Hackers (anthology) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I do an “And You” article, it’s because something has happened in a community this blog usually connects to that I feel the need to address to the community, often with both sides being wrong on at least one point. This is slightly different. There was some initial fallout that I want to address, but my larger point is wondering why more of you aren’t concerned about these events.
For anyone not following entertainment news, a group of hackers calling themselves “Guardians Of Peace” (whom the US government are convinced are connected to North Korea) went after Sony Pictures over Seth Rogan’s The Interview, a movie that stars Rogan and James Franco as journalists ordered by the CIA to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after they score an interview with him. For some crazy reason, Kim (family name first in Korean culture–at first I thought it was just Japan) wasn’t happy about that. Can’t imagine why.
Whether the hackers are loyalists or actually working for the government (and most of the country is) doesn’t matter to the rest of us. That’s politics. What is a concern is that they hacked Sony’s servers and leaked a ton of information, from back and forth emails that weren’t supposed to be released to the public (possibly because most of us wouldn’t get the context, or it was none of our business anyway) to early movie information that they weren’t ready to release to the public. People on Twitter were so happy about some of this information because they got to either laugh or take pop shots at Sony. Then the hackers gave their demands. Simply put, cancel all showings of The Interview or they will launch more attacks, with some reports I’ve seen hinting they won’t be all cyber-based.
Initially this caused the theaters to panic, pulling showings and cancelling at least one big premiere event. I’m still getting conflicting reports if Sony decided not to show the movie or if it’s still scheduled for Christmas Day of this year. I’ve seen indifference or calling Sony out for a “lack of guts”, but what I haven’t seen is my reaction…fear. Not the same fear that Sony and the theaters have, but fear this won’t be the last time.
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The Sony Hackers And You
Hackers (anthology) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I do an “And You” article, it’s because something has happened in a community this blog usually connects to that I feel the need to address to the community, often with both sides being wrong on at least one point. This is slightly different. There was some initial fallout that I want to address, but my larger point is wondering why more of you aren’t concerned about these events.
For anyone not following entertainment news, a group of hackers calling themselves “Guardians Of Peace” (whom the US government are convinced are connected to North Korea) went after Sony Pictures over Seth Rogan’s The Interview, a movie that stars Rogan and James Franco as journalists ordered by the CIA to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after they score an interview with him. For some crazy reason, Kim (family name first in Korean culture–at first I thought it was just Japan) wasn’t happy about that. Can’t imagine why.
Whether the hackers are loyalists or actually working for the government (and most of the country is) doesn’t matter to the rest of us. That’s politics. What is a concern is that they hacked Sony’s servers and leaked a ton of information, from back and forth emails that weren’t supposed to be released to the public (possibly because most of us wouldn’t get the context, or it was none of our business anyway) to early movie information that they weren’t ready to release to the public. People on Twitter were so happy about some of this information because they got to either laugh or take pop shots at Sony. Then the hackers gave their demands. Simply put, cancel all showings of The Interview or they will launch more attacks, with some reports I’ve seen hinting they won’t be all cyber-based.
Initially this caused the theaters to panic, pulling showings and cancelling at least one big premiere event. I’m still getting conflicting reports if Sony decided not to show the movie or if it’s still scheduled for Christmas Day of this year. I’ve seen indifference or calling Sony out for a “lack of guts”, but what I haven’t seen is my reaction…fear. Not the same fear that Sony and the theaters have, but fear this won’t be the last time.
Continue reading →
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on December 18, 2014 in Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, North Korea, Seth Rogen, Sony Pictures, The Interview.
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