internet"

The hacking done by Anonymous/ 4chan / and now Guardains of Peace
are all gonna be used as examples to takeaway your online freedoms

Its not about money, Sony, the movie or North Korea

its about controlling the internet and how people use it

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/asia/us-links-north-korea-to-sony-hacking.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

U.S. Links North Korea to Sony Hacking
By DAVID E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTH
DEC. 17, 2014

WASHINGTON — American officials have concluded that North Korea ordered the attacks on Sony Pictures’s computers, a determination reached as the studio decided Wednesday to cancel the release of a comedy movie about the assassination of Kim Jong-un that is believed to have led to the hacking.

Senior administration officials, who would not speak on the record about the intelligence findings, said the White House was still debating whether to publicly accuse North Korea of what amounts to a cyberterrorism campaign. Sony’s decision to cancel release of “The Interview” amounted to a capitulation to the threats sent out by hackers this week that they would launch attacks, perhaps on theaters themselves, if the movie was released.

Officials said it was not clear how the White House would decide to respond to NorthKorea. Some within the Obama administration argue that the government of Mr. Kim must be directly confronted, but that raises the question of what consequences the administration would threaten — or how much of its evidence it could make public without revealing details of how the United States was able to penetrate North Korean computer networks to trace the source of the hacking.

Others argue that a direct confrontation with the North over the threats to Sony and moviegoers might result in escalation, and give North Korea the kind of confrontation it often covets. Japan, for which Sony is an iconic corporate name, has argued that a public accusation could interfere with delicate diplomatic negotiations underway for the return of Japanese nationals kidnapped years ago.

The sudden urgency inside the administration over the Sony issue came after a new threat was delivered this week to desktop computers at Sony’s offices that if “The Interview” was released on Dec. 25, “the world will be full of fear.” It continued: “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.”

Sony dropped its plan to release the film after the four largest theater chains in the United States — Regal Entertainment, AMC Theaters, Cinemark and Carmike Cinemas — and several smaller chains said they would not show the film. The cancellations virtually killed “The Interview” as a theatrical enterprise, at least in the near term, one of the first known instances of a threat from another nation pre-empting the release of a movie.

While intelligence officials have concluded that the cyberattack on Sony was both state sponsored and far more destructive than any seen before on American soil, there are still differences of opinion over whether North Korea was aided by Sony insiders with an intimate knowledge of the company’s computer systems.

“This is of a different nature than past attacks,” one senior official said. A cyberattack that began by wiping out data on corporate computers — something that had previously been seen in attacks in South Korea and Saudi Arabia, but not the United States — has turned “into a threat to the safety of Americans” if the movie was shown. However, the official, echoing a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, said there was “no specific, credible threat information” that would suggest that any attack was imminent.

It is not clear how the United States came to its determination that the North Korean regime played a central role in the Sony attacks. North Korea has been a notoriously hard target for computer penetration. But four years ago the National Security Agency launched a major effort to penetrate the country’s computer operations, including its elite cyberteam, and to establish “implants” in the country’s networks that, like a radar system, would monitor the development of malware transmitted from the country.

But it is hardly a foolproof system. Much of North Korea’s hacking is done from China. And while the attack on Sony used some commonly available cybertools, one intelligence official said, “This was of a sophistication that a year ago we would have said was beyond the North’s capabilities.”

It is rare for the United States to publicly accuse countries suspected of involvement in cyberintrusions or attacks. The administration never publicly said who attacked White House and State Department computers over the past two months, or JPMorgan Chase’s systems last summer. Russia is suspected in the first two cases, but there is conflicting evidence on JPMorgan.

But in this case, there is a long forensic trail. The attackers used readily available commercial tools to wipe data off Sony’s machines. They also borrowed tools and techniques that had been used in at least two previous attacks, one in Saudi Arabia two years ago — widely attributable to Iran — and another last year in South Korea, aimed at banks and media companies.

The attacks at Sony were routed from command and control centers across the world, including a convention center in Singapore and a computer at Thammasat University in Thailand. But one of those command and control servers, a computer in Bolivia, had been used before, in a limited set of cyberattacks on South Korean targets two years ago. That suggests, but does not prove that that the same group or individuals may have been behind both attacks.

The Sony malware also shared remarkable similarities with the malware used in the destructive attacks on South Korean banks and broadcasters last year. Those attacks, which also destroyed data belonging to their victims, are believed to be the work of a cybercriminal gang known as Dark Seoul. Some experts say they cannot rule out the possibility that the Sony attack was the work of a Dark Seoul copycat.

The Sony attack also borrowed a wiping tool from an attack two years ago at Saudi Aramco, where hackers wiped out data off 30,000 Aramco computers, replacing it with an image of a burning American flag.

Security experts were never able to track down the hackers behind the attacks at Saudi Aramco, though United States officials have long said they believe the attacks emanated from Iran, using tools that are now on the black market.

In each attack, experts were never able to confirm the initial entry point. At Sony, forensics investigators are looking into the possibility that the attackers may have had some inside help. Embedded in the malicious code were the names of Sony servers and administrative credentials that allowed the malware to spread across Sony’s network.

“It’s clear that they already had access to Sony’s network before the attack,” said Jaime Blasco, a security researcher at AlienVault.

http://img.timeinc.net/time/2009/50_asian_experiences/50_asian_experiences_sheep.jpg

*drums fingers*

Sony loses a few million on one movie as opposed to Sony and any number of other studios potentially losing hundreds of million dollars on several other movies showing on Xmas day if ppl stay away from multiplexes that chose to show The Interview.

I work in entertainment so I was interested in your take on it as a lawyer.

But then you ducked the question.

Dunno why, but you did.

i 'ducked' the question b/c it has such an obvious answer i figured you were being facetious. plus i didn't care to type it out at the time.

But keep on keepin' on, champ.

your dick's bigger than mine.

On this front anyway. They said they would treat this like an act of war this summer and everyone tee heed. Nobody's teehee ing anymore. Does anyone think they're going to put a nuclear bomb in a theatre? Nope. It would undoubtedly be another creative terrorist attack. Cyber, chemical who knows what else. Nobody expected this cyber war this summer. Nobody expected planes crashing into the World Trade Center. There are many creative ways to skin a cat.

This is a dangerous precedent.

>This is a dangerous precedent.



No...it's not....


Sony is based in Japan. Japan and North Korea have real beef and people in Japan are fearful of their bat shit crazy neighbors...The corporate headquarters look at The Interview as a VERY small part of their business plan. They see this as an embarrassing nuance that is FUCKING UP their money....


It's all about the money....not bowing down to terrorism....At least it's that way in the US...In Japan? It's hits more close to home...

http://gawker.com/new-regency-quietly-cancels-steve-carells-upcoming-nort-1672588056

-

https://i.imgflip.com/fg0o4.jpg

..to expose those that are trying to expose that which is deemed a threat to our rights and livelihood?

http://www.mediaite.com/online/texas-movie-theater-will-show-team-america-instead-of-the-interview/

I've seen Team America there, actually. They had singalongs, props and shit.

It's one of those upscale places with waiter service, booze, full meals, and cushy chairs. and they kick you out with no refund for talking/cell phone violations.

http://deadline.com/2014/12/paramount-cancel-team-america-1201329597/

There has to be some type of serious, credible threat.
I can't see all of this action for a baseless threat. Maybe the hackers threatened to release all of Paramounts business to the public too

crazy either way

Do they have the power to stop Fifty Shades of Grey?

its nothing related to north korea
there could be some serious blackmail extortion happening.


however if they truely feel that there is atleast some kind of threat, they do not want to get sued when they show the movie anyways and something happens.

Lest we learn what Debra Lee REALLY thinks of Black folks, or what Michael Bay's SSN is.

Rogen mentioned Un executing his girlfriend and other performers for makin a sextape, but I found a report sayin she's alive and well.

Wjat?

I'm having trouble believing the Korean govt is behind this


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

honestly i don't know how stupid you have to be to take anything our government reports at face value in 2014 (re:international adversaries at least)



Everyone seems to be eager to pin the blame for the Sony hack on North Korea. However, I think it’s unlikely. Here’s why:1. The broken English looks deliberately bad and doesn’t exhibit any of the classic comprehension mistakes you actually expect to see in “Konglish”. i.e it reads to me like an English speaker pretending to be bad at writing English.
2. The fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale & language actually makes it less likely to be North Korea. Not least because they don’t speak traditional “Korean” in North Korea, they speak their own dialect and traditional Korean is forbidden. This is one of the key things that has made communication with North Korean refugees difficult. I would find the presence of Chinese far more plausible.See here – http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/world/asia/30iht-dialect.2644361.html?_r=0

here – http://www.nknews.org/2014/08/north-korean-dialect-as-a-soviet-russian-translation/

and here – http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2009-03-16-voa49-68727402/409810.html

This change in language is also most pronounced when it comes to special words, such as technical terms. That’s possibly because in South Korea, many of these terms are “borrowed” from other languages, including English. For example, the Korean word for “Hellicopter” is: 헬리콥터 or hellikobteo. The North Koreans, on the other hand, use a literal translation of “vehicle that goes straight up after takeoff”. This is because such borrowed words are discouraged, if not outright forbidden, in North Korea – http://pinyin.info/news/2005/ban-loan-words-says-north-korea/

Lets not forget also that it is *trivial* to change the language/locale of a computer before compiling code on it.

3. It’s clear from the hard-coded paths and passwords in the malware that whoever wrote it had extensive knowledge of Sony’s internal architecture and access to key passwords. While it’s plausible that an attacker could have built up this knowledge over time and then used it to make the malware, Occam’s razor suggests the simpler explanation of an insider. It also fits with the pure revenge tact that this started out as.

4. Whoever did this is in it for revenge. The info and access they had could have easily been used to cash out, yet, instead, they are making every effort to burn Sony down. Just think what they could have done with passwords to all of Sony’s financial accounts? With the competitive intelligence in their business documents? From simple theft, to the sale of intellectual property, or even extortion – the attackers had many ways to become rich. Yet, instead, they chose to dump the data, rendering it useless. Likewise, I find it hard to believe that a “Nation State” which lives by propaganda would be so willing to just throw away such an unprecedented level of access to the beating heart of Hollywood itself.

5. The attackers only latched onto “The Interview” after the media did – the film was never mentioned by GOP right at the start of their campaign. It was only after a few people started speculating in the media that this and the communication from DPRK “might be linked” that suddenly it became linked. I think the attackers both saw this as an opportunity for “lulz” and as a way to misdirect everyone into thinking it was a nation state. After all, if everyone believes it’s a nation state, then the criminal investigation will likely die.

Wired has just covered this exact point – http://www.wired.com/2014/12/evidence-of-north-korea-hack-is-thin/

6. Whoever is doing this is VERY net and social media savvy. That, and the sophistication of the operation, do not match with the profile of DPRK up until now.

Grugq did an excellent analysis of this aspect his findings are here – http://0paste.com/6875#md

7. Finally, blaming North Korea is the easy way out for a number of folks, including the security vendors and Sony management who are under the microscope for this. Let’s face it – most of today’s so-called “cutting edge” security defenses are either so specific, or so brittle, that they really don’t offer much meaningful protection against a sophisticated attacker or group of attackers. That doesn’t mean that we should let them off and give up every time someone plays the “APT” or “Sophisticated Attacker” card though. This is a significant area of weakness in the security industry – the truth is we are TERRIBLE at protecting against bespoke, unique attacks, let alone true zero days. There is some promising technology out there, but it’s clear that it just isn’t ready yet.

While we are on the subject, and ignoring the inability of traditional AntiVirus to detect bespoke malware, just how did whatever Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution that Sony uses miss terabytes of data flying out of their network? How did their sophisticated on-premise perimeter security appliances miss such huge anomalies in network traffic, machine usage or host relationships? How did they miss Sony’s own edge being hijacked and used as public bittorrent servers aiding the exfiltration of their data?

8. It probably also suits a number of political agendas to have something that justifies sabre-rattling at North Korea, which is why I’m not that surprised to see politicians starting to point their fingers at the DPRK also.

9. It’s clear from the leaked data that Sony has a culture which doesn’t take security very seriously. From plaintext password files, to using “password” as the password in business critical certificates, through to just the shear volume of aging unclassified yet highly sensitive data left out in the open. This isn’t a simple slip-up or a “weak link in the chain” – this is a serious organization-wide failure to implement anything like a reasonable security architecture.

The reality is, as things stand, Sony has little choice but to burn everything down and start again. Every password, every key, every certificate is tainted now and that’s a terrifying place for an organization to find itself. This hack should be used as the definitive lesson in why security matters and just how bad things can get if you don’t take it seriously.

10. Who do I think is behind this? My money is on a disgruntled (possibly ex) employee of Sony.

Finally for an EXCELLENT blow by blow analysis of the breach and the events that followed, read the following post by my friends from Risk Based Security – https://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/2014/12/a-breakdown-and-analysis-of-the-december-2014-sony-hack

What government entity is going to risk exposing their hacking/spying network to go after a MOVIE, lol. As much of an egomaniac as they paint the N.Korean leader it just seems like an extreme waste of resources for a country that doesn't have many. Governments beef with governments, not corporations..and if he was that offended by the movie I am pretty sure he would have aimed his sights higher and tried to hit some government systems.

Id readily believe Chinese hackers just flexing their skills/fucking around then that N.Korea has been sneaking these hackers out across Asia for a coordinated attack on a movie and electronics company.

Hanging out with Dennis rodman and building nuclear bombs or attempting to...

While ppl in his country literally starve to death.

It's the most resourcefully wasteful country that ever existed.

Which is what they're saying happened.

N Korea announced an attack last summer which was plenty of time for ppl to come to them and offer services.

Just like announcing a sept 11 type gave ppl who wanted to offer their services a few weeks to offer them.

I seriously doubt North Korea feels the need to so them themselves as long as they get done.

If obv way sneaker and harder to trace if you pay someone else to do something.

someone using misdirection

no matter who did the hacking, it's bound to happen with weak security measures in place.

I don't know if NKorea did or did not do this, havent seen any evidence leading me to pick a side on that (that language bit in 1 and 2 are very interesting). but from what i've read i do think Sony's lack of security awareness plays a big part in this.

Check reply #13 where i tried to tell ya
Check reply #16 where i tried to tell ya
Check reply #31 where i tried to tell ya

Sony Hack: White House Considering Responses for ‘Serious National Security Matter’
http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/sony-hack-white-house-considering-responses-for-serious-national-security-matter-1201382706/

Google ‘Deeply Concerned’ About Hollywood’s Anti-Piracy Campaign in Sony Attack
http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/google-deeply-concerned-about-hollywoods-anti-piracy-campaign-in-wake-of-sony-cyber-attack-1201382896/

Its all about internet reform in the name of Homeland & National Security

All that other noise is propaganda

Its all orchestrated

behind hollywood (the studios) working with former AD's to manipulate the public opinion in regards to restricting the internet.


the us government stance that it is a national security issue and will require a response seems to be pretty standard. If it is a nation state or a group with these kinds of capabilities(IE not an inside job) then I would want the government to take notice and prepared


what I am not getting from all this is that this is some conspiracy perpetrated by the government in order to open the door to further restrict your freedoms(and the internet)


I really take the time to read about different conspiracies, consider them and keep an open mind. but i just dont see it here

but this & everything else they do is about control under the guise of security

thats why its so easy to connect the dots on this one
its always about gaining control of something

and right now there's no control of the internet & all its available information & media (which they are monitoring)

its one of the few things they dont control (yet) & thats a problem

and involvement of former and current attorney generals

if that is their end goal

just watch how it all plays out

Like, niggas really bought into it. I got motherfuckers on my timeline talking about, "but all it takes is 1 death and that will be it." Really?

And believe me, I'm not carrying no free speech flags for these dickheads. Seth Rogen has about 8.1 million ways to dry his eyes over this shit. But it's astounding to me to see niggas capitulating to this shit, even as Homeland Security said the threat had no teeth.

And I'm betting that the theaters that pulled this shit weren't really concerned with "customer safety," but more with the extra unforeseen expenses like extra security that would come with protecting everyone from this impending vicious attack. And I'm also betting that a few movie chains hit Sony up to see if they would foot the cost of that, and when Sony said nah, they pulled out.

________________________________________________________________________________
Niggas made aliases.

but all it takes is one crazy person to take the opportunity to do it themselves, and you have a situation. And lawsuits.

Even dropping all of that, Sony's key reason for canceling the release was because Regal, AMC, Carmike, etc. all decided not to run it (or to "delay" it), making it a moot point to try and release it (they'll make more money attempting to file an insurance claim on the film than they would releasing it to indie cinemas or on VOD. If for whatever reason the insurance claim doesn't go through, I bet they'll release it somehow, prolly not in cinemas though)

>but all it takes is one crazy person to take the opportunity
>to do it themselves

i believe the hacker's threats are empty, if the hackers made those threats. but all it takes is one adam lanza or dude who shot up the movie theater during batman to show up to make those threats realistic. If i'm a movie theater company i might reconsider showing that movie just because of the homegrown threat that might show up.

this legalist covering our assess bullshit makes scary stuff more likely, not less. it isolates people. it teaches us to fear each other. it teaches bad people that threats work and that violence is normal.

and also no one was going to shoot anyone going to see the interview because barely anyone was going to go see the interview. it wasn't going to happen.

if anything they'd aim for something more batmanny in attendance like the hobbit, and ain't no way these dumbass movie theaters and film companies would ever shut down a cash cow like that.

>this legalist covering our assess bullshit makes scary stuff
>more likely, not less. it isolates people. it teaches us to
>fear each other. it teaches bad people that threats work and
>that violence is normal.

>if anything they'd aim for something more batmanny in
>attendance like the hobbit, and ain't no way these dumbass
>movie theaters and film companies would ever shut down a cash
>cow like that.

who gives a fuck about whether or not the movie got released?

thousands of people have all of their info floating around the internet cuz a company they worked for years ago had shitty IT practices.

that's an actual threat, not a vague one.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

and Sony's attorney didn't start calling out the media for publishing info from the hack until those embarrassing emails involving Sony Execs came out. They weren't making those statements when it was first reported the hack involved the SSNs and other PI from tens of thousands of rank and file Sony employees. Those folks are the real victims IMO. Not Seth Rogen who got $8 million for the movie and James Franco who got $6 million.

Not sure why we're trying to make it one.

Also not sure why Sorkin (or anyone else) would write an op-ed that attacks the media for reporting that Sony employees were hacked. Why would he be outraged at the media for doing its job for once?

If you'd rather he'd stayed quiet about the whole deal, then just say so. No need to couch it in "the REAL victims are the Sony worker bees! Why didn't he say anything THEN?!" talk.

________________________________________________________________________________
Niggas made aliases.

I'm just pointing out how a lot of these folks were silent until the salacious emails came out. Then all of a sudden they are admonishing the media. That said, I do feel for the rank and file more than execs who were caught out there with those emails. I review agreements every day and deal with issues of confidentiality and personal information. It is a big deal and the customers I deal with are much more concerned about these issues and their employees' PI than they have been in the past.

This, literally, is what you're saying should have happened:

*Hollywood Executive watches TV*

TV REPORTER: It appears that Sony has been hacked. Hundreds of thousands of social security numbers and other personal information has been compromised...

*Hollywood Executive angrily turns over table*

HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE: Goddammit, media! How dare you report these things! I'm going to call in my assistant so I can have them fire off an angry op-ed admonishing you for this reporting!


I didn't read the Sorkin op-ed; did he not mention how "unfortunate" it was that people's persona information was compromised?

It really does sound like you want the Hollywood elites to just shut up because they're not showing enough compassion for those everyday Sony employees who had personal information compromised. Which is fine, I happen to agree, but just admit it.

________________________________________________________________________________
Niggas made aliases.

I'm sorry for that.

I don't think they should be admonishing the media at all for reporting on the contents of the hack and data dump. If, they choose to go out there and label the media the enemy, that's their decision. I just thought it was self serving for them to admonish the media only after the emails got out.

Jumping on the media after the emails hit, indicates to me they don't care about the rank and file. That is something that caught my attention. That's all.

To hack the federal government experts are saying. Also it seems likely it was done with inside help, which great security practices can't necessarily protect you from. If there was no inside help it was an even more sophisticated hacking than they think.

Poor password formatting, passwords sitting in unencrypted Word documents...

...IT layoffs, and Sony Pictures' CIO bragging about cutting corners and saving money.

( I swear for God he married up for the cred)


http://deadline.com/2014/12/george-clooney-sony-hollywood-cowardice-north-korea-cyberattack-petition-1201329988/



~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Some dumb ass would have gone to see it with their whole family, kids and all at the midnight showing. And would be mad when shit really popped off.

Wisdom is key.
♥♥Church Diva♥♥

i guess they are going to confirm
still have trouble buying it

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/19/north-korea-responsible-sony-hack-us-official?CMP=twt_gu

Friday 19 December 2014 10.28 EST
The official, who said there may be a Chinese link, said the conclusion was to be announced later by federal authorities.

A US investigation into the hack of Sony’s computer system has determined that North Korea was behind the operation with a possible Chinese link, a US official said on Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the conclusion was to be announced later by federal authorities.

The probe into the hack found North Korea was behind it and that there may be a Chinese link either through collaboration with Chinese actors or by using Chinese servers to mask the origination of the hack, the official said.

More details soon...

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

And the rest of the fed doesnt that make you so skeptical about north koreas abilities?

And is it from watching the daily show or South Park?

no one officially has said shit

alot of maybes
possibilities
conjecture

so excuse the rest of us chicken little for waiting for comfirmation
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/asia/us-links-north-korea-to-sony-hacking.html?_r=0&referrer=

It was North Korea.

"Senior administration officials, who would not speak on the record about the intelligence findings, said the White House was debating whether to publicly accuse North Korea of what amounts to a cyberterrorism attack."


you go with that
i'm waiting
names mean accountability
this he said she said
nah
i'll wait
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

i'd believe they hired some Chinese mercenaries to do this before i'd believe that

(recall for the record that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal's husband was a long-time journalist for the NYT and they have lots of friends over there)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/business/media/sony-attack-is-unraveling-relationships-in-hollywood.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

MEDIA

Sony Hack Fallout Includes Unraveling of Relationships in Hollywood
By MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNESDEC. 18, 2014
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LOS ANGELES — As Washington considers a response to an online attack on Sony Pictures, Hollywood is trying to repair relationships that were shattered by the assault.

On Thursday, a day after United States officials identified North Korea as the hand behind the offensive against Sony’s now-canceled comedy “The Interview,” the White House said it was considering “a range of actions” in response. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, called the hacking a “national security issue.”

Sony shelved “The Interview,” about the assassination of the North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un, after cancellations by theater owners in the face of a terrorist threat. The studio on Thursday was searching for ways to eventually disseminate the film, but, for the moment, it could find none. Satellite operators, cable providers, or digital portals that might be asked to pick up “The Interview” could be exposed to the same online harassment plaguing Sony.

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RELATED COVERAGE

Workers removed a banner for U.S. Weighs Response to Sony Cyberattack, With North Korea Confrontation PossibleDEC. 18, 2014
James Franco and Seth Rogen in a scene from “The Interview.” Theater owners said they would not show the film.Sony Drops ‘The Interview’ Following Terrorist ThreatsDEC. 17, 2014
Sony dropped plans to release “The Interview.”U.S. Said to Find North Korea Ordered Cyberattack on SonyDEC. 17, 2014
The attack has disrupted the web of executive, business and talent relationships that stitches together Sony’s core moviemaking operation.

Photo

Complaints about Adam Sandler, left, were exposed by an online attack on Sony Pictures, headed by Michael Lynton. Credit Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Prominent members of Hollywood’s creative community fumed about what they saw as failure by Sony to make a stand for artistic freedom. Steve Carell called it “a sad day for creative expression,” while Zach Braff described Sony’s move as “a pretty horrible precedent to set.” The filmmaker Judd Apatow and the documentarian Michael Moore also took to social media to lament the demise of “The Interview” as caving to the hackers.

The studio’s relationship with Adam Sandler, the star of Sony comedies like “Grown Ups” and its coming summer tent pole “Pixels,” got singed when online news sites published unvarnished executive complaints about his “mundane, formulaic” films. The disclosure of racially tinged emails from Amy Pascal, the co-chairwoman of the studio, led her to meet in person on Thursday with black leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who had condemned the exchange between her and the producer Scott Rudin as “offensive, insulting” when it first became public.

Financiers are unsure whether to proceed with planned deals to back Sony films, as some talent agents — worried about management stability at Sony and long-term chaos — consider funneling scripts elsewhere. Even Sony’s relations with news outlets have been dealt a lasting blow, with the studio upset about the willingness of some reporters to dig through stolen documents and media contacts given an unusually candid glimpse into how executives try to manipulate coverage.

It is nearly impossible to calculate likely financial losses associated with “The Interview” until any option for displaying the movie has been closed off. For the moment, the studio is reluctant to consider the option of charging for it online, on the assumption that few consumers would share credit cards with a company under attack by hackers.

Over the last week, Sony’s attackers began threatening the company’s partners in the entertainment industry, beyond just theaters and theater chains, according to security experts who have been consulting with the companies. Several Sony vendors mentioned in the stolen data trove have begun receiving threatening correspondence from the attackers. Security experts said that “anxiety levels were high” and many vendors complained on Thursday that Sony’s decision to halt the release of “The Interview” might only embolden attackers.

In a more human calculus, a significant loser in the hacking may be Seth Rogen, the writer-director-star who became the principal public face of “The Interview.” There was a growing sentiment on the Sony lot that Mr. Rogen and his filmmaking colleagues had exposed employees and the audience to digital damage and physical threat by pushing his outrageous humor to the limit and backing the film to the last.

Continue reading the main storyVideo

PLAY VIDEO|1:37
Trailer: ‘The Interview’
Trailer: ‘The Interview’
A preview of the film. Video by Columbia Pictures on Publish Date December 17, 2014. Photo by Internet Video Archive.
The impression that Mr. Rogen overreached was enforced by the publication of an email in which he reprimanded Ms. Pascal for pressing for relatively minor changes in the assassination scene. “This is now a story of Americans changing their movie to make North Koreans happy,” Mr. Rogen wrote. “It’s a very damning story.”

Mr. Rogen on Thursday declined through a spokesman to comment. Among his future projects at Sony is “Sausage Factory,” an R-rated animated film about a frankfurter’s existential crisis.

The strains between Mr. Rogen and Ms. Pascal unraveled only one thread in a Hollywood fabric that was thoroughly shredded by the hacking and ensuing threat. Much of the damage centered on the action, or lack thereof, among high industry executives who never stepped forward to assist Sony.

Wednesday’s decision to withdraw the film brought public silence from the Motion Picture Association of America and its chief executive, Christopher J. Dodd, who had remained quiet through a three-week media onslaught on Sony. People associated with Mr. Dodd, speaking privately, said he failed to mobilize competing studio chiefs in support of the studio, partly because they feared drawing attention to themselves and partly because they doubted that public statements or actions would be effective.

That failure has drawn criticism from senior theater executives, who — again privately, as they will need to work with Mr. Dodd and the studios — blame the trade association and Sony for pushing onto them the onus for canceling the film, rather than Sony’s taking responsibility for a decision that was sure to offend some freedom-minded filmmakers. Sony sees it differently, having received clear signals that the theater chains simply did not want the movie.

Another set of broken or bruised relationships involves black stars and filmmakers, a group with whom Sony formerly had very sturdy ties. More than a few black moviemakers — notably Kevin Hart, Will Packer, Ice Cube and Will Smith — have flourished at Sony under Ms. Pascal and Clint Culpepper, who runs Sony’s Screen Gems unit.

But Ms. Pascal and Mr. Culpepper both got burned by the email dump, which included messages in which she traded racial jokes with the producer Scott Rudin about President Obama’s supposed taste in black-themed movies, while Mr. Culpepper was discovered calling Mr. Hart “a whore” in reference to growing salary demands.

Apologies, public and private, weren’t enough. Mr. Sharpton took aim at Ms. Pascal, saying her comments reflected a “troubling” lack of diversity in Hollywood. Mr. Sharpton notably did not call for Ms. Pascal’s ouster after their 90-minute meeting. He said Ms. Pascal had committed to further action aimed at improving diversity in Hollywood movies and television shows.

Them putting this all on Rogen. But I guess it's to be expected.

It's not like he had to go through layers of approvals to get the movie greenlit. Sony throwing him under the bus is not a good look for them. It's bad enough creatives are upset for Sony capitulating. To throw Rogen under the bus could mean more and more talent avoiding working with Sony.

>Them putting this all on Rogen. But I guess it's to be
>expected.
>
>It's not like he had to go through layers of approvals to get
>the movie greenlit. Sony throwing him under the bus is not a
>good look for them. It's bad enough creatives are upset for
>Sony capitulating. To throw Rogen under the bus could mean
>more and more talent avoiding working with Sony.

lol

>Financiers are unsure whether to proceed with planned deals to
>back Sony films, as some talent agents — worried about
>management stability at Sony and long-term chaos — consider
>funneling scripts elsewhere. Even Sony’s relations with news
>outlets have been dealt a lasting blow, with the studio upset
>about the willingness of some reporters to dig through stolen
>documents and media contacts given an unusually candid glimpse
>into how executives try to manipulate coverage.

This is so meta it's like the sequen to Inception. Nytimes is writing about how Sony is mad at the Nytimes for reporting all the bad things in the leaks including how the Nytimes would regularly kill stories at the studios beck and call, lol.

>Wednesday’s decision to withdraw the film brought public
>silence from the Motion Picture Association of America and its
>chief executive, Christopher J. Dodd, who had remained quiet
>through a three-week media onslaught on Sony. People
>associated with Mr. Dodd, speaking privately, said he failed
>to mobilize competing studio chiefs in support of the studio,
>partly because they feared drawing attention to themselves and
>partly because they doubted that public statements or actions
>would be effective.

And bringing back things to fapgate this was their downfall. As opposed to showing a unified front that those nudes were in poor taste, it just seemed like everyone scrambled like roaches only to peak above the cupboard when new news would leak, lol

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-interview-to-get-christmas-screening-after-all-theaters-say/

CBS/APDecember 23, 2014, 12:39 PM
"The Interview" to get Christmas screening after all, theaters say

James Franco is an American journalist meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park) in the comedy, "The Interview." COLUMBIA PICTURES

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Last Updated Dec 23, 2014 12:52 PM EST

Sony Pictures has authorized the Christmas Day screening of "The Interview," two independent theaters said Tuesday, after the studio scrapped the release of the North Korea satire following hacker threats of violence against theaters showing the film.

The Alamo Drafthouse in Dallas and the Plaza Theater in Atlanta announced on social media that they had the green light from Sony to screen the film.

Tim League, founder of The Alamo Drafthouse, tweeted:


The Plaza Theater in Atlanta also announced the news via Twitter:


According to TheWrap, Sony is expected to announce the film's release, which will also be available via video on demand, later Tuesday. Representatives for Sony did not immediately comment.

Such a release would enable "The Interview" to open in select theaters and avoid the national chains that dropped the North Korea satire last week.


Play VIDEO
Obama: Sony "made a mistake" pulling movie
Sony's cancellation of the movie following terrorist threats from hackers drew widespread criticism, including from President Barack Obama.

The FBI has said the attacks on Sony came from North Korea.

On Monday, Sony's attorney, David Boies, hinted that the film would be released.

"Sony only delayed this," Boies said, adding, "Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed. Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed."

On Monday, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman and Tony Kushner were among the writers who signed a PEN American Center petition urging Sony Pictures to make "The Interview" widely available.

Monday's petition from PEN, a literary and human rights organization, said that pulling "The Interview" would be a "lasting blow" to free expression.


Play VIDEO
Was North Korea's debilitating Internet blackout due to a cyber counterstrike?
Rushdie, a former PEN president, faced dire threats 25 years ago after the publication of "The Satanic Verses." The novel was condemned as blasphemous by some Muslims, and Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's death. The PEN petition noted that "The Satanic Verses" continued to be published and sold.

Meanwhile, key North Korean websites were back online Tuesday after an hours-long shutdown that followed a U.S. vow to respond to the crippling cyberattack on Sony.

The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the U.S. government was responsible for the Internet shutdown in one of the least-wired and poorest countries in the world.

people crying about Sony violating Freedom of Speech seem to be silent about Sony's institutional racism and sexism.

Not only that, people saying Sony gave into the terrorists seem not to realize that we gave into the terrorists long ago with the Patriot Act, body scanners at the airport, and torture.

There hasn't been a movie with this much real work social impact ever. A movie that might hasten the demise of a dictatorship. A movie that changes the way Hollywood works? A movie that challenged notions of what is free speech and what deserves it's protection? A movie that exposed the hypocrisy of Hollywood.

Who cares if it's a dumb bro comedy, this is easily the most important movie of the last 25 years without anyone having have to see a single frame of it.


I think it's short sighted to see this movie as an unmitigated disaster. This movie will be talked about for a very long time.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

googleblog.blogspot.in/2014/12/the-interview-now-available-on-google.html?m=1

I feel like we all got hoodwinked